An hour later, the talky started beeping. I sat up and flipped it open.
"Hello." I said pressing the little button like Garrison had shown me.
"Hey Honey." I smiled. I felt relief, but that turned to guilt. Was I supposed to feel that way?
"How was your ride?"
"Long, there wasn't much entertainment." I laughed.
"Well you could have talked to me. My day was long too."
"What did you do?"
"Just read."
"Well, I guess I should have. What is Marshall doing now?"
"I'm not sure. I went to bed about an hour ago, but I can't fall asleep. But before I went, he had just grabbed a beer."
"O.K. I guess he's making himself at home. Just be careful he doesn't have a high tolerance for alcohol." My stomach dropped, I swallowed.
"I will. So you have to get up early tomorrow?"
"Yeah. And then I'm going to get out as soon as I can." I smiled.
"O.K. well you need to get to bed. I'll see you tomorrow." I heard him grumble.
"I can't go to sleep. The bed is lumpy, and I don't have a lovely girl beside me. I'm not going to get any sleep." I laughed.
"Oh you poor thing. I think you will survive. Just get some sleep, and imagine what tomorrow night will be like." I said jokingly. My blush rising as I thought about what I just said, and the image of what was in the bag.
"Don't tease me. We're going to go to bed early tomorrow night."
"You don't have to tell me twice."
"Good night Raven, sweet dreams."
"Night Garrison. I'll see you tomorrow." I didn't get very much sleep. By three o'clock the next morning I fell into a dreamless sleep, only to be awoken to pounding on the door.
"Raven!" Marshall's voice slurred. I walked over to the door, opening it far enough to only stick my head out.
"What's wrong?"
"I needed to see you. You are just so pretty." His breath rank of alcohol.
"Are you drunk?" I said exasperated.
"No darling." He said leaning against the door. I couldn't keep it closed with his weight. And the door pushed me away from the opening. Marshall stumbled in, almost falling right there.
"Come here." I took him under his arms and push him on the bed. "Stay right there." He mumbled something and began trying to get up once again. "Stop." I tried pushing him back down, only to have his arms come around my waist. He hauled me to the bed, next to him. I screamed, and began hitting him. "Get off of me! Get off." He crawled on top. I could have gotten drunk just from his breath. I looked at the walky-talky on the nightstand and tried to reach for it. My hand stretched out, but my fingers pushed onto the floor.
By now, his hands were everywhere they shouldn't have been. I kneed him in the groin. He stopped moaning in pain. I rolled him off of me, and crawled to the floor.
"Come here!" I grabbed the walky-talky and slid under the bed. He couldn't reach me for the bed was too close to the ground for him to crawl under. I pressed the panic on the talky, which per Garrison, would send him a message saying I was in trouble. By now Marshall was cursing loudly. Tears started pouring down my face, when Garrison's urgent voice came through.
"Raven? What's wrong?!?" His voice sounded like a god sent.
"Help me! Marshall, he's drunk. And I'm hiding under the bed." In the background, Garrison could hear Marshall's angered voice.
"Hold on, I'm on my way." More tears came down my face. The bed then flew from on top of me. I whimpered, trying to move away. A hand grabbed my long hair pulling my hair, dragging me back. I screamed in pain, some hairs being pulled out by the roots.
I flew backwards, landing on my back, my head hitting the floor hard. His body was on top of me in a split second. Pinning me down with his body. This was not what I wanted when it goes to being my first time. I tried fighting to no avail, praying for Garrison to come through the door.
"Get off of me!" I screamed, my voice going hoarse. His hand came over my mouth, and I sunk my teeth in his hand. He pulled back, a bite mark left on his hand. He cursed some more and brought back his hand, hitting me. Blood instantly filled my mouth. I looked back up at him with hate filled eyes.
"Now shut up." He said deadly. He pinned my arms above my head with one of his hand, and tore my shirt off of me. My eyes widened as he took me in.
"Let me go!" the door busted open, and there stood Garrison, eyes like fire.
He walked in grabbing Marshall and throwing him to the other side of the room. He came to me, taking me in his arms. I sobbed in his chest, holding him tightly. I heard some movement, and saw Marshall getting up.
