Writing fanfiction while watching Lifetime Movie Network. Life's pretty cool, no?
Enjoy :)
MPOV
My heart seemed to plummet straight into the floor. The card dropped from my fingertips, drifting softly onto my bed linens. I couldn't seem to get my brain to start working.
The only coherent thought running through my mind was No. No, no, no.
It couldn't be happening.
Brian was back, and he was going to come for me.
I had to try hard to repress all the emotions and memories that swirled around my head when I thought his name, threatening to take me over and force me to relive the past. With a hard blink, I was able to pull out of the trance, rescuing me from the horrors of going back into a time when Brian was a heavy aspect in my life.
He had hurt me enough, and now things were finally looking up for me in this new town. I wasn't going to let him ruin that for me. I wasn't going to let him steal away every chance I got at happiness.
Suddenly, I was craving the presence of another person. My skin was crawling with a million invisible spiders, a heavy sense of dread beginning to spill through my pores.
Against my own accord, my eyes drifted across the room towards my balcony. I peered through the crystal clear glass of my French doors, trying to catch sight of Fang. His curtains were drawn shut once again, making me hesitate against the move I was about to take.
When it came down to it, though, Fang was the only one I could find comfort in right now. My ignorant, poor excuse for a mother was obviously out of the question, and if I went to Angel or Ella about the matter it would only make them worry.
My hands clenched into fists. No, I would not steal away the happiness my sisters had found in this new town. Just because Brian seemed insistent on breaking down my life, that didn't mean I had to take my family down with me.
Fang, on the other hand, knew nothing of my past. He hardly knew anything about me, for that matter. If I went to him, he would have no idea what was wrong, no idea about the internal war raging on inside me that I was ever-so-eager to suppress with the company of someone else.
Digging through my school bag, I gripped the hilt of a plain black stick pen, planning on tossing it at Fang's door. Armed with the simple piece of plastic, I padded over to my French doors and flung them open. The cool approaching winter air washed over me like a refreshing slap to the face. Instantly, any fear of Brian was being smothered.
Even so, I couldn't help but flit my eyes around my surroundings, scanning for anything suspicious. My wide eyes locked on the looming forest that resided behind us. Plenty of shadows were lurking in the depths of the monster, making the hair at the back of my neck stand straight at attention. Any one of those shadows could be Brian.
Suddenly, it was all too much to handle. My carefully built walls were beginning to crumble, every part of my body quaking with the immediate reality of what the note left on my bed entailed. I stumbled backwards towards my room, the pen dropping from my grasp. A strong gust of wind blew at me, forcing the pen to roll off the balcony and the doors behind me to slam shut with a resonating shudder.
The choking feeling of being trapped strangled its way through my body. I gasped, trying desperately to fill my lungs with oxygen—I felt like I was swallowing mouthfuls of sand.
Whipping around, I grasped the handles of my doors so hard my knuckles turned white. I gave a sharp, jerky tug and they gave way, spreading wide like a welcoming embrace.
A gaze was hot at the back of my neck, making me panic. I dove inside my room, slamming the doors shut behind me. A scream was stuck at the base of my throat, threatening to dig its way up and into the air. Sweat was beginning to bead all over me, my entire body taking on a clammy, sickly effect.
I had my back pressed roughly against the bronze handles of the French doors, but suddenly I felt all too exposed. Chest heaving with struggled breath, I raced for my bed, diving under the blankets like a five-year-old hiding from a monster.
It was under there that the first of the sobs came shaking out of me.
I stayed under the blankets long after sunset. Ella knocked on my door more than once, but I sent her away with a lame excuse involving homework. Not once did I dare peek an eye out from beneath the comfort of my linens.
Every sense of mine was on high-alert, honing in on every aspect of my environment. The rational part of me told me I was being ridiculous hiding out like this, but I honestly didn't care at the moment. My blanket was soft and caressing on my skin, giving me a gentle comfort that I so longed for.
