Mind over Marty
Todd kidnaps Marty at the Tabernacle of Joy and not Rebecca. Her rescue leads to some unexpected results.
"TODD PLEASE!" Marty screamed. "Please come back!" She begged. "I'm sorry!" She cried as she pounded on the door. At least she hoped it was the door. It was so dark and the lack of food and water had made her disorientated. She had no idea how long she had been trapped in the room he left her in. The food and water had long since run out. But the hunger and thirst weren't the worst parts. No the worst was the isolation. She was surprised at this. Her parents had died when she was so young leaving her in the care of an aunt who treated her a little better than the crud on her shoes. So she was used to being alone. But this was different. Even though she felt alone all those years, there were still people around. She could see them, hear them, touch them even. But not now. There was no one. And even though Todd had put her through unspeakable torture, he was the last person she had seen and she craved to see him again. She would do anything to have him open the door and see his face again.
He shouldn't be here. But then again it was so completely crazy that he was here it was probably the safest place for him to be. He escaped from jail. He was on the run and now with a hostage. Of course the police wouldn't think he would be stupid enough to bring the hostage home to her house. Well he hadn't done that. She was still nicely tucked away where hopefully no one would think to look but he was hiding in the bushes in her backyard getting ready to break into her house. He'd been here before in this very spot. It was back during the summer after the judge declared a mistrial. He had just planned to pop out and persuade her to rethink testifying again only the DA and his bitch came and ruined the party. Instead he had to confront her in the alley behind Rodis and every time he looked in the mirror he was reminded of how well that went.
But that was a long time ago. Now there were different circumstances. Now he was here to save her life.
Marty woke up with the cold hard ground beneath her. She had passed out again. It had been happening a lot. First the blinding headache and then the chills telling her she had another fever. Then she would get too dizzy to stand. Sometimes she'd just fall down. Sometimes she'd black out. She'd wake with no clue of how much time had passed; minutes, hours, days. It was all the same in this dark room. All she could do was either pray to die or pray that Todd would come back and save her.
There was no sign of anyone staying at her house. Although house was an understatement, more like mansion. He wasn't surprised. She had no one. Still he couldn't be too cautious in case there was a cop car patrolling the area on the off chance that he was stupid enough to come to her house. He waited crouched down just listening and looking for any signs of life for several minutes before making his move. He got in the same way he got in not long ago when he first escaped and planned on surprising her in her bedroom. Ponytail ruined the mood and then she flew off to Paris never knowing he had been under her bed listening to their conversation the whole time.
Once inside, he went straight to her bathroom hoping he'd find what they needed. Throwing open her medicine cabinet, he stared for a moment at the different pill bottles. He hadn't asked her for a specific list before leaving so he just grabbed everything in there and hoped it would be enough. He found a large duffle bag in her closet to put everything in and decided to also grab her some extra clothes and shoes. Afterwards he headed downstairs to look for her kitchen. They had plenty of food back at the cabin but it wouldn't hurt to grab extra.
Jessica Buchanan sat on her bed with her hands firmly covering her ears. She didn't want to hear her mom and Sloan talking all lovey dovey to one another. They'd been at it for hours already. At least that's what it seemed like to her.
Deciding she needed some fresh air, she jumped up and left the house knowing no one would notice. After walking aimlessly for several minutes she realized she found herself where she usually liked to go to get away from her problems and have fun. She was in front of Marty's house. But Marty wasn't home. She felt tears creeping up at the thought of her friend. The adults around her spoke in hushed tones when they talked about what happened to Marty but she pieced it together and it was pretty bad. That guy had taken her. Todd Manning. She met him a couple times when he was Kevin's fraternity brother and he always seemed nice to her but he'd hurt her friend, Marty, badly and now he took her away.
Jessica's breath caught in her throat when she suddenly saw a light go on in Marty's house. Was Marty back? She ran across the lawn anxious to greet her friend. Before ringing the bell she saw a figure cross by the window. Her hand withdrew from the bell as if it was burned. That was definitely not Marty.
She didn't know what to do. Was someone breaking into Marty's house? Was that a friend of Marty's who brought her home meaning Marty was inside the house. Before coming up with a plan of action, the light went off in the house. Instinctively, Jessica pressed her ear to the door to hear what was going on inside. She didn't hear much then suddenly a thump, followed by the angry off sound of piano keys being mashed, followed by swearing. Jessica knew for sure where the mystery person was and listened closer. She then heard a creak of a door opening. It was the back door of Marty's living room where her piano was. Jessica could feel her heartbeat speed up as her palms began to sweat. If this person was moving around in the dark and then leaving out the back door, they were definitely up to no good. She knew she could be in danger if this person saw her. She thought about running home but decided she could just hide and watch. She could get a description of the intruder and give it to the police and be a hero if she was careful and didn't get caught.
She darted over to some bushes and crouched down just as the mystery man was coming through the fence. Jessica slapped her hand over her mouth to prevent the gasp from erupting when she saw the scar on the man's face. She knew that face. It was Todd Manning. But Marty was nowhere to be found, unless she was in that sack the man was carrying. No. Too small. Not to mention,too many late night horror shows she shouldn't be watching.
Jessica kept her hand over her mouth and tried to be as still as possible as Todd passed by her hiding place. She watched as he made his way across the lawn before slowly standing up to see where he was heading. That's when she noticed the car parked off to the far side of the road near Marty's entry gate. Having spent plenty of time at Marty's, she knew of a short cut that would get her closer to the gate without Todd seeing her. She had to try. What if Marty was in the car and needed her?
Jessica took a deep breath before moving as quickly and quietly as she could towards what she hoped was Todd's getaway car. She didn't see Marty anywhere and while the thought from those late night horror shows that Marty could be in the trunk crossed her mind, she didn't have time to find a way to look because Todd was fast approaching.
Jessica hid behind another set of bushes. She was right to assume this was Todd's car. He threw the bag he was carrying in the back seat and slowly drove away. She was glad about that because it gave her plenty of time to remember the license plate number.
