Hey guys! One more chapter to celebrate spring break… I think there'll be one or two more after this one, and then I'll have completed my first real story on Fanfiction (well, except one-shots). PLZ read and review!
Mort's hand was still frozen in the air, raised to hit her, but his muscles seemed to have been paralyzed, tensed so tightly that they shook, the sinews aching with friction. The uneasy, twisting feeling was becoming stronger. It was fighting him, fighting its way out from the shrouds of darkness that had enveloped it when he first saw the divorce papers, when he felt the blood-lust rise in his throat and felt, with unshakeable conviction, that this girl had to be disposed of.
A different memory flashed through his mind. He heard the song she had sung, only it was a different verse, and a man was singing it. A low, soft voice that carried only love.
He approached a girl from behind, put his hands on her waist and whispered "Hey."
She jumped, surprised, then laughed easily. She turned to him, still contained in the circle of his arms, and locked her arms around his neck.
"One of us will die inside these arms…" he murmured into her hair.
"I hope it's me," he whispered.
She leaned her head back to look him in the eyes. "Why?"
"So I never have to live without you."
Their lips met gently at first, and then the kiss grew more passionate. He ran his hands along her thin upper arms, helping her ease out of a light fall jacket, never breaking contact for a moment. He imagined their edges blurring into each other.
The feeling was growing, as he watched the girl, a roaring in his head, a tightness in his chest. He felt like he was dying. Perhaps he was already dead. It was surfacing, all the fear and pain and anguish that he had buried for so long. It felt like…
Someone shouting. He thought he heard someone in the distance, but as he looked at the girl, the voice grew louder, closer. Her eyes had still been closed, her body curled away from him as she futilely tried to protect herself from his blow. Slowly, when his hand didn't descend, she opened her eyes again and looked at him. She looked partly terrified, and partly concerned when she saw his motionless form.
Their eyes met. A voice erupted in his mind.
"LEAVE MARAH ALONE. YOU FUCKING BASTARD, LEAVE HER! SHE'S NOT PART OF THIS. YOU LAY ONE HAND ON HER AND I SWEAR, I'LL…"
The sudden force of the silent voice caused him to stumble backward, gasping for air. What—?
Then suddenly, his consciousness flipped. He was no longer the steady, softspoken killer John Shooter… he was the one screaming at the Southern intruder inside his head. He was Mort Rainey. Mort. And he suddenly was in control of his body, of his mind, of his voice.
He screamed.
He screamed and fell to his knees, and dug his fingers into the hard ground as hard as he could, trying to find a place where he could root himself. The world was whirling around him, making him dizzy. He felt like he had been reborn. He had lost his own mind to a killer, and found himself again.
Marah could only look on, horrified, for the first few seconds. She had no idea what was happening, but Mort gave no sign of stopping it, neither reverting to his killer mode, nor calming down. He started coughing, awful dry hacking coughs that racked his whole body.
The back door was still open.
She rose warily to her feet. The man she had loved was on the ground, obviously in pain, possibly in mortal danger… perhaps she should… Then he noticed the motion, and turned to look at her. Her survival instinct overwhelmed her. Strangling a cry, she shot toward the back door. Without stopping, she tore through the house, slipping on the rug, banging into things, exploding out of the front door and taking off down the front walk. She didn't even check to see if he was following her until a quarter mile up the road.
Finally, she stopped and looked back. No one seemed to be coming after her. The road was empty, and she couldn't hear any cars being started. She set out again, walking this time.
She had nowhere to go, no way to get food or shelter, and everything she owned in the world was back at Mort's house. But she was alive.
And the tears started to come.