Crash and Burn (1)

i should smack you with a popsicle, lacey

**For the last day of Hispanic Heritage Month and for Halloween...because Lacey needed her damn Kit Kats. HAPPY HALLOWEEN YALL. 👻👻

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IT WAS HOT. Too hot.

There was a warm trickle of sweat rolling down my forehead when I blinked my eyes open.

It was dark. Too dark.

"Soren!"

That was the first thing I could manage up my scratchy throat. Rolling onto my side, I flattened my hands against warm concrete.

Concrete floors.

No. No, no, no.

"Soren!" I cried out frantically, struggling to push onto my feet. My head swayed dangerously as I scrambled, my skinned knees brushing against the smooth surface of the floor.

Where was I?

Everything in my body surged forward as I collapsed onto the ground again. There was a rush of sickness, a churning ocean in the pit of my stomach. What was going on?

With shaky legs, I tried to stand again, my arms outstretched for balance. There was nothing to grab. Nothing to hold onto. No Soren.

With my first step, I felt my body weight swivel. My head felt foggy. Heavy. "Soren..." I tried again, just as I fumbled into a flat surface. A wall.

Where had happened?

Fluttering up my throat like a hoard of butterflies, something light and feathery caught behind my teeth before it burned through my lips in the form of vomit.

The splash echoed in the dark room, hitting concrete as I gagged uncontrollably.

It shook my body with violent tremors as tears pressed through my eyes. I couldn't hold it in as I spewed again, my fingers brushing against a ridge that I grappled with in order to not slump to the ground.

A doorway.

I had to get out of here. Where was I? Where was Soren?

Breathe.

I'd only made it a few more steps before I stumbled again. A low groan came out of the darkness when my head spun again. Disoriented, I brushed my hair off my clammy forehead before I pressed my cheek against the wall. "I...fuck..." It was too hot in here.

Breathe.

In. Out.

A vicious clank from behind me made me jerk away from the wall, falling backwards to land on my ass. It only rumbled forward in a machine-like symphony. A boiler.

I was in a boiler room.

A boiler room.

What the fuck?

My brows furrowed, even as the sweat lining my forehead slid down to catch in the crease. There was a thin, damp blanket of sweat across my entire face. "Ugh.." I swiped my sweatshirt across my cheeks swiftly, groaning at the hefty material.

Slowly, I struggled to my feet again, ignoring the heavy sway of my neck.

I needed to find a light.

Just as I spread my fingers against the wall again, a sliver of light cut through the darkness with a small squeal.

"Soren?" I asked, squinting my eyes at the blurry figure that stepped through.

"Lacey."

I wish it had only made my heart soar.

But another wave of vomit soared up my throat when I heard his voice. "So...Soren," I coughed, spitting beside me. My head spun violently when the lights flashed on, my stomach swirling with acid and anger.