In a normal life I'd be able to race to my mother and voice my concerns about my stalker, but I didn't have a normal life. Instead I was thrown into some half-assed excuse of a life, forced to deal with Brian all by myself.
And quite frankly, I was scared to death.
Just as I took in another shuddering breath, I heard my phone begin buzzing a couple feet away. Keeping the blanket wrapped tightly around my fragile frame, I army crawled towards my bag, my waist and everything down still planted firmly into my mattress. My fingers just barely reached, dragging my bag towards me so that I could dig through it comfortably. I found my phone within seconds.
Tapping the screen to life, the pale blue glow illuminated the dark space I had confined myself to for the past few hours. I gazed warily at the screen, half expecting a text message from Brian to be there.
Instead, it was a text from Fang.
I know you love your showers, but that's no excuse for standing me up for the past two hours.
Two hours?
Blinking harshly, I checked the time at the corner of the screen. Sure enough, it read 11:30. Usually I would have met Fang just after nine.
I hesitated before responding to him, not sure what exactly I could say to him that would make him leave me alone while also preventing him from asking questions.
Finally, my ever-so-eloquent mind came up with, I got caught up.
In your blankets?
The response was quick, sure. Fang had seen me dive under the blankets then. No shock there, though. Anyone could easily see my entire room through my balcony doors, especially Fang. It was a wonder he hadn't called the cops on me after my little break down episode out there earlier.
Before I knew it, fifteen minutes had passed and I still didn't know what to say to Fang. I contemplated simply saying, "No," and find out where that took me, but that might just piss him off. So I sat there under my blanket, gnawing on my lip as I waited for some genius idea to suddenly pop into my mind.
A sharp series of three staccato knocks sounded at my balcony door. I could hear the wooden frame shake in protest from the contact.
My heart froze, ice spilling over into my body. Every voice in my head screamed the possibility of the person out there being Brian. The second I pulled the comforter back from my head, I would be a sitting duck, readily awaiting Brian to kick down the door and kidnap me. But what else was I doing now? It wasn't like a gigantic mountain under the blankets was exactly inconspicuous.
Swallowing my fear, I counted to three and ripped the blanket from my head, a scream already waiting at the base of my throat.
A shadow, tall and muscular, stood outside my door. The scream started to force its way up, my hands fisting in the delicate material of my blanket.
And then, the shadow waved at me.
Brian would never, ever act that calmly towards me.
Blinking hard against my first instincts, I took a second glance at who was outside. Perfectly messy dark hair and soulful chocolate eyes—Fang.
A sigh expelling from my chapped lips, I swung my legs over the side of my bed and made to stand, only to find that my legs were too weak from hours of lying down to do much. Blood rushed through my body, a serious case of head rush coming on.
Without warning, a soft breeze rushed into my room, and along with it, Fang. Shutting the doors, he cautiously stepped further into my room, coming over to my side. His eyebrows were drawn tautly together, concern flowing deep within his eyes.
He seemed to reach towards me, but I held my hand up to stop him, giving a curt shake of my head. He rested back on his heels, watching me to see what I'd do next.
Leaning down, I shifted through my sea of blankets until I found my bag. Producing a notebook and pen, I scribbled down a quick message and handed it back to Fang.
What on earth are you doing here?
I was worried about you.
Looking up into his face, I saw that what Fang had written was completely and utterly true. He had been concerned about me. I clutched the notebook so hard my knuckles turned white. For once, someone other than Ella and Angel bothered to care.
Gulping past my shock, I wrote back.
No need to worry, I'm perfectly fine.
His eyebrows went up ever so slightly. You can tell me the truth, Max. I told you I'd be here to protect you.
A warm, tingly feeling spread its way through my body. It was the first time Fang had ever called me by my name, and for whatever reason, it spoke to me. My bottom lip began to tremble of its own accord and I had to bite down on it to keep Fang from noticing. Even so, my hand was shaking as I wrote down my next message.
