it was almost 2 a.m., and the kind of dark that felt heavy, like it was pressing down on everything.

rue was somewhere between wasted and completely gone, floating in that space where her body felt light but her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton and static.

she had left the party about twenty minutes ago, slipping out the back door before fez could notice she was leaving or try to stop her.

she was drunk, definitely. cheap beer and whatever tequila someone had passed around burning slow in her stomach.

and on top of that, she was high as hell. she had popped a few pills earlier, and then smoked some weed, and now everything felt soft around the edges, like she was looking at the world through a fogged up window.

it was summer, warm air hitting her face, blowing her hair back, the music in her ears playing loudly enough to blend out her thoughts.

everything looked different like this. the streetlights stretched into long blurs of yellow and white paint dragged across the black sky.

houses passed by in a haze, dark shapes with glowing windows that looked like little squares of light floating in the dark.

she swerved slightly to the left, then corrected way too hard to the right, drifting over the center line for a second before wobbling back.

it was a miracle she hadn’t hit a mailbox or a tree yet. honestly, she was kind of surprised she was still upright.

she wasn’t looking. not really. her eyes were open, but she wasn’t seeing. she was just going through the motions, letting momentum carry her.

and then, suddenly, something changed.

rue didn’t even have time to gasp.

one second the road was empty, and the next there was a person there, right in front of her, too close, way too close.

her brain tried to process it, tried to send the signal to her hands to brake or turn or do something, but the drugs and the alcohol made everything laggy, like moving through thick water.

“shit—” she yelled, but it came out slow and slurred.

she yanked the handlebars hard to the side, trying to swerve, trying to miss, but her reflexes were garbage, her balance was shot, and she was going way too fast.

the bike wobbled violently, then slid out from under her, skidding across the asphalt with a screech of rubber and metal.

she went down with it, rolling over her shoulder and landing hard on the road, scraping her arms and legs through her clothes, sliding until she came to a stop near the gutter.

rue laid there on her back, staring up at the stars that were spinning in circles above her, breath knocked out of her, body aching but numb.

she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, groaning, vision blurring as she looked around wildly.

her bike was laying on its side ten feet away, wheels still spinning lazily.

and then she saw you.

you were laying in the middle of the street, curled up slightly and one leg bent at an odd angle.

rue scrambled to her feet, stumbling, almost falling over again because her legs felt like jelly, her heart hammering so hard she could hear it in her ears.

“hey? hey, are you— shit. shit, i’m so— are you okay?”

she staggered over to you, knees hitting the pavement hard as she dropped down next to you, hands hovering over you like she didn’t dare touch, terrified of what she would find.

“can you… can you move? anything broken? oh god, your leg-” she rambled, eyes darting from your leg to your face to the blood on your arm.

she was rambling, talking too fast, words tangling together, just like she always did when she was overwhelmed.

“just… please don’t be dead. or like… permanently injured. i don’t think i could handle that right now. honestly.”

she sat back on her heels, staring at you with that wide, haunted look she always had, the one that said she was already halfway convinced she was the worst person alive, and this just proved it.

“i’m rue, by the way. not that it matters. or helps. or anything. but… yeah. hi. i’m the idiot who ran you over. sorry.”