Chapter Nine: When A Bluff Ain't A Bluff.
Toni sat on the bed in her trailer with Junkyard, flipping through a magazine. Her grandfather was out with some old Serpent buddies, so she was alone.
A slow scratching noise came from the outside as if something were scraping along the side of the trailer. She sat up swiftly and set the magazine down, heading for the window. As she peers outside into the dark night, the sound disappears.
She turns to head back to the bed when she hears it again. She flies back to the window to yet again see nothing when another similar noise starts coming from the other side of the trailer. She looks around quickly and the scraping noises begin circling the trailer. Junkyard runs to hide and she runs to lock the door. After she does so, she backs straight into something tall and hard.
"Well looks like we got a pretty one." A deep guttural voice says from behind her. Before she can scream, a hand clamps over her mouth. "Shh, shh, shh. We can't very well deliver our message if you scream. You see, Topaz, we've been watching your little gang divide here for while."
Three Ghoulies come out from shadowed corners of the trailer and Toni's eyes widen even more as she tries to scream through the hand.
"I said no screaming!" The Ghoulie holding her puts a knife to her neck and she instantly quiets. "Good. Now you see, through watching you we have come to the conclusion that you, , are the person that is equally cared about on both sides. We almost chose Betty, but with that whole secret lesbian thing, we had to reconsider. So we chose you."
One of the three Ghoulies in front of her steps towards her and picks up a lock of her hair, sniffing it.
"I know killing her is the only way to cause the Chaos we need in to fully split the Serpents apart, but can't we have some fun first?" The Ghoulie asks.
"Now, Tommy, is that any way to talk in front of a lady?" The Ghoulie holding her replies. He whispers in her ear. "I'm going to let you go now but if you scream or move, I'll let him do whatever he wants to you. Understand?" Toni nods, her eyes filling with tears. "Good." The Ghoulie lets her go and moves in front of her. "The names Sharkbait. This is Tommy Whales, Harrison Hertford, and Frankie Kimmey."
Toni stood, frozen with fear and unsure what to do. Tears started to flow down her cheeks.
"We're going to kill you now, but first!" Sharkbait says, reaching into his jacket pocket. "How about a game?" He asks his three friends.
"I love games." Tommy smiles evilly. Sharkbait pulls four brightly colored tubes from his pocket.
"I have four straws with me. Three are pixie sticks and one is Jingle Jangle. We'll draw straws, down the contents all at once, and the person who gets the JJ gets to make the first cut. Sound good?" Sharkbait holds out the straws to his friends and they all chatter excitedly.
Toni knew she had to do something but couldn't think of anything. They were blocking the door so she couldn't run. She could try a window but they would easily catch her way before she reached one. She didn't have a weapon with her, and they all either had switchblades or butterfly knives. That left her one option and it was far from a good one.
"Help!" Toni shrieks at the top of her lungs. "Help! Help me!"
"Hey bitch, I thought I told you not to scream!" Sharkbait steps forward and goes to hit her with the butt of his blade but she puts her hands up to block her face, getting the palm of one slashed in the process.
"Ah!" Toni screams in part fear and part pain and ducks to the floor.
"That's it." Sharkbait grabs Toni's hair and pulls her off the floor.
"No! No! Help!" Toni screams.
"Tommy do-" Sharkbait starts to order before falling to his knees and screaming in pain. Toni backs away from the four Ghoulies and watches as Sharkbait pulls a knife from the back of his right knee.
"Leave. her. alone." A female voice says from behind the Ghoulies. Toni hides her face and just listens to the sounds of cracking bones and blood.
"Fuck this!" A Ghoulie says and Toni listens as they all run away. All except one pair of footsteps that walks up to her and rests a hand on her shoulder.
"Go away!" Toni says as she turns and punches the person straight in the face, covering her mouth when she realizes it was Eleanor. "Ellie!" Toni gazes upon the girls re-beat up face.
"Toni, I'm so sorry. I tried to get here before-" Ellie starts, cut off by Toni's soft lips hitting hers. Ellie loses herself in the kiss for a second before realizing why it was wrong.
She had come here to warn Toni about the attack. She had come here to tell Toni that it was her fault she was even getting attacked. But now she looked like a hero. Now she got a kiss.
Eleanor pulls away and Toni tries to pull her back in but Eleanor doesn't let her.
"No," Ellie tells her. "Let me see your hand." She reaches out to grab Toni's hand but Toni pulls is back. "Toni, please. I need to make sure it doesn't need stitches." Toni turns red and can't meet Ellie's eyes.
Did she do something wrong? Was that kiss a mistake? And most importantly, what the hell just happened? Ghoulies came into her trailer and tried to kill her and tried to...but Ellie saved her. Ellie had taken on four armed guys and she had stopped them. Granted, they were all probably high off their asses and Ellie had brought weapons.
"T." Ellie looks at Toni then sighs, standing up and grabbing some gauze out of the medicine cabinet. "Here." She hands it to Toni who slowly wraps her hand wound. "Better?" Ellie asks. Toni nods and Ellie heads for the door.
"Wait," Toni says. Ellie stops and turns to the girl. Toni stands and walks over to Ellie, placing her good hand on her cheek. "Stay. Please." She pleads, not wanting to be alone.
Ellie looks into Toni's big brown eyes and kisses her.
If someone has ever read if you give a mouse a cookie then they understand what happened that night. If you give a freshly traumatized girl a hero, she's going to want a kiss to go with it. And if you give her a kiss, she'll want some intimacy to go with that. It's in all the romance novels and now in Ellie and Toni's lives. But who knows if that would turn out to be a good thing?