There are some things you can't protect me against.
When he read it, Fang sighed. It was warm and low, swirling through the air. The small sound brought me a world of comfort I couldn't even imagine.
Striding towards me, Fang nudged at my legs until I lifted them up onto the bed. He then proceeded to begin to sit down right on top of me. Luckily, I rolled out of the way just in time.
Sitting on the edge of my bed, Fang kicked his black DCs off to the side before swinging his own legs up onto the bed. He took time making himself comfortable, crossing his legs on top of each other at the ankle and resting back against my pillows. The room was dark, making it even more difficult to read the look on his face.
Finally, he took a deep breath and held out a single hand. For a long time, I stared at that hand, not sure what exactly I was supposed to do with the offering. Give him a hand shake?
One look up at Fang's prompting expression told me to grasp on to it and never let go.
So I did.
My fingers clasped around the warm, slightly calloused had of Fang Xavier and I experienced a feeling like no other. Touching him sent a spark darting up my arm and threading throughout my veins. Stunned, my expression snapped up to his face, and there in his eyes I saw that he had felt it too.
We locked gazes for what seemed like an eternity. Electricity crackled in the warm air around us, shortening my breaths beyond what could have been remotely healthy. Out the corner of my eye, I saw the slight movement of Fang gulping and I knew the heat wasn't just one-sided.
An invisible pull was magnetizing me to him. It was like I no longer controlled my body as I leaned in closer and closer, taking in all that was Fang. The smell of woods and moonlight wafted around me; every one of his beautifully sculpted muscles seemed to ripple with anticipation the closer I got to him; I wondered if his lips were as soft as they appeared.
Within an instant, the tiny bubble of crackling, magnetizing electricity was gone. My door flew open, my light flipped on, and my mother burst through the door. One look at us and the pulse at the base of her neck leapt into over drive.
I knew what was going to happen next, and I didn't want Fang to witness it.
Shoving hard against his chest, the world around me seeming to stretch as if in honey, I shouted for Fang to go. He looked confused, and if I wasn't mistaken, a smidgen of hurt flashed across his eyes. But it was gone as quickly as it had come and the longer I thought about it, the more I was sure it was never there.
Time snapped back into place as Fang leapt from my bed. He had his feet in his shoes within two seconds and was already at the French double doors by the time my mother began to shout.
"Maximum Lorraine Ride!" Her voice boomed throughout my room just as Fang shut my balcony doors. She jabbed a trembling finger towards my doorway. "Hallway—now!"
Without even thinking about it, I leapt up from my cushiony bed and bounded out into the hallway. My entire body was quavering while I just stood there, waiting for the inevitable. Ella poked a curious head out from her bedroom, but I sent her scurrying back inside with a sharp shake of my head.
Snarling quietly to herself, my mother slammed the door to my room hard enough to make the frame shudder. When she whirled on me, her face was contorted into one of blatant, unabashed, murderous rage. It was enough to make me flinch.
Not even ten seconds went by before she began to punish me. The back of her hand came across my face with no mercy, the diamond setting of a ring she wore scraping away at my soft flesh there. I felt the blood swell and begin to slither down my cheek as her next blow came. This time it was a gruff shove to the shoulders backed up with enough force to make me stumble. Caught off guard, I slammed hard into the wall just as my ankle twisted a bit. With a sharp cry, I crumpled to the floor, knee burning against the soft carpet.
Leaning over to me, my mother brought her face down so that it was a mere two inches away from my own. I nearly had to cross my eyes to focus in on her beady gaze.
"You dare defy your mother?" she growled. "I set one rule for you rotten children and yet you cannot refrain yourself from it?"
In a flash, her foot shot out, landing deftly in the supple curve of my waist. A groan threatened to escape me, but I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep it from expelling.
