Hope POV
I give Jackie a small smile and nod off to the side where we could sit in the shade out of the blazing sun. Closing our eyes, we both leaned back against the building in silence, basking in the slight coolness that it gave us. Unable to stand the silence for long, Jackie looked over at me poking my shoulder quickly gaining my attention.
"So, care to tell me what's going on between you, Blade, Hale, and Riddick?" She inquired with a Cheshire-like grin. My eyes snapped open as a light blush appeared on my face.
"I don't know what you are talking about ... there is nothing going on between us." I answer, looking around trying to figure out a way off the topic, "So how are you liking the weather here ... It's nice, isn't it?"
Jackie turned so she was fully facing me giving me a dead stare. "Don't bullshit me, I know there is something going on, so you better tell me." I look down at the sandy ground under my feet blushing a little darker.
"I really don't know what you're talking about." I looked up, giving Jackie a small smile. "They are nice to me, but I guess that's simply because they think I am weak." Jack rolled his eyes. "I don't think that is the case, but I guess the main question is what do you think about them?"
I gave a small shrug while looking at anything but the kid. "Umm …" I hesitate, not sure if I should tell her or not.
Jackie smiled nudging her. "No umm. Give me an actual answer to the question." She continued the pester, glancing up at the top of the building, noticing someone dressed in black disappearing over the other side. "I promise I won't tell anyone."
I tilted my head to the side glancing at Jackie before looking around making sure we were the only two around. "Well … Blade is …, Peter is... and Riddick is… they're sexy hunks." My blush darkened as I whispered, "And I can tell you one other thing though ... they all have amazing bodies."
Jack gave a devious smirk noticing how red my cheeks were turning. "Interesting." she said, slowly standing up, "But all I have to say is that I didn't say anything to anyone…" Jack continued to back away, smiling at me.
I jumped up wide eyed. "Jack…?"
"What? You're the one that said everything not me." Jackie smirked, turning around, taking off towards the others laughing her head off.
I stared at her confused, until I felt someone's strong grip grabbing hold of my shoulder spinning around me to face him. Not wanting to face whoever grabbed me, I closed my eyes and tilted my head down to the ground, biting down on my lip trying to plan a way to cover up everything I admitted too, without being embarrassed.
Time seemed to slowly pass as his hand drifted to my cheek, making me tilt my head up at him as he leaned down, whispering into her ear. "Look at me."
I slowly opened her eyes only to be met by the inky blackness of Riddick's goggles. "Riddick?" I squeak softly.
Riddick grinned, standing up straighter with his hand still on my face as I felt another hand brushing up her back. I shiver, slowly looking over my shoulder only to notice Blade and Peter leering down at me. "Oh shit..." The words slipped out of my mouth before I had the chance to stop them.
I glance between the three of them and gulp. "Please tell me you didn't hear anything." However as much as I was hoping, the looks on their faces killed any hopes that I had to them not knowing.
"We heard everything." They all pulled away from me and started circling as if a wolf for its prey. "Now the only question is what to do about this new piece of information," Riddick murmured, brushing a stray piece of hair away from my neck.
I felt so embarrassed for a few seconds, I wished for the ground to swallow me up. Jack had lured her into a trap. He knew that they had been lurking around!
'The next time I see that kid I'm gonna strangle him.' I thought, annoyed before I moaned accidentally.
These two were way too close for her brain to properly work. "Eh… ignore it, for now?" she asked, hopefully.
The closeness made her remember her parents and kids were around. Unconsciously, I shudder at the thought of my parents hearing me.
Both convicts chuckled at my question.
Though they were amused and interested that I like them.
They had interest for me, sure, but only because I might be a good screw for them. Nothing more. Or at least that's what they tell themselves.
Blade, Peter, and Riddick then sensed something slightly off about me.
They sensed slight fear starting to slowly radiate off me, the fear radiates off of me.
Glancing down at me, Riddick noticed a bit of fear in my eyes where Blade could smell it.
Riddick didn't care for me or my feelings or so he would say. He found it amusing how I reacted to their presence and what they heard.
His mind strayed to the conversation I had had with Jack on the way to the settlement.
The comment I had made before that along with the part where I had snatched Paris' bottles away all came together along with the conclusion.
Abused.
'No wonder she is always nervous when we get close to her.' they think to themselves.
Riddick glanced over her shoulder at Blade and Peter. Their eyes connected and Blade and Peter nodded. It seemed they too had come to the conclusion.
He glanced back down at her, his face blank. "Yer being more skittish than Paris is around us. Why is that?" he suddenly asked, which caught me off guard.
I swallow feeling alarmed suddenly. My face paled at the thought of telling them the truth.
Telling a kid about a part of my past was one thing but telling these guys… well… that was a whole other story.
