Chapter 14: Scared

Marissa stared at the blank wall as the questions echoed around her head.

"What build?"

"Colour of hair?"

"Any particular smells?"

"How long before you got there?"

"Marissa?"

"Miss Cooper?"

"Marissa?"

"Are you alright?"

All the voices seemed so distant, far enough away that she could pretend they weren't there. Suddenly the single weak light bulb hanging from the ceiling seemed to be giving of rays as strong of the sun. The light bounced off the white washed walls blinding her. She screwed her eyes shut and willed it to go away – for everything to go away. She felt a hand on her shoulder and her eyes shot open. The sounds all around her hit her ears as she was brought back to reality.

"Marissa?"

She turned to see a worried looking Sandy.

He prayed that it wasn't going to turn out like last time.

"Oh, um, sorry…I…I just have a headache." She said the first excuse that came to her mind. Though it wasn't an excuse. She did constantly have a head ache and not just because she had been bashed on the head. It was the memories of what happened that thumped around her head, keeping her up all night and – something she hadn't told anyone – scared all day.

"We can get you an aspirin." Inspector Trueman replied. He nodded to the officer standing at the door who then left the room.

"So could you say which one too your bag?

Marissa took a deep breath. She had to get through to the end.

"Umm, I don't know. I just saw a hand, and I was in pain…"

"So after they drove away you went straight to the Cohens?"

"Ye. I don't remember how long it took but it wasn't far away."

"And when you got there?"

"Umm, I'm not sure…" she looked to Sandy for help.

"If I may Inspector."

"Go ahead."

"It was my wife, Kirsten, who opened the door to Marissa. I heard her crying for help so naturally I went to see what was wrong. When I got to the front door she was kneeling down holding Marissa who was just conscious. I ran to phone an ambulance and when I got back she was unconscious. The ambulance arrived in about 5-10 minutes and took her to Newport General."

Marissa felt her hands shaking. It was so scary hearing Sandy describe things that she didn't remember.

"Did you notice anything suspicious?"

"No, though I was in shock over what was happening so…"

"Right. Well, I think that's enough for now. I would like to see if you can describe your attackers so that we can try and form an image on the computer."

Marissa nodded. She had come this far but she didn't think she would be of much help. The only images of them in her mind were blurry. Partly because she couldn't remember what they looked like but mostly because she didn't want to.

"And that's how it's done!" Seth said victoriously throwing down his play station control. Ryan just stared transfixed over his characters mangled body. He always beat Seth at that game. The phone rang and Seth grabbed it.

"You have reached the anxiety helpline. My name is Stanley. How can I help you?"

"Seth, hand me over to your mother."

"Are you sure? You sound a little stressed."

"Seth," Sandy said warningly.

Seth took the hint.

"Mother!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. Kirsten walked in from the garden wearing her gardening gloves.

"It's Dad." Seth was about to throw the phone.

"Don't even think about it." She took off her gloves as she walked over to Seth.

"Hey, what's up?"

Seth and Ryan watched Kirsten expectantly as she listened to Sandy.

"Uh huh… Ok…. I'll see you soon… Ok… Bye… Love You… Bye."

She noticed Ryan and Seth staring at her.

"Is it about Marissa? Is she alright?" Ryan asked, becoming worried.

"Ye, she's fine. She just has to do a description of her attackers so that police can try and get an image of them. It seems as though everything went pretty well." She smiled as she saw Ryan's whole body relax.

"Hey, maybe now we can all just move on from this whole nightmare," Seth said still feeling slight tension in the air.

"I don't think it's going to be as easy as that for Marissa."

Seth looked at Ryan.

"Well we can help her."

Kirsten was sitting in the living room with a glass of wine watching Ryan and Seth on the play station. She was starting to get worried. Sandy had phoned over two hours ago. As she contemplated phoning him she heard voices and the front door clicked open. She immediately stood up as Sandy, Jimmy and Marissa walked through the doorway. Ryan paused the game and swiftly made his way over to Marissa. Kirsten put her glass down and followed Ryan.

Marissa rushed over to Ryan and hugged him. He felt her let out a shaky breath as she rested her head on his shoulder. He held her close to his body and neither of them spoke a word. All that mattered was that they were there for each other.

Kirsten kissed Sandy's cheek.

"How was it?"

"Ye, it was fine. I mean I know she found it difficult but she coped really well."

"You should probably get her home, she looks pretty exhausted," Sandy said to Jimmy as they all looked over at Ryan and Marissa still hugging.

They eventually stopped hugging.

"You ok?" Ryan asked her softly.

"Ye. I'm just glad it's over."

"Hey, kiddo, we should probably head home. You'll need some rest before school tomorrow."

"Ok," she turned back to Ryan.

"Do you think she's ready for school?" Kirsten said quietly to Jimmy.

"I think she just wants everything back to how it was."

"Well you best get her home then," Sandy said patting his shoulder.

Jimmy walked over to Marissa as the doorbell went.

Sandy opened the door.

"Hey Julie."

"Hey Sandy. Is she here?"

"Ye come on in."

She smiled at Sandy and walked past him.

"Oh honey!" she said as she hurried over to Marissa and hugged her. "When Kirsten told me you were going to see the police I was so worried. I wish you'd tell me things."

"I'm sorry," she said looking at her feet. Her mom always made her feel guilty even when she hadn't done anything wrong.

"Oh, sweetie, you don't have to apologise, I just want to be as much a part of your life as Jimmy is. Just remember that you can stay with me and Cal whenever you want. It's your home too. Talking of Cal I'm supposed to be meeting with him for dinner so I better go." She kissed Marissa's cheek. "Remember come over whenever." Marissa forced a smile. "Thank you so much for being there for Marissa. It means so much," she said to Sandy.

"I'll help in anyway I can."

She kissed him on the cheek and headed out the door.

"Well I for one think that was very civilised." Everyone looked over at Seth. "What! Julie and Jimmy in the same room for more than 10 seconds and my eardrums are still intact!" Everyone looked at him in complete silence. "Ok, you're allowed to make a little bit of noise. My eardrums aren't that weak." Still no one said anything. "I think that maybe I'll just go and make my own noise upstairs. Ok? Good…" Seth disappeared upstairs.

Jimmy clasped his hands together. "Well we should probably go."

"I'll see you out the front of the school tomorrow morning?" Marissa said to Ryan.

"I could pick you up."

"No it's cool."

"Ok." He gave her a quick kiss. He took her hand and they walked to the door. Marissa turned to Sandy.

"Thank you again for being there today. I couldn't have done it without you. I know that sounds really clichéd, but it's true."

"Well I've always been a fan of a good cliché."

Marissa smiled at Sandy and walked out to the car with Ryan.

Jimmy shook Sandy's hand.

"Thank you really doesn't cover what you guys have done for Marissa."

"That's what friends are for," Kirsten smiled at Jimmy and gave him a hug. "Take care of her," she said to Jimmy as he walked out to the car.

Marissa waved to Sandy, Kirsten and Ryan as they pulled out the driveway. She looked in the wing mirror as Ryan disappeared round the corner. She rested her head back and gazed out over the ocean, at the hazy pink and orange sky.

"Things can only get better," she thought as she smiled to herself.

Little did she know that the sky rumbling in behind her was black…..

I had more in this chapter but it was getting really long so I will add the next chapter quite soon. Please Review!