"Garrison!" I said pulling back to point at the danger behind him. He turned around punched Marshall square in the nose. I heard a crunch and saw Marshall sink to the floor, unconscious, with a pool of blood on the floor. Garrison came back to me, pulling me into his lap. He began smoothing my hair back.
"I was so scared." I whispered, shakily.
"I was too. I rushed here. I couldn't even imagine what he would have done to you." I shivered, then pulled back.
"How did you get here so fast?"
"I left early. The people I needed to meet with were inconveniently out of work. So I wanted to get back here as fast as possible. I was only about twenty minutes from the house when you called me. So I sped up to get here as fast as I could." He looked at my face, then placed his hand against the part of my lip that was busted. I sniffled, and looked down. After everything I had just been through, my face still flushed at my opened shirt. He followed my gaze down, I looked back up trying to close my shredded shirt..
"Here," he said as he shrugged off his jacket, placing it around my shoulders. I smiled lightly.
"Thanks." I peered over at the still Marshall, and turned around quickly.
"Come on, I think it's time we head out." I cocked my head to the side, "We'll head out today, go to the bathroom and clean up. I'll pack your things." I shook my head, and got up. I stood there as Garrison also got up and assessing the damage of the room. As I began to walk away, his hand caught my arm. He leaned down, brushing his lip against mine. I pulled him closer, but my bruised lip stopped me from going farther.
I washed my face, and looked at my lip. Only a little bruise on the inside, not that noticeable. Garrison knocked on the door, I opened it to see him holding some clothes in his hand.
I smiled, "What's this?" he stopped, placing the clothes on the counter, and pulled out a bag from behind him. I rolled my eyes.
"I brought you some clothes. And I was wondering if you could pack our bathroom items." I nodded. "Don't worry about the towels or anything of that nature. We'll have some at our new home." I nodded again.
"I'll be done in a second, then I'll come help you." He closed the door behind him. I changed clothes, and threw all the items I needed in the bag. I walked back to the bedroom to see Garrison just starting on my space. "I can do this," I interrupted. Just imagining what he would say if he saw the bag. While I walked towards my closet, I noticed Marshall's body was no where to be found.
"The truck's all ready to go. Are you ready?" I shoved the last pair of shoes in the bag.
"Yeah. Here carry this one. Is Eggo all packed up to go?" He stood there for a moment.
"Raven…I don't think he can come with us. It's rather hot in Mexico." He peered at me. My stomach somewhat dropped when it dawned on me what he really meant.
"Oh," I stood there for a moment, "then where is he going to stay? We can't just let him go, and he's not staying here alone." I said, my heart starting to pound.
"No, no we're going to let Hazel and Chris take care of him."
"They're on vacation though."
"Yes, but their neighbor would be O.K. taking care of him while they are gone." I nodded my head slowly.
"Come on." He said as he picked up most of the bags. I followed behind, then looked at the room. I rushed back to the closet and threw the bag in the luggage I had on my shoulder. When I got on the main landing, I looked for more evidence of Marshall, but saw none. Garrison came over taking the bags that I had in my hand, carrying them out to the car.
"Where did you put Marshall," he looked back at me.
"Don't worry about him. I gave him enough food to last him until Chris comes back. We need to leave." I stood my ground.
"What is Chris going to do to him?"
"Don't worry. He's going to get what he deserved for touching you."
"Why aren't you answering my question?" I pushed again. His eyes darkened.
"Because," he came up to be grabbing me by the shoulders, shaking me lightly, "I don't want you to think of me a monster for wanting to kill him. I want to snap his neck. I don't want him to be even a 1,000 miles near you." I looked at him, my eyes big.
"I won't think of you that way. He did something terrible to me. And you're just trying to protect me." He smiled a bit, pulling me into a kiss. When he pulled away, he put his arm around me, leading me out of the place I'd stayed at for nearly nine and a half months.
Driving down the road, I looked out the window, watching where we were going. We pulled into a driveway, and Garrison got out of the car, taking Eggo out of the back. He rang the doorbell, and older lady answered the door. After a few words, Garrison got back in the car. He looked at me.
"Ready to hit the road?" I put on the shades Hazel had given me from one of her numerous shopping sprees.
"Lets go."