Free Fragile Darkness by Ellie James

my way to the next theater, smaller than the first. With no ventilation to the night, it was like walking into a life-size oven. Muggy heat swamped me, the smoke of cigarettes and weed mixing with stale alcohol and the earthiness of decay.
    Everything blurred. Stumbling, I reached out, my hand slipping against something matted and sticky that felt more like a floor than a wall. Carpet, I realized. Filthy and rotting. I tried to breathe, but the putrid, saunalike warmth rushed against the back of my throat and made me gag. Dizzily I fumbled for my water and gulped greedily, but the room kept shifting, and the low vibration wouldn’t stop.
    A few disoriented seconds passed before I recognized the pulsing as my phone. I wedged it from my front pocket, blinking several times before the distorted letters became words.
    I’m by the concession stand. Where are you?
    The room kept tilting, making my fingers clumsy as I responded.
    In a theater.
    A few rows in front of me panting escalated, loud, urgent breaths ripping into the stillness. I stumbled toward the door, hesitating when another text buzzed against my hand.
    Against the fuzz of white, I made out Kendall’s name.
    I found him. We’re out back.
    Can u come?
    Another quick stab of pain against my skull made me wince as I fumbled to tap the right letters.
    On my way.
    I hit send and made it to the door, but then my phone pulsed again. This time it was a picture that popped up on my screen. Not thinking much about it, I enlarged the image and stared down at the girl, at the long hair falling around her pale face, her eyes unfocused, the smeared makeup and clothes clinging to a thin body.
    Me, I realized with a sick feeling. Taken tonight. Here. My guess was Amber, but the sender’s area code was not one I recognized.
    The question came a few seconds later.
    What would Chase think?
    â€œYou ready?”
    Startled, I spun around, but even after I stilled, the shadows kept swirling.
    Muted waves of light slipped through the open door, revealing a guy with long dark hair raining down around a tragic face, deep-set eyes and a long straight nose, lips parted, waiting. I’d never seen him before.
    I tried to push past him. “Excuse me.”
    He smiled. “Do you know how amazing you are?”
    I’m not sure how I heard him, when the music strummed so loudly, and his voice drifted so soft.
    â€œHow much more amazing you can be, life can be?”
    Another sharp throb pulsed against the back of my head, spreading toward the front like fingers squeezing, tightening.
    His smile went sad. “But you don’t feel that way, do you?”
    Everything blurred. Wincing, I tried to blink him back into focus.
    â€œI have to go.” I pulled away, needing to get …
    Somewhere. I needed to get somewhere, I knew.
    I couldn’t remember where.
    â€œDon’t be afraid,” the tragic-faced guy said, reaching for me. “It’s why you’re here.” He had a cup in his hand, and he was lifting it between us as another vibration swept in, not from my phone, but inside me.
    I stilled, trying to grab onto that, thinking I should grab onto that. The low hum meant …
    Worlds fracturing, I remembered with another wobble. That’s what the vibration meant. The unseen spilling in.
    â€œIt’s why we’re all here,” the stranger murmured, lifting the drink to his mouth. “Because we don’t want to be anywhere else. We don’t belong anywhere else. We want to forget,” he said mindlessly. “To be beautiful … for bliss. ”
    I reached for the wall, but found only air.
    He caught me, steadied me. “For forever.”
    A quick breath of cold moved through me.
    â€œI can give you that,” he said, more quietly this time. “If you let me.”
    My heart started to race. The rapid pace tripped through me, as if I was running for my life, even as I stood absolutely