Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy

by P. Anastasia

  “So is life.”

  I shrugged. David seemed like a normal guy. Now that he’d stopped barking out orders and tearing up my internal organs.

  “Do you have family back home? Wherever that is.”

  “That’s enough!” His nostrils flared. “I told you to shut up.”

  I pressed my lips together and heaved a sigh, exhaling through my nose, mustering every bit of patience inside just to keep from snapping at him.

  Up ahead, faint green and pink light marked the girls in the darkness as they headed back toward us, their fluorescent glows growing brighter as they drew nearer.

  “I think that’s everyone,” Kareena said, quickly looking at David for approval. “Right?”

  “Yeah. I started them all,” added Alice, her voice trembling. “Even the kids. Even… a really little one.” She looked exhausted. Broken.

  David crossed his arms and looked down at them. “Are you sure? You got everyone?”

  “Yeah,” Kareena confirmed. “I’m sure. Now… can we go home? Please?”

  “They will choose when we can leave,” David said. “Once we’ve finished the job and only once we’ve finished the job.”

  “They said they were done,” I added, moving in to take Alice by the hand. She was cold as ice. Shaking. I wanted to give her my jacket, but it wouldn’t have done any good. We were both soaked. “We need rest.”

  “What do I have to do to get you to stop talking?” David said, gritting his teeth at me. “Seriously. Shut up, kid.”

  “I’m not a kid!” I growled.

  Alice squeezed my hand.

  “Shh,” she whispered. “We’ll get home soon. Don’t worry.” She shook her head and swept her wet hair out of her face. “Let’s get out of the rain.”

  “Alright,” David said.

  Finally, something we could agree on.

  We made our way toward an overhang on the other side of the street. An abandoned pizza shop.

  The thought of food reminded me how hungry I’d gotten since we’d arrived.

  Kareena hunched over, wringing the water out of her hair. Her skimpy little midriff-baring jacket was dripping with water. I felt sorry for her, but Alice and I weren’t doing much better. We were all drenched.

  I took another look at David—his profile outlined by a brief flash of lightning.

  What was his story? He was cocky, pushing us around like we were dogs. Maybe he was just like us. Scared. Confused. Tormented by them.

  Maybe they had threatened him or…

  “What are you looking at?” David asked, his voice rising above the clattering rain on the overhang.

  “Nothing. Sorry.” I looked away. Awkward.

  Then again, maybe he was just a creep.

  Standing there with him, I didn’t have a clock to tell time, but it felt like at least a half hour or more passed. Maybe it did. Maybe it just felt like an eternity because of the darkness. The rain. Drenched like drowned rats and starting to feel like we were, in fact, carrying a plague.

  Kareena stood beside me, leaning against the door of the pizza shop, biting her fingernails. She kept glancing over at David, as if she thought he might attack her again. I wish I could have assured her otherwise, but I couldn’t. I’d try to stop it, at least. Jesus, I’d try.

  Alice huddled close to me, her heavy locks of wet hair clinging to my jacket. Her cold hands tucked between the flaps of my coat for warmth. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. We couldn’t be out in this all night. We just couldn’t. We’d get hypothermia.

  I opened my eyes and turned around to look at the storefront window. The glass was intact. I tugged the handle of the door. Locked. Through scum and dirt, I saw the push bar had been chained to the walls with a padlock from the inside. No one could get in or out.

  I cupped my hands on the glass and pressed my face into them to peer inside. No lights, but the place looked dry. I took a few steps over and flattened my hand against the larger section of the glass storefront window. Ice cold. Solid glass. A bolt of lightning lit up our surroundings and a few hairline cracks gleamed in the glass.

  “Move back,” I said to Alice, perking up the collar of my jacket and taking a deep breath. I braced myself as I drew back and then rammed my shoulder into the window. Glass shattered to pieces. I grunted, rolling my arm to shake out the pain. Subtle blue light tinted my fingertips and then faded away.

  “Shit!” David staggered back. “What the hell?”

