Disclaimer: I do not own Another Cinderella Story, but if I did I would probably take over the world.
A/N: Here's another chapter of Lifeline. Thanks for your reviews, it's the only thing that keeps me going at this sometimes! I promised this one would be more juicy, and it is. Oh, and the song in this chapter is "Starts With Goodbye" by Carrie Underwood. I suggest you listen to it to set the mood, just after Mary finishes her errands.
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Tick, tick, tick...
Mary was waiting (quite impatiently) for Tami to come pick her up. She had been in the hospital with the twins for almost three hours. Two huge doctors' assistants had had to peel Dominique away from Dennis and escort her away. The girls hadn't seen her since, and that was fine with them. A middle-aged doctor had come out and told them that Dennis had a nasty incision in his right forearm, and had lost a lot of blood. He had been taken into intensive care the minute he had arrived. It would be a miracle if he didn't lose his arm.
Honestly, none of them would have cared. From the indifferent expressions the twins wore, Mary could see they didn't give a flip about Dennis.
With a bang, Tami rushed into the waiting room, Joey trailing behind her. "Oh there you are!" Tami launched into Mary and gave her a crushing hug. "Are you okay?"
Mary laughed. "I'm not the one with the sliced up arm, Tami."
"I know, but something could have happened..."
Mary looked up at Joey. He smiled. "Oh, you know Tami. Always worried about nothing," he shrugged.
"What are you doing here?" Mary could tell she was grinning from ear to ear.
"Just here for moral support." Joey leaned into her. She closed her eyes, and just as their lips were about to touch, Mary heard a cough and an indistinct whisper of "slut," and jumped back. Brit and Bree were glaring daggers at her. Oh yeah. Real world.
"Anyways, Joey and I were thinking you could come over to my place and we could watch a movie or something. You might want to spend the night, anyways, 'cause the police are still checking out your house."
"Good idea." Mary grabbed her bag and walked out the door. Hand in hand with her boyfriend, heading off to her best friend's house, the prospect of not being with Domi-freak and the twins fluttered happily through her mind.
At Tami's house, the teens were trying to decide what movie to watch. It was between District 9 and Precious, but Mary didn't want to watch exploding aliens or black goo (she had had a hard time washing all the blood off her hands), so they popped in the DVD and sat back. Tami was on the floor, and Mary curled up next to Joey on the couch. In the state between being awake and asleep, she only caught snatches of the movie.
A girl who had high hopes and big dreams. She was unloved and unwanted, abused by her family and peers, and could not achieve her goals. She only wanted to be loved, to find purpose... She had a baby that she had not wanted but would do anything to keep... Mary felt a sense of familiarity with Precious's situation, and a single tear fell from her eye before she fell fast asleep on Joey's shoulder.
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Mary's phone buzzed in her pocket. She groaned, and silenced it without opening her eyes. She adjusted her position, then remembered where she was. Her eyes flew open. Tami was still snoring on the floor, clutching a pillow. Mary was leaning against Joey, her head tucked into his chest. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. Her movements must have woken him, because he stirred beside her.
"Good morning, beautiful." He smiled.
"Hey Joey." Mary gave him a soft, lingering kiss. Getting up and stretching, she headed off to the kitchen to find some breakfast. "What's on the agenda for today?"
"I was thinking maybe us three could head down to the beach or something."
"Sounds good to me. When should we wake Tami?"
"I'm already up." Tami walked in, her mascara smeared, bed head all over the place. In short, she was a mess. Mary smiled.
"We're going to the beach. Wanna come?"
"Yeah, sure." Mary placed toast and jam in front of her, then sat down herself.
"Okay, when you finish we can grab the towels and stuff. Can I borrow a swimsuit?"
"Sure, if you want to. I bet they've finished checking out your house though. So you can grab some of your own stuff if you want."
Mary nodded. They would head there first.
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Pulling into the driveway, Mary hopped out of Big Orange and jogged into the house. She was just climbing the stairs when a noise startled her. She stepped back down and peered into the living room. Brit and Bree returned her gaze, smiles wide and malicious.
"Mary dear, what are you doing?" Bree challenged.
"Yeah, you're not welcome here." Brit added. Bree elbowed her in the ribs.
"She knows that." Bree turned back to Mary. "You're lucky mother's napping. If she was awake, you'd be in for it. She blames you, you know."
Mary stared, wide-eyed. "Me? How is anything my fault? I saved Dennis!"
"He wouldn't have been hurt in the first place if you had been home cooking dinner like you were supposed to be. But nooo, instead you were in detention. She knows about your almost-suspension, by the way. She's very angry." Mary began to edge away. "Just watch your back."
