Page 29 of Beautiful Dark Temptation

The beeping clued me in that I was in thehospital. Along with the catheter, the IV on my arm, and the hardbed at my back. It took me another several seconds to remember whathad happened. And even then, it was all an adrenaline-fueled blur.I remembered being stripped to my underwear. They’d shaved my headas a form of cleansing of vanity. Fire would cleanse my soul. Ifelt the echo of the burn at my lower back. That had been themoment I pissed myself. Water would cleanse away my sins and airwould revive me so I’d be awakened anew. And I’d be blessed by thegods, or some shit.

That’s when they put the noose around myneck and shoved me off a cliff. Well, it probably hadn’t been acliffcliff, but it’d been high enough for me to fall forseveral seconds before I slammed into the water. The noose nevertightened to break my neck, but the shock of cold water on my bodyhad hit me hard. Like pins along my naked skin. And as the weightof my body pulled me under, all the pains on my flesh numbed. Mythoughts couldn’t process why. It must’ve been due to the coldwater, but it had been so peaceful. I hadn’t struggled. My panicebbed away. The water pressure against my body, the darkness, andthe silence became my world.

For a silent moment, I hung between life anddeath.

Behind my closed lids I saw Daniel waving meover. He’d stolen a bike and had urged me to get on to teach me. Abike could give me wings, he’d said.

“But I run fast. I don’t need a bike,” I’dresponded, so sure of myself.

“Okay, stubborn ass,” he’d said, and climbedon the bike. “Catch me and I’ll take you somewhere this weekend, soyou don’t have to stay with mom.”

I was so sure I wouldn’t lose. He took offlike a light out of hell. And I ran. I ran until my legs trembled.I ran until my eyes watered, my chest clenched, and I couldn’tbreathe. I reached out my hand, so close to him. Close enough tohear the pedals, the chain, his uneven breathing. I was so close tofeel the wind cutting between us. So close.

In the real memory I hadn’t caught him. Hewas too fast and I’d stayed with Mom that weekend. She’d beenpissed, hadn’t expected me to stay. I had locked myself in Daniel’sroom and hid under the bed with a knife.

But in my memories where life touched death,I made it. I caught up to him. But I couldn’t breathe.

I saw his face morph into something dark. Ablack inkblot. A dark stain. It wrapped around me, clung to me,pulled me under. I couldn’t breathe and I needed to breathe. BeforeI felt the last of my consciousness drip away, I inhaled andswallowed nothing but water.

I drowned. I had drowned.

I broke out of my memory with a coughingfit. I couldn’t breathe. I dropped something and it clattered tothe floor. Then Dr. Shanahan was there. Placing the oxygen back onmy face.

“It’s okay, Tomás. You’re safe. Justbreathe.”

I wheezed for a few more seconds until I wasable to take in a painful breath. “What … what happened?”

“Your friends found you at the bank near thelake. You’re lucky you’re alive, kiddo.”

I blinked away the haze. Friends? Whatfriends? Oh, right, the ones that tried to kill me. I clutched mychest as I settled my body. I wanted to ask about Dasher. AboutCharity. Were they okay too? My brain was fuzz and I felt my bodyfold back into the bed as I passed out.

The second time I woke up had been less achaotic brain fart. I blinked away the haze behind my eyes and letthe memories play out again. This time, anticipating them. I wantedto speak with Dasher. Was he okay? What happened? What had theydone to me?

Dr. Shanahan was in the room looking atimages of my lungs.

“Am I okay?” I asked.

She glanced her kind, brown eyes over hershoulder at me. “Define okay.”

She sighed and turned off the light behindthe image before she started examining me. “You have two fracturedribs. Your lungs are clear. Your heart sounds healthy. Except forthe bruises and that head injury you got a few days ago, which Ihad to rebandage, you are a hot mess. But nothing permanent.”

“What about the burn on my back?”

She scrunched her eyebrows. “You don’t havea burn mark.” She kept looking at me as if she knew about thehazing. “You mind telling me how you ended up without clothes atthe bank of the lake in below freezing weather?”

I opened my mouth and closed it. “Notreally.”

“I’m your doctor,Tomás. I’m one ofthe people here that you don’t lie to.”

“Do you have to report it to Maddox?”

Her phone started to buzz in her pocket, andshe pulled it out with another sigh. With her eyes glued to mine,she lifted it to her ear. “Mr. Brennan,” she said into thephone.

Well, that answered that.

****

Dr. Shanahan kept me in that cold, darkplace they called a hospital for forty-eight hours. Two days! I wasclimbing walls. I was forced to report in to Maddox via a voicecall. He didn’t sound pissed but didn’t believe my explanation ofwanting to skinny dip. My bad. Dasher came to visit, bringing mehomework and more books. He looked off, by about a mile. Dasherlooked younger than his nineteen years. His face still round, hiseyes still large.

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