She opened her eyes cautiously and tiredly rubbed them, scanning her surroundings.
'Oh, that's right' she thought to herself as she skimmed her eyes over his white and ocean-blue walls, his action posters, his TV, the windows -covered by curtains- as a fragment of light seeped through them, and finally, his most comfy bed. The one in which she was lying in.
She panicked as she dived into the whirlpool of thoughts she had now created – 'what even happened last night? We've only been dating for 2 months!' but she relaxed and rose up from said metaphorical whirlpool when she remembered. 'Ryder invited me over, we watched a few movies, and then we fell asleep. Stop fussing, Marley Rose.' She relaxed once more. 'But wait! What is Mom going to think?!' she reminded herself anxiously – her mother has a habit of skipping to conclusions. 'Mom is out of town on a business trip. She'll be back on Monday.' She recalled, relieved, as she remembered the wonders of last night.
As if on cue, her boyfriend emerged from the nearby bathroom, drying his wet hair with a towel. Upon seeing his girlfriend had awoken, a playful smile appeared on his face.
"Good morning" he greeted her as he bent over the bed to press a soft kiss to her temple. Despite never being a morning person, she couldn't fight the urge to grin.
"Good morning, early bird" she smirked.
"Someone slept in late" he smirked back, turning around to put the towel in its original place.
"No regrets" she simply replied as she stretched out her arms and her back, recovering from her long sleep. He grinned and shook his head – he knows she's a heavy sleeper.
"So, did Sleeping Beauty have a nice dream?" he joked, referring to his girlfriend.
And then she remembered.
Her, her mother and Ryder were having dinner at her house laughing, bonding, and teasing playfully, when all of a sudden a loud knock at the door shook through the small house.
"I'll get it." Her mother chimed, rising from the table to get the door.
She heard a blood-curdling scream.
Her and Ryder rose from the table immediately, and, rushing to the door, found Ms Rose on the floor, unconscious. Marley wanted nothing more than to see who had done this to her mother. The sound of lightning echoed through the small house, and she turned to a silhouette standing in the doorway.
Her father.
He wore an evil smile on his face, and suddenly a pale-skinned finger was pointing at Ryder questioningly.
"Who is this?" he spat out the words like venom as another lightning bolt illuminated the now-dark house. Marley, still in shock of recent events, tried to swallow down the lump forming in her throat. She stood directly in front of Ryder.
"Stay away from him, Dad" she hissed angrily, however, still afraid. "Don't lay a finger on him. He's not yours to hurt."
"Who is he?" Marley's father persisted in the same tone as before, if not angrier. Marley stayed silent, causing her father to chuckle darkly. "Silence doesn't solve anything, darling." He chuckled, stroking Marley's face with a hand cold as stone.
A thud echoed through the house as Ryder fell to the floor.
"The coast is clear, my boy." Marley's father hissed, as a shadow emerged through the door. Jake.
The teenage boy chuckled in an evil tone similar to her father as he approached marley, who was shaking and crying silently.
"Don't be so upset," he hissed as his hot breath fanned across her face. "You were never good enough for each other anyway." the words stung through her as both boys began approaching her, and touching her. She tried to scream, but her voice was lost. Tears cascaded down her cheek as thunder rippled through the house a final time. She saw the bodies of the two people she loved drift further and further away, but she could not move-
"Marley?" Ryder asked, now concerned at how long she had been silent for, and the panicked expression her face was showing. Marley gulped as an attempt to swallow the lump forming in her throat. She looked down and closed her eyes, letting a single teardrop flow down her cheek. "Marley..." Ryder cooed, sitting on the bed to give his broken girlfriend a hug. She buried her head into his broad shoulder as cries shook her body. "it's okay. It was just a nightmare. We don't have to talk about it if you down want to…" Ryder comforted her, rubbing reassuring circles around her back as he held her.
"No…I want to…" she explained, Ryder nodded.
"If you get too shaken up about it, you don't have to continue." He whispered as he kissed her hair. Marley reluctantly broke the hug to tell Ryder the story, with his arms still wrapped around her waist.
She told the story, looking down at the bed she was sat on, occasionally looking up to meet Ryder's brown-eyed gaze. There were times throughout the story where she almost broke down completely, but he was there to comfort her and give her understanding looks. Not fake ones, real ones – he really could understand why this dream had occurred. Her father was treating her and her mother badly before he left when she was only ten years old, and Jake had not treated her right before Marley and Ryder started dating. Jake was mainly angry at the fact that there were already feelings there with her and Ryder, and when Marley told Jake she loved him, she just didn't mean it anymore. Jake was the jealous type.
When Marley had finally finished her story, Ryder pulled her into one of his classic bear hugs, and she buried her head into his shoulder once more.
"It's gonna be okay, Marls. Your dad isn't going to come back or hurt you or your Mom anymore. And Jake isn't going to hurt you, either. And if he will, he'll have to go through me. I've got you now." He cooed as he cradled her.
"Thanks, Ry. You always know what to say." She whispered as she broke the hug to press a kiss against his lips. A smile grew on his face.
"I love you" he smiled.
"I loved you too" she grinned.
"I love you more" he challenged her.
"Impossible" she teased. They had played this game so many times.
"Nothing's impossible" he replied with a wise expression across his face.
"Well, you've obviously never tried to slam a revolving door." She smirked, and they laughed.
Marley's past was a dark, narrow alleyway that she was never going to forget, and she would never really be able to stop the nightmares. But with him there, things were certainly looking up.
Hey guys! Thanks for reading my first ever fanfic posted on here :-) it would really help me out if you reviewed it to see what you guys thought of it. Sorry for any grammar or spelling errors :/ and please do PM me for ideas! I'm running out constantly. Don't be a stranger!
-Beth aka TeaAndGlee xxx