Mary hurried up the stairs silently. She grabbed a swimsuit and towel, then, in an instant of intuition, she grabbed up her old trunk. She emptied her closet into it, and placed her only photo of her mother in the side pocket. She closed the trunk with great difficulty, but finally managed it. She locked the door to her room and took the key.
Suddenly she had a thought. She thundered down the hallway and pounded furiously on Dominique's bedroom door. Then she turned and sprinted down the stairs, taking them two at a time. All she could do was hope she could get out of the house before anyone stopped her. She crashed through the door and bolted for the car, screaming, "Go! Go!" as she slammed the door. Tami floored it, but not before exchanging a nervous glance with Joey.
Then the reality of what she had done caught up with her. Mary smiled mischievously. Chuckled. Then she doubled over laughing at her little prank. May sighed and wiped a tear from her eye. Smiling, she said, "There's no way I can go back there."
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"Gluten-free bread... Gluten-free bread... Ah, here is is!" Mary pulled her prize from the shelf and threw it in the cart. She was at the grocery store, and had been running errands all day. The good thing about living with Joey was that he didn't tower over her like a slave driver. In fact, he didn't mind when she came home late at all.
When Mary officially moved out, she would have gone to live with Tami, but Tami's sick uncle was staying with them, and she didn't want Mary exposed to anything he might have. Mary was in a happy daze as she paid for her items and left.
She looked at her watch. 7:45. She began to hurry. It was dark and the late-November air was chilling her through her sweatshirt. She decided to take a shortcut home through a deserted warehouse a couple streets down.
As Mary walked, her thoughts were lingering over the movie Precious. A young woman with big dreams, dashed by an abusive family and peers. A baby forced upon her but she would do anything to protect...
Mary stepped through the broken window that she always used as an entrance. The ceiling towered above her, broken crates were strewn about. Mary's iPod was blasting music in her ears, and she was not expecting anything. She was completely caught off guard when she tripped and fell flat on her face.
"Ow." She was totally surprised by the hand roughly grabbing her leg. She screamed and yanked the headphones out of her ears. She looked, terrified, into the face of Dennis. His eyes were bloodshot, his words reeked of alcohol. "Hello, sweetheart," he slurred.
Mary couldn't move. All she could feel was terror, pure terror, as he reached drunkenly towards her. In a rush of adrenaline, she jumped up and sprinted for the exit. But she was not fast enough. She heard a crack as she broke her fall, and could not tell if the worse pain came from the impact on her head or the burning in her wrist. Her cries were muffled by a huge hand. As danger came ever nearer, closing in like a train on a tunnel, Mary could do nothing to save herself. And no one could hear her scream.
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They say that sometimes you have to let go of things you once loved to move on with life. That sometimes, life has to hurt and bring pain. And sometimes, that pain brings joy. Life is not full of sparkles and bunnies all the time; it hurts. No matter what delusion you're living with.
I guess it's gonna have to hurt,
I guess I'm gonna have to cry,
And let go of some things I've loved,
To get to the other side,
I guess it's gonna break me down,
Like falling when you try to fly,
It's sad, but sometimes moving on with the rest of your life,
Starts with good-bye.
I know there's a blue horizon,
Somewhere up ahead, just waiting for me,
Getting there means leaving things behind,
Sometimes life's so bitter sweet.
Somewhere there was music. It was sad, but anchoring enough to bring Mary back. She found she could not open her eyes, only remain and listen. Then she remembered. It came rushing back in a blast so powerful her breath was taken away. She mustered the strength to open her eyes. A ceiling. High above her. And a very small sound reminded her that her iPod was somewhere close by, playing her music.
Her iPod. It would tell her the time. Mary struggled to lift her head. No one was here. A sob escaped her lips as she felt the pain in her wrist. There was pain all over, but especially in the more obvious parts. She could never explain how she did it, but somehow she brought herself to her knees and crawled to her iPod. 10:09. She had been unconscious for a while, and Joey must be insane with worry. She struggled into her sweatshirt and stuffed the device in the pocket. And she stood. It was only by a miracle that she took a step. Two steps. Three, four. And she was moving. Slowly she made it out of the warehouse, and down the street. Slowly she made it to Joey's house (which was mercifully nearby), and when she made it through the front door, she collapsed into a heap and blacked out.
Mary didn't know if she believed in God, but someone somewhere was looking out for her.
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A/N: Well, what did you think? This was pretty hard for me to write because I wanted to leave most everything to the imagination. This is only rated T, after all. So, question number three: what's your favorite sport? Mine's football. Soccer. Whatever you want to call it.