Rellik(18)

Trampled and crushed dreams, nothing was what it seems.

Our world has come undone.

Hangman slid over to make room for me on the long couch, and I sat down, keeping my distance from him and a clear view of the door. He held out the joint again, and I reluctantly took it, nearly letting it slip through my shaky fingers. I looked to Rellik as I put it to my lips, sputtering and coughing as soon as the smoke filled my lungs. It felt like my chest was gripped in a vice, and I struggled, desperate for fresh air. I’d smoked weed before, but what I got was lawn clippings compared to this.

“Whoa.” Rellik grabbed a bottle of water from the stand beside the couch and held it out for me. I took it gratefully and guzzled it down. He continued playing, his voice like liquid honey, and my head began to swim as I handed the joint back to Hangman.

“So what’s your story?”

Baby, just let me in, I can wash away our sins.

I know no other way.

I looked to Rellik, who was watching me as he sang, and I had no idea what to say. It was a loaded question that was impossible to answer because I didn’t have an identity anymore.

“I’m a blank page.”

“Deep.” Hangman took another hit from the joint.

“So why do they call you Hangman?”

He raised his chin to the light so I could see the very faded scar that circled his neck. “Fucking intense, right?” He laughed, and I tried to keep the shock from my face.

The music stopped abruptly as two men entered, and I was glad for the end to the odd conversation.

“Look who decided to show,” the larger of the two said. He was well over six foot tall, and he must have worked out obsessively. A thick, black, paint stripe that matched his short hair ran down the length of his face just beside his nose, and it made him look absolutely terrifying.

“You knew I’d be back,” Rellik replied, blowing off the stern look from the tallest one. “Phantom, this is Ella.” He motioned to me, and the large man glanced in my direction, his eyes narrowing as if he knew me but couldn’t place me.

“Phantom.” I smiled. “Like Phantom of the Opera!”

“Glad to see you’re still in one piece,” he said with no humor, and I realized he must have been the other man across the alley.

“Thank you.”

“No thanks to you,” Rellik chimed in, and Phantom gave him a death glare. “Not that I needed any help. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

“I’m Trig,” the other man said. His hair was much like Hangman’s but brushed back so it didn’t hang in his eyes, and he wore a set of silver dog tags around his neck over a plain white T-shirt. All four of them wore weathered jeans. My eyebrows furrowed, but I couldn’t figure his name out. “As in Trigger.” He grabbed his dog tags to show me he had been in the military.

“Nice to meet you.” I cleared my throat before taking another drink from the water bottle. He nodded, and they both looked to Rellik.

“Your hands look like shit,” Trigger said.

“You should see the guy’s face, but to be fair, he wasn’t very pretty to begin with.” He glanced up at Trig with a playful grin absent of any remorse. The idea that he could brush off something like that made me envious and a little frightened.

Phantom ran his hand roughly through his short, dark hair, clearly frustrated with Rellik, but he didn’t say anything.

“Here.” Rellik dug into his pocket and pulled out a pill bottle, tossing it to Trig. “You can’t just go off your meds, Trigger. You know your head gets all fucked up when you don’t take them.”

“What are you, my fucking mom now?” Trig asked as he shook his head, but his smile gave away that he appreciated the gesture. My eyes met Rellik’s, and I couldn’t help but smile myself as he cocked his eyebrow.

“One ugly mother,” Hangman joked, his laugh turning into a cough as he fell on his side.

“There’s got to be a first aid kit around here.” I was getting whiplash from Rellik’s personality.

“Don’t worry about it. We need to rehearse,” Rellik replied, and the room was silent for a minute before I pushed to my feet, water in hand, and searched out something I could use to help wipe away the dried blood. He clearly wasn’t accustomed to anyone taking care of him, and I could understand his apprehension.

“You’ve come over to the dark side. Tired of the bleach smell from those other bitches?” one of them said behind me, and I tried not to cringe at how they spoke as if I weren’t a person. Of course he was into dumb blondes. Did other women really tolerate this?

I grabbed some napkins and silently took mental note of what type of females they generally hung out with, hating that my stomach sank when I looked down at my dark tresses. It was important to read people and learn everything about them as quickly as possible. It’s how you survived. You blend in, not stand out. Making the napkins damp, I crossed the room and knelt down in front of him. I looked up at him as I reached for his hand, and he let me pull it away from the guitar. I carefully ran it over his injured hand, and he tensed as I ran over a knuckle that was clearly swollen more than the others. The guys began to chat among themselves about the show, and Rellik leaned closer to me as I took his other hand.