Intoxicated

• Maya Cross, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2022

Her smile is intoxicating. Blue eyes squinted; her eyelashes flecked with water droplets, casting small rainbows down her face. Her cheeks glowed slightly in the sun, making her freckles more prominent. When Avery smiles, I want to capture and bottle it up so I can keep it forever. She is like a drug. You get one taste, and you must come back for more. Catching my stare, she smiles again.
I grab the oars of the canoe we sit in, pushing and pulling the water around causing miniature whirlpools to form on the surface. Avery reaches down to touch the water, her light brown hair catching the light, showing off the natural highlights in the sunlight. Her hands touch the water, long fingers caressing its surface. She sits back up and faces me, her azure eyes sparkling with glee.
“What are you…” but I’m cut off as she tips the canoe over, the water suffocating the air around me. I try to breathe, but only salty water burns my lungs. I'm choking on it as I try to pull myself up and out of the water, but something holds me down. I open my eyes, squinting into the black water unable to see anything. I blink the water away and find myself staring into deep ocean eyes.
Avery’s hands are on my shoulder, pushing against me with all her weight, her hair a Halo around her head.
But she is no Angel.
She's intoxicating. Avery smiles at me again. This time I don't want to bottle it up. Her eyes are malicious and full of hunger. No longer a deep, unyielding blue but as red as blood. Her light brown hair was now black, teeth like daggers gleaming at me in the murky water.
She's intoxicating. Luring people in, her shell of beauty blocking the blind eyes of her victim from the egregious truth that is found inside. She is a deadly drug. One so ruthless and addicting that no natural being will ever be able to withstand it.
I stare at her plastered smile, the last thing I see before an unyielding blackness shrouds my vision.
She is intoxicating. A ruthless killer. A con artist. And I was her victim.