She kicked me once more, this time hitting the center of my stomach so that the air whooshed out of me in a great big gust. "Stop being such a slut, Maximum. I named you to be better than that. Don't bring shame upon your own name."
With one more back-handed slap to the face that drew more lines of blood from my cheek, my mother turned on her heel and leisurely sashayed to the end of the hall. There, she took the stairs up to the third floor without another glance back at the choking daughter she left behind.
I was still struggling with regaining my breath by the time Ella poked her head out from her bedroom again. Drawing in a sharp breath, she rushed to me, falling down on her knees beside me. The first-aid kit was already in her hand.
While Ella rifled through the kit we didn't speak. Though I finally had my breath steady again, blood still dripped from the tiny slices on my face and my stomach still felt like I had been run over by a semi.
Pulling out a bottle of peroxide and some cotton pads, Ella swiftly applied the stinging solution to my cuts. I winced before I could help it, and she shot me an apologetic look.
"They aren't bad," she murmured. "They should be all healed up within three days."
I swallowed hard as she gently placed the Band-Aids over my cuts. My mind was racing a mile a minute as I tried to come up with an excuse for as to why I had the cuts on my face. Although, since I didn't quite fancy allowing my voice to come out for other people, I shouldn't even have to explain myself.
Despite the reasoning I just preached to myself, a picture of Fang's face flashed through my mind. What would he think when he saw the cuts?
Crossing my fingers, I made the silent wish that the cuts would be mostly faded and closed up by the next morning.
"Any other injuries?" Ella asked as she placed the contents of the kit back in order.
I nodded, lifting up my shirt. "Two kicks to the stomach."
"Hmm…." She leaned over me, a look of concentration written on her features. Very carefully, her cool fingers prodded the soft skin of my midsection, searching for anything terribly out of place. "My diagnosis is a large bruise at worst. I know it must kill now, but it should fade by tomorrow. If not, I'll check it out again."
Yanking down my top, Ella stretched over to my left side, where she carefully tugged down the neckline far enough to expose my stitches. After a quick examination, she gave a curt nod and returned my sweater to its rightful position.
"They're healing up nicely. I'll do some research and find out when I'll be able to take them out, but I'm betting it'll be soon."
"Will I have a scar?" I asked quietly, though I already half knew the answer.
Ella didn't look at me when she answered. "Yes."
It was quiet for a long moment. I was letting her response sink into me as I tried to accept the fact that I would now have a permanent reminder of my mother's abuse imprinted on me. It was a thought that frightened me down to the very core of my being.
"Well, we should get to bed. It's getting late." Rubbing my arm affectionately, Ella took her First-Aid kit and ducked back inside her room.
Struggling into a standing position and ignoring the pain that sprouted from my midsection, I sauntered down the hall to Angel's room. Pushing the door open just a smidgen, I peeked inside and found her safely tucked in under the blankets, eyes shut as she dreamt of sweet things.
Sighing to myself, I quietly shut her door and went back down to my own room. Fang's curtains, I noticed, were wide open now, though once again I couldn't see anything inside his room. I got the uncanny feeling that he was watching me, though, as I shut my own door and sluggishly climbed beneath my blankets.
I rolled around in bed for what seemed like the longest time, trying hard to block out the suddenly-blinding moonlight escaping through my French doors. My skin was incredibly hot, despite the fact that it was practically winter, and to help ward off the heat, I kicked violently at my blankets in an effort to get them off. I heard a soft thud on the carpet just as the blankets slinked free from me.
Looking for an excuse to delay my inability to sleep, I got up from my bed and rummaged around the blankets until I found what had hit the floor—my cell phone. I plopped down on the floor and leaned back against my bed. The second I tapped the screen to life, I saw I had a message.
Eyebrows drawn together, I opened up the message only to see that it was Fang who had sent me something.
I hope I didn't get you into too much trouble.
My heart squeezed tightly in my chest. Fang had gotten me into more trouble than he could have possibly understood, but there was not one part of me that wanted to tell him that