  “We’re not staying out here all night, damn it!” I replied. “Not on my watch.”

  I stepped over the window pane and tried to avoid a huge piece of glass on the tile floor. Remnants crunched beneath my sneakers and I swiped my foot across the debris to shove most of the fragments to the side. I spotted a broom nearby and used the handle on the inner edge of the window to break off remaining shards. “Careful, Alice.” I lent her my arm for balance and helped her step over the window pane.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” David asked, raising his voice again.

  “Getting out of the rain. We can’t take this. The damn Saviors are taking their sweet time tonight and we can’t wait for them anymore.”

  “We can… break stuff?” Kareena asked, creeping through the window behind Alice.

  “Don’t touch anything else,” David said, standing outside the store looking in. “Where are you going? Get back here!”

  “Come inside,” I replied. “It’s a little warmer here. No draft.”

  “Probably rats,” said Kareena with a shudder. “Or roaches. Ew.”

  “Shut up, Kareena,” I said. “Seriously? Your intuition is just—”

  “Brian, please.” Alice took my hand again. “Don’t yell at her. She’s scared, too. We’re all cold. We all want to go home. Even you, right?” She looked over at David, still standing outside.

  “Yes,” he said. He ducked down and stepped in through the window pane.

  “What the hell is taking them so long?” I sat down on a barstool and spun around once. It let out a rusty, ear-piercing screech and I flinched. I shrugged off my jacket, draped it over my shoulder and slid off the stool.

  The place had been ransacked a long time ago. Broken dishes on the floor. Cash register stuck open. I walked behind the bar and dug around beneath the counter, moving carefully in case there was more broken glass. All I wanted was a flashlight.

  The streetlamps outside projected a dim glow on our surroundings, but the shadows were difficult to maneuver through. Any amount of light would help. My phone would work… if it would turn on.

  “These might help.” Alice came over with a stack of grungy dishtowels. I took one from the top of the stack. It smelled old and musty, but looked clean. I wiped the rain from the back of my neck and shook my head.

  Kareena’s lips wrinkled at the sight of the dingy towels.

  “Wait,” she called as Alice turned away. “I’ll take one, too. Sorry.” She wrapped it around her hair and twisted it tightly.

  Alice nervously offered one to David. I rolled my eyes.

  Let him freeze.

  “Th-thanks,” he replied, caught off guard.

  Alice always thought about others, even when things got tough. Even when they didn’t deserve her kindness.

  “Thanks, Alice.” I held onto her towel while she shrugged off her coat. Then she handed the dripping wet, heavy-as-hell thing to me and I draped it over my arm so I wouldn’t lose it. She dried her hair with the towel as best she could and we sat down at the only table we could find that hadn’t fallen apart.

  My muscles hurt. The humidity didn’t help the heavy feeling in my chest. I could feel my fatigue wearing on me.

  Kareena sat on a barstool, etching something into the bar with the tine of a fork. The scratching sound made my skin crawl.

  David sat a few seats over, watching us with tiring eyes.

  Alice rested her head on my wet shoulder and I wrapped an arm around
her.

  Thunder rumbled quietly in the distance. The patter of raindrops on the roof ceased and I looked toward the front window. The rain had stopped.

  My body tingled and I sucked in a breath.

  Everything blurred.

  I hit the ground hard. My wet jacket squelched as it landed on the asphalt. Bright street lights blinded me. I shielded my eyes with the back of my hand and scrambled to my feet.

  “Brian!” Alice screamed.

  Two blazing white suns were coming straight at me.

  I dodged the car and tumbled into the grass on the side of the road, the blare of a horn piercing my ears.

  “Are you okay?” Alice helped me up and handed me my jacket. A fresh tire mark ran across the sleeve.

  “Yeah. I’m fine.” My heart had jumped into my throat, and it was still beating like a drum as I stumbled through the grass. I stepped on something hard and lifted my foot to see what it was.

  “Oh, God,” I groaned.

