Wahay only took me 3 weeks this time!

The night of terror continues...

Chapter 30: A Night To Remember

Marissa bit her lip and glanced around with her eyes, not daring to move her head. She felt the girl next to her shaking as she sobbed quietly. She prayed that she would calm down. The girl whimpered and Marissa flinched and swallowed deeply as a gun moved past her face.

"If any of you even attempt to make an escape you'll regret it for the rest of you life, which admittedly would only be a second." A masked man walked passed Marissa waving the gun at each of their faces. Marissa looked to the boy and girl across from her, both around 18. Marissa noticed three more masked and armed men hovering in the background.

"Now all you have to do is do what I say." He suddenly lunged and grabbed on to the shaking girl, dragging her up roughly. "Why don't you shut up and go and open the till."

"I…I…don't know how," she whimpered.

"Well you better learn quickly then," he grunted roughly shoving her towards the till. He waved his hand to one of the other men who moved over to watch Marissa and the other two hostages.

"Please…please… I don't know," she cried weakly as he dragged her to the till. "Please, no, please just let me go!" she begged. She fell to the ground as a hand flew to her face.

"Leave her alone!" Marissa suddenly shouted standing up. The man walked back to Marissa. He laughed in her face and she just glared back.

"Oh we're quite the character now aren't we." He pressed his gun under her chin, pushing her back into the wall. He leaned right into her face. " I would suggest that you sit down and shut up," he growled quietly. "We wouldn't want anything to happen to your pretty little face now," he caressed her face with his thumb as a shiver went through her body, memories of her ordeal not so long ago flashing back. He roughly shoved her back down. Marissa fell back down as she suddenly felt weak. Why did things keep happening to her, what had she ever done? She rested her head in her arms wishing that she could feel Ryan close to her. She had ruined it with him and she would do anything to take it back. She felt tears surface as she realised what a mess she had made and now she might not be able to make it right. Marissa suddenly looked up when she heard shouts. She felt her chest tighten when she saw the girl make a run for the door.

"No!" she shouted but it was too late as a shot was fired and she fell lifeless to the floor. Marissa tried to scream but nothing came out as she froze in terror. She watched as a trickle of blood appeared from under the body. The masked man ran over to the remaining three. The other two moved close together, hugging on to each other but Marissa sat there with no one to hold on to her. No one to tell her that everything would be alright, no shoulder to cry on.

"I'm guessing that put across a pretty clear message of what will happen if any of you try anything." He turned to Marissa, fire raging in his eyes. "You come with me." He grabbed on to Marissa's arm his fingernails digging in.

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The crowd fell silent once again when a gun shot rang out from inside the building. The officers near the entrance glanced back to the one in charge not knowing what to do. They got the signal to stay where they were. Noticing this Ryan clenched his fists.

"Why don't they go in, what're they waiting for!" Sandy placed his hand on Ryan's shoulder.

"They know what they're doing kid."

"What if that's not enough? What if Marissa's dead! I wouldn't call that knowing what you're doing."

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Marissa felt tears in her eyes as she felt herself get pulled on.

"Wait no!" a voice emerged from the other girl. The man faced her, still grabbing onto Marissa. Marissa frowned as the girl stood up clearly terrified. "I work here I know how to get into the tills."

"Not that's what I like to hear." He let go of Marissa and grabbed the other girl by the arm. Marissa held her arm where he had grabbed her, closing her eyes as tears fell. She watched as he led the girl to the till holding the gun to her head. Marissa flinched as she felt a hand on her leg. She looked into the boys eyes.

"Hey, it's going to be alright. Okay? Okay?" Marissa nodded weakly as he shakily held on to her hand. Marissa held tightly onto his hand. He may have been a stranger but right now he was all she had.

"What's your name?" he whispered trying to calm her down.

"Marissa," she managed to whisper out.

"I'm Pete." Marissa let out a shaky breath as she started to relax. Marissa glanced up and saw the girl still at the till. Suddenly Marissa let go of his hand as he was yanked up.

"Hey you work here?" the masked guy asked him looking at his bait shop top. Pete glanced down at Marissa who looked back at him, her eyes wide with fear. "I said do you work here?" he growled shaking Pete.

"Yes," he cried out.

"Hey! This kid works here too!" he shouted over to the man at the till.

"Take him to the safe!" he shouted back. The other man walked over and grabbed on to Pete. Pete glanced back to Marissa. He mouthed "I'm sorry" to her as he was dragged out of her sight. Marissa bit her lip as she tried not to cry. She had only known him for a few minutes but he had been there when she was alone.

"I guess it's just me and you then," a gruff voice said to her. He pulled her off the ground and pinned her against the wall. "I could do anything I wanted," he pressed his hips against her and crushed her lips with his. They felt like sand paper against her lips as she tried to squirm out of his grip. He tightened his grip as his lips moved to her neck and across to her chest. She looked up as tears trickled down her cheeks. "Please Ryan I need you," she prayed to herself, as she felt her strap being moved down and his hand reach up her dress. Ryan was her angel, her world and she needed him now more than ever before. She closed her eyes as she gradually gave up. She felt his tongue shove down her throat as his hands groped at her. He let go as a voice called over to him.

"Hey keep it in your trousers! I'm taking this one out back. You know what to do. The cops will be in any minute. They just want us to believe that we have control. But we'll show them." Both men laughed as Marissa pulled her strap up, backing against the wall. "Come on sugar time to go," he laughed in her face as he grabbed her and led her to the door. "How about one last kiss?" Marissa tried to lean away but he grabbed her head and pulled it to his. He pushed her face away and grinned at Marissa. "If I could have it my way then we'd still be up against that wall," he looked her up and down before sighing. "But I guess we'll have to do it the boss's way." He gripped his hand around Marissa's arm and lifted the gun to her head. Marissa closed her eyes and felt herself stop breathing waiting for darkness to consume her. But her eyes shot open when she heard a loud voice beside her.

"If any of your officers make a wrong move then you're going to have this girls blood on your hands." Marissa felt herself being shoved sideways the gun still on her head.

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Ryan's body tightened when he heard a voice emerge from inside the building.

Suddenly a girl got shoved into the doorway a gun resting on the side of her head, only the arm of the criminal visible. But it wasn't just any young girl.

"Marissa!" Ryan shouted out, his first instinct to run to her. He tried to get to her, the fear on her face tearing him up inside, but Sandy and Seth each grabbed on to one of his arms stopping him from making one of the biggest mistakes of his life, knowing that it would take one simple movement for the trigger to be pulled and Marissa's life to end. They both loved Marissa but not like Ryan whose love for her was blinding him. Marissa needed rescuing and all Ryan wanted to be was her knight.

"I demand you all to lower your weapons or this girl will die!"

The officers all looked at each other and gradually lowered their guns.

"Thank you for complying to my commands but you should all know by now that we never stick to our word."

Ryan looked at Sandy confused as the place fell silent once again.

"I mean you couldn't even save one girl."

Marissa screwed her eyes shut as she felt the gun press harder to her head. She felt tears fall from her eyes, the last tears she would cry with no one to catch them when they fell.

A gun shot rang out on that dark Californian night, a night that everyone there would remember. Ryan threw himself forwards through the tape remembering what had happened, forgetting what could, thinking of just one thing. Marissa. The way to love something is to realise that it might be lost, but the way to keep loving something is to save it when it loses it's way. He was there to save Marissa and nothing and no one could stop him.

I see a very pretty purple coloured clickable rectangle down there! Hope you do too... (basically please review!)