"I-I, it's just… you're intimidating you know…" I tell them and fight the urge to look away.
All three men scoff. They knew I was lying through my teeth and knew the reason behind that, they just wanted to hear it coming from my mouth.
"The truth, kitten, or do ya want us to force it outtaya?" demanded Riddick. He could smell my fear escalate and sneers.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about." I said softly while I avoided eye-contact, trying one last shot at avoiding the question, but I lust after them as well.
This situation just went from embarrassing to fearsome.
Riddick growled making me flinch at the sound. On television it sounded hot, but in real life in a situation like this, it sounded intimidating, still hot though. "Don't play dumb, kitten. We can sense yer fear. We also heard yatalkin' 'bout yer boyfriend. He beat ya up?" he questioned to which I tensed even more while my eyes snapped open in alarm.
'How did-?' I started before my mind went back to the little conversation, I had with Jackie on the way here and I cursed myself. Of course, they would've heard me. They have sharper senses than the average human does.
I clenched my jaw and looked to the side. I would not answer that. I would not answer that! Rang through my head the whole time.
The same hand that had touched my cheek a moment ago, now grabbed my chin in a rough manner and turned my head forcibly towards Riddick.
"Talk!" barked the other Furyan harshly causing me to once again flinch but then growl and show that I am an Alpha as well.
I struggled with myself for a moment. Should I tell them? Don't tell them? I didn't know. Frowning, I decided to risk it. If only to satisfy their curiosity and to keep them away from me.
"Yeah… while he was drunk, he… he beat me up all the time. My boyfriend…" I trail off while looking to the side, my body shivering at the memories.
My hand grabbed my lower arm and squeezed a bit. The memories of my boyfriend were all resurfacing again. So hard, so hard I tried to forget and with just a few words it all came back.
Riddick, Peter, and Blade frowned deeply. They had guessed right that she had been abused. It wasn't that hard after all. But now she just revealed that it was her drunken ex. "What kind of boyfriend beat their own girlfriend up?" demanded Riddick, a bit annoyed.
I swallow thickly at his words. I risk glancing up at his face for a moment but quickly looked away again. The frown on his face told me nothing good. "The kind that blame his girlfriend for his sister dying." I told them softly.
The frowns on their faces grew even deeper if that was possible. "Was it?" asked Blade softly from behind her. I swallowed. I could clearly remember the accident.
****flashback
I was excited. Diana and I were riding back home. The two of us had gone on a camping trip and had tons of fun. She couldn't wait to get back home and tell Jacob all the fun they had!
Diana glanced into the passenger side and smiled when she saw me smile. "Have some patience, Hope. Just a little while longer and then you can tell Jacob all about the trip." he said with amusement. The young sixteen-year-old grinned. "I know! But I wanna see Jacob's face when I tell him about the firefly I caught. Oh! And how you tried to grab it but fell in the river when it flew away." I giggle. My friend, Diana shook her head good-naturedly before focusing on the road again.
Her eyes widened when she saw a van from the opposite direction suddenly swerve out of the line to catch up with the front car who was driving too slow in her opinion. "Shit!" cried Diana out.
The other driver's eyes widened when he saw them coming. He had not seen them at all. Neitherdriver had time to react. With a loud bang the two cars crashed into one another. A scream and then… nothing.
When I came to, I heard a soft beeping sound next to me. Bright lights shone into my eyes and made me moan while I turned my head to the side. The sound of a door opening made me try to open my eyes again. Where was I? Was I home? Blinking a few times to get the bright dots out of my sight, I looked to the side.
A man with a white coat looked down at me with a friendly smile. "Hey there, how are you doing? I'm Doctor Ferra and you are?" he asked in a gentle tone. I blink sleepily.
"Hope." I said in a soft voice. The doctor gave me a smile that somehow looked sad. Why? Was something wrong? "That's a pretty name." complimented the doctor making me blush. "Thank you." I said softly. The doctor pulled out a stethoscope and a light. "Alright Hope, I'm gonna need to check on your breathing. I need you to tell me if it hurts or troubles you, okay?" asked the doctor, making me nod.
Ferra did a checkup on my whole body and then left me alone.
A while later the doctor came back after he had talked with the parents who paid me a visit, along with Jacob. "Hey Hope, guess who's here for you?" he asked and stepped to the side. Three people came walking into the room who she recognized immediately.
"Mommy! Daddy! Jacob!" I cried to which two smiled through streaming tears and hugged me back, but Jake kept his distance. "Oh, my baby! Are you okay? We were so worried for you." said her mother while planting kisses on her face.
I giggled and hugged her back. Why wouldn't I be? I couldn't recall if anything had happened to me.
After the reunion with my parents, who told me nothing of the accident, they were told to go home.
The next day the doctor came back along with my parents. They all crowded around me while I happily snuggled against my mother. The doctor found it a warming sight and was saddened he had to break it.
"Hope, do you remember anything about an accident?" he asked softly.
I frowned. Accident? What accident? I was about to ask when there were flashes of Diana driving and another car. The sound of screeching tires and a scream.
Tears unconsciously gathered in my eyes. "Y-yes. I was with… Diana on the way home. We… we came back from a camping trip. I-I remember a van that came towards us." I said softly, my throat grew tighter and tighter with each word. I got a bad feeling about this.
"W-why? Where's Diana? Is she okay? Is Diana okay?" I start crying as memories of the sound of metal hitting metal and screeching tires seemed to echo again and again in her mind.
Ferra glanced at the mother and then at the father who both glanced at each other for a moment before the father nodded.
The doctor walked up to her bed and sat down next to the bed.
"Hope, Diana and you were in a terrible accident. I'm afraid she didn't make it." he said softly while he gave me a pitiful glance. More tears fell from my eyes.
"No. Diana." I whispered before I started sobbing loudly. The man looked at her with sympathy before he straightened up and turned around and walked out of the room.
My mother hugged me against her. "M-mommy! D-d-daddy!" I whimpered while more sobs wracked my little body.
A week later the trio went to the funeral of her friend. They had gotten word that I was the only survivor of the crash. Even the other driver hadn't survived. I had been lucky to get out of the crash with only a bump to her head, a sprained wrist and some cuts and bruises.
****flashback ends
"No… it wasn't. The guy who came from the opposite side was at fault. Unfortunately, he hadn't survived, either. My boyfriend felt that since I survived, it was my fault his sister died." I said softly, as a lone tear fell from my eye.
Despite the fact that she said it wasn't her fault, she felt that it was. Her boyfriend had started blaming her a year after her uncle's death and kept doing it ever since. She had started to believe his words.
A rough finger wiped the tear away. I looked up at Riddick in surprise who stared straight back at her. But his face was blank so I couldn't read it. "No need t' feel guilty 'bout somethin' ya didn't do." he said calmly, which made her look at him in astonishment.
That was the first time someone said that. "Y-you really believe me?" I asked timidly while looking down again. For so long I had been told the opposite. I wasn't sure anymore if it was her fault or not.
The fact that I just told two total strangers of the abuse made me unsure of myself. For years I had kept it hidden from others.
In the beginning I thought nothing of it. When I became a eighteen, I noticed that it wasn't normal to be hit all the time. When I tried telling a teacher, they had sent someone over to my boyfriend's house to check if it was true.
My boyfriend had managed to lie and got away with it, but only just, though for a month, until he was caught by her father. When I had come home to him that day, he had beat her up extra badly. After that, she decided it wasn't worth telling anyone.
Through my teenage years I had met other girls on school who I slowly learned to trust. Though this didn't mean I would tell them about my ex. After that incident with the teacher, I had decided to just keep it a secret. Sometimes it was difficult to hide or explain certain wounds or bruises I got from him.
I had three people who I could call friends. Unfortunately, because of all the abuse and threats of my boyfriend, I was hesitant to trust them. Because of that, I couldn't call them good friends for I didn't know that much of them.
The last years I had talked with my friends about moving away from my boyfriend. I lied to them about the reason why I wanted to leave my ex and just told them that I was hesitant to leave him.
It took a whole year before I managed to gather the courage to run away from them. I mentally shook my head to get rid of all the memories and brought myself back to the presence. Did he really believe me?
Riddick nodded once. "I can sense if yer lyin' or not. Ya weren't." he said simply. I looked up at him and slowly a smile rose on her face. A real smile.
Riddick blinked from behind his goggles at the smile. This was the first time he had seen me actually smile. It brought a strange tugging feeling inside of him. He mentally brushed the feeling away and firmly reminded himself that I was just another person, nothing more.
An awkward silence followed, and I became a bit nervous again. I hoped they wouldn't ask any more questions now. The silence gave her a chance to slip away from their questioning.
"Eh, you know, I think I should be going now. I mean… I hear Jack calling and uh… yeah… bye!" I stutter and step to the side and quickly hop away.
Blade, Peter and Riddick just watched her go. Blade then glanced over at Riddick, who glances at Pete. He could sense the turmoil inside his friend. He frowned. He had known Riddick for years now and he had always been capable of reading him better than others. Right now, he too, was in turmoil with himself.
None of the convicts wanted to accept whatever it was that was tugging on their insides. It was a strange feeling that made them both uncomfortable. So, they all did what they always did with their feelings; pushed them to the darkest corner of their minds and forgot about them.
They all gazed in each other's eyes through their respective glasses/goggles. They then heard footsteps coming their way and glanced to where the footsteps were. Johns stood there.