  Scattered pieces of metallic blue fiberglass shimmered beneath the moonlight.

  Chapter 23

  White light stung my eyes. I squeezed them shut. My chest tightened and I wheezed, barely able to breathe. The sensation of weightlessness engulfed me, lifting me off my feet. Then I fell.

  I awoke with a gasp, winded. Panting hard. Jarred from sleep by an awful nightmare—rain and never-ending darkness surrounding me. Pain shooting through my core, boring into my bones.

  Crushing pain.

  I sat up in my bed and held my face in my hands. Sweat beaded on my forehead. My stomach coiled into knots.

  Alice shifted in her sleep and rolled over to face me. Her eyes eased open.

  “Brian? Are you okay?” she murmured, reaching a hand up to caress my back.

  “Yeah,” I lied. “I’ll be fine. Go back to sleep.”

  “Okay. Just checking.” She groggily rolled back over and nestled into her pillow.

  I wasn’t okay.

  I could barely stay awake during the day anymore, my nights had become so hellish.

  Ever since the night David had hurt me, Jane had given up telling us what to do. No more advice about the Saviors. No more objections to Alice and me staying together at night. She couldn’t change things.

  Still, I hadn’t slept worth a damn in almost a week, even with Alice within arm’s reach.

  For the second time in my life, I had been on the brink of death. The sickening ache had rippled through my veins, tainting my mouth with the metallic taste of iron. Blood.

  I’d started to believe the fluorescence made me stronger—invincible almost.

  I’d been wrong.

  David could have killed me if he had wanted to, and I couldn’t have raised a fist to fight back. He had paralyzed me—crushed me with a force I couldn’t even see.

  What if he had killed me? What if he had hurt Alice? How far were the Saviors willing to let him push us to get the job done?

  The Saviors didn’t give a damn. Their lack of sympathy was appalling. It seemed like each time we were transported someplace, they did it less delicately. And they were never apologetic. Never.

  Cowards.

  What if we disappeared in the middle of class? What then?

  Social services would be coming back to check on me soon, too. What if I wasn’t there? Would Jane get into trouble? Would it put her custody in jeopardy? My future? Again?

  I’d turn seventeen in a few months, but I’d never wanted to be eighteen so badly in my entire life. I needed the independence—the space.

  What little precious freedom I had gained—in the form of my bike—had been totaled just weeks after I’d finished paying it off. Days later, the memory of shattered motorcycle parts strewn across the street still angered me. Because of the Saviors, I’d almost lost my job, which was now hanging on by a thread.

  Life’s a real bitch.

  . . .

  “You have to pass this year,” said Alice, putting her hand on my shoulder as she sat down beside me at our lunch table. “You just have to. We can’t be separated next year.”

  I put down my pen and clapped my sketchbook closed.

  My grades were suffering again. I’d never given a damn about grades until Alice had come into my life. She’d made me change my mind. Convinced me to try harder. For a little while, at least.

  Now I couldn’t care less about classes or homework. None of it mattered, not as long as they were screwing with our lives. We were toys to them—pawns in some ridiculous game we couldn’t win. A game with no rules. No limitations.

  I had the weight of the world pushing my head underwater—drowning me in fear and uncertainty. Good grades weren’t going to stop the Saviors from hurting us—from playing God with us.

  “I’ve been accepted into the college I applied to,” said Kareena, swirling her mashed potatoes around on her plate with a plastic fork. “I hope you guys graduate on time. Maybe we can meet up again after college.”

  “Does college really matter anymore?” I glared at her.

  “Well, yeah. We can’t stop living because of this,” she replied, laying down her fork beside her tray. “We don’t know when it will stop.”

  “And what if it doesn’t?” I asked.

  Kareena shrugged and lowered her head. “I dunno. I… hope it does.”

  “Hope hasn’t gotten us anywhere so far.” I pushed my lunch tray away, sat back and crossed my arms. “Hope didn’t stop them from turning us into freaks.” I gritted my teeth. “It didn’t stop that coward, David, from almost killing me!”

