Chapter Fourteen

"Why the hell didn't you tell them?" Bradin cried as soon as he and Marie were free of the adults. They had just sat through almost an hour long speech on the responsibilities of safe sex and what could happen if you don't protect yourself. Now, the couple were on their way to Marie's house.

"You know I can't, Bradin." Marie snapped.

"Why not? If you tell them then you can be free of your stepfather." She started to walk away from him, but Bradin grabbed her arm and forced her to turn around and face him.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" He cried, "You can get away from him Marie, you can live your life, you and your mom both."

"It's not that easy, Bradin!" Marie screamed, her eyes flashed with pent up anger and frustration. Startled by her outburst, Bradin took a step backwards, his eyes riveted to hers. She bit her lip, her eyes watering, and her anger melting off her face.

"It's not that easy." She repeated more quietly. "You can stand there and say that, and make it all sound so easy, but it's not. You don't know the hold he has over us. You don't know what he can do. You don't know."

"Then help me to know." Bradin placed a gentle hand on Marie's shoulder as the tears flooded down her face. Her face was pale, making her nose, red from crying, stand out.

Marie rubbed a hand over her face, allowing her fingers to become tangled in her hair. Dropping her hand back down to her side, she looked at Bradin, her eyes studying him, as if to calculate whether or not he could handle the truth. She took in a deep breath and exhaled it in one shaky breath.

"Every night, after the beatings first started, I would lie in my bed and listen to my mother cry. And I would hear him scream at her to shut up and…" she paused, taking in another deep gulp of air. Bradin could see that it was a struggle for her to tell him all of this, and he waited patiently for her to continue.

"And then I would…I would hear him hit her, and I remember lying there, wishing that I could do something. But you can't fight against a monster like that. If you do, there is no way that you can win."

"It doesn't have to be that way." Bradin said gently, "If you would just tell my aunt, or Susannah, or Johnny, or Jay, they'll help you."

"No!" Marie stepped away from him. The tears flooded down her face, falling onto the pavement at her feet and forming dark circles. "Do you know how hard it was to tell you about my stepfather, do you know how hard it is to tell you all of this now? I can't tell them Bradin. I can't face the sympathetic looks, or the words of comfort, I just can't."

"You say you want a new life Marie, but you don't do anything to help yourself." Bradin's voice rose as he tried to make her understand that she needed to tell someone. "You keep doing all these little things and you think they're some sort of accomplishment, but you still let yourself be ruled by him."

"I am doing my best Bradin Westerly." Marie said, her eyes narrowing, she poked him in the chest, hard. "I am doing what I can, but you don't know anything about my life. Sure you know what's happened, but you don't know the extent of the damage, or how hard it is for me to open up to people. Every day I fight just to reach out and touch you. I have to fight to not pull my hand out of yours. And, when we kiss, sometimes I feel like I want to throw up because I remember every kiss that has ever been forced upon me."

"Well if it's that hard to be with me maybe we shouldn't be together." Bradin cried, enraged that she was saying she didn't trust him.

"You're right," Marie said, nodding her head. She bit her lip. "Maybe we shouldn't be together."

She quickly turned on her heel and walked away.

"Damn it." Bradin shouted when he could not longer see Marie's retreating figure. Why, when they were just beginning to get close, to trust each other wholly, why did this happen?

He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his shorts and turned to go home.


Marie fell onto her bed crying. Her face buried in the plain white pillowcase, her tears soaking through and drenching the pillow. She tried to keep her sobs muffled, not wanting her stepfather to come up and make her feel even worse than she did right then.

Why did she insist on pushing people away from her? Bradin was the only person that Marie had ever found that she could talk to. Why then did she have to fight with him? Because he wanted her to tell people about her life when she wasn't ready to, that's why. But why couldn't she tell someone else? Why did she fear telling the truth so much?

"I don't know." she cried into the pillow, "I just don't know." Her fists beat against the mattress and she kicked her legs, pounding out her frustrations. She bit her lip, tasting the salty tears that fell onto her mouth.

Marie sat up, wiping away the tears that continued to fall, silently, from her eyes. She turned her head towards the window and stared out at the crystal blue sea that merged with the bright, cloudless sky.

"What am I gonna do, Daddy?" she whispered, "How am I going to get Mom and I out of this? I'm only one girl, one very bruised and battered girl. I need your help, I don't know what to do. I've just pushed away the only person that I could trust, and now I don't know where to go from here."

She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs, resting her head against her knees and burrowing her face in the space between her chest and legs.

"I don't know what to do." She whispered, straining to speak around the lump in her throat. "You always said that I had a guardian angel watching over me, well where is it when I need it most? Please help me Dad, you said you would never leave me or Momma, but you did."

More tears streamed down her face and Marie's shoulders shook with the suppressed sobs.

"You left us." She screamed, tilting her head back so that she was staring up at the ceiling, "You left us and now we're trapped in our own home with a monster who should never have even been allowed into our lives. It's all your fault." She buried her face once more between her knees, "It's all your fault." she repeated in a whisper.


It was Saturday, Bradin and Marie had fought on Friday. Marie sat in her bedroom, listening to the sounds of her stepfather and his friends downstairs as they played poker. As she listened to their drunken laughter, Marie stared out her window at the moonlit ocean.

She hadn't spoken to Bradin and he hadn't tried to contact her either. Marie couldn't help but wonder if things were truly over between them. She desperately hoped not. Bradin was her one link to a normal life. He had saved her from the misery in which she lived and had given her hope. But he pushed her too much. He wanted her to tell others about the abuse which she suffered. She wasn't ready for that, not by a long shot. It had been enough of a struggle to open up to him. His family was practically a bunch of strangers to Marie. Sure she had gotten to know them a little bit, but they still remained mysteries to her. How could she tell them about the hell she lived in?

Unbidden, tears began to flow down her cheeks. Marie wiped them away, disgusted. She had cried too much and it sickened her that she was that weak. Her father hadn't raised her to be like this.

There was a ping as a small pebble hit against her window, startling Marie. She blinked and moved to open the window to see who was out there. Climbing out onto the roof, Marie moved over to the edge of the roof and looked over.

Bradin stood on the sand underneath her, craning his neck up to see her, his fist curled around another pebble. Marie's breath caught in her throat as she watched the moonlight catch in his hair.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed, speaking just loud enough for him to hear her above the gentle roar of the ocean waves.

"We need to talk." He said quietly, the wind caught his words, carrying them up to reach Marie's ears.

"Bradin…"

"I'm sorry, Marie." He said quickly, cutting off the words that Marie was about to say, "I know I shouldn't have pushed you to do something that you weren't ready for, and I'm sorry. Please, can we talk?"

Touched by his apology, Marie nodded.

"I'll be right down." she whispered. Moving quickly, she stood and made her way towards the trellis and quickly climbed down, jumping the last foot towards the ground.


Are they going to make up, or are Marie and Bradin over with? Who knows. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and will review.

Haylie: Ava and everybody will find out about Marie soon, you just gotta wait and see how.

theshyone, flamesflyer, Spork Princess, jessefan0409, Summerland Chick, closetwriter, Ally B, Dramagrl, and darkdestiney2000: Thank you all for reviewing this story. Your comments and encouragement really help to keep this story going.