  “Shh.” Alice looked around nervously. “Keep it down, please.”

  “See? You’re already worried about people hearing us. I’m being honest, Alice. Lying doesn’t change things and neither does hiding from the truth. Face it. We can’t keep doing this. They’ve already taken us right off the street. Someday, they’re going to pull us out of class and people are going to see it. We can’t take chances. We shouldn’t even come to school anymore.”

  “I know. I know.” Alice looked down, fidgeting with the bendy straw sticking out of her chocolate milk carton. “But I think we should do our best with what little time is left this school year. It’s only a few weeks. We can’t give up. I want to do well, Brian. I want you to do well, too.” She reached her left hand out and cupped it over mine. The gold and silver band glistened on her finger. I glanced at it and then back at her. She smiled. “Please. Keep trying. Please do it for me? For us?”

  I wanted to give up. Hide myself in a dark secluded place far away from school and work. Away from people. Away from responsibility.

  I wanted it all to stop.

  “Please?” Alice’s fingers entwined with mine.

  I took a deep breath and sighed.

  “Okay.” I placed my other hand on top of hers. “For now, I’ll try.”

  “And keep working on your comic,” she added. “Don’t let go of your dreams, Brian. You’re so gifted.”

  My drawing had become sporadic lately. The few sketches I had managed to squeeze out had been dark and angry, full of blood and gore—not the sort of subject matter that Staggered Hart was originally meant to focus on. It was supposed to be about a hero—a man trying to find himself—but it was turning into a story about struggling with identity and morality. Something too close to home now.

  “You of all people have been through so much,” I said to Alice. “What they did to you was inexcusable. Doesn’t it get beneath your skin? Everything that’s happened? Doesn’t it make you angry? Make you want to…”

  “Yeah.” She frowned. “Of course it does. But when I sleep at night knowing you’re close, cared for, and in a stable family—that makes it bearable. That makes every morning worth waking up to.”

  She was right. We were luckier than most people our age. Lucky we had someone like Jane who understood our problems.

  “I’ve put it behind me for now, but I won’t forget that guy.
That… David,” said Kareena, scooting closer and leaning toward us. “I’ve never been so frightened—so violated—in my entire life. And I never want to be again.”

  “We won’t give him that chance next time,” I said. “We’ll fight back.” I glanced reassuringly at Kareena. “He needs to be put in his place. But we have to be prepared to take action next time. There has to be a way to stop him.”

  The thought alone of a “next time” made my heartbeat quicken. A sickness twisted up my stomach and the memory of the gut-wrenching pain he’d inflicted on me made my entire body tense.

  Chapter 24

  Kareena’s early summer graduation ceremony was hell. The boisterous crowd reeked of soda, body spray and sweat. People surrounded us in every direction. I was on the edge of my seat with a horrible throbbing in my stomach, certain something would happen—that we would be pulled right out of the middle of the crowd and dropped somewhere with that bastard David again.

  We should have stayed home. We shouldn’t have come.

  “Brian? Are you okay?” Alice wrapped her arm around mine and looked into my eyes, a concerned wrinkle in her brow.

  “Yeah. I just… I’m worried.”

  “We can’t live every moment in fear,” she said. “If they want to take us somewhere again, we can’t stop them.”

  “No. But we can try to not be in public so much,” I whispered, shifting in my hard, uncomfortable seat on the bleachers. I’d been on pins and needles since the opening speech. “This was a bad idea, Alice. We should have stayed home.”

  “This is the last day of school, Brian. We’ll be fine. Then we have all of summer break to figure something out.”

  “What about my job? I won’t be able to afford another motorcycle for a while, but they’ll want me to work longer hours soon. I need the money. We need the money.”

  “You’ll be okay. Mom will drive you when she can, and you can hop the bus the rest of the time.”

  “I guess.” I hated the bus. The fear of vanishing in public ate at me every time I stepped foot on one. “I’m just tired of having to rely on your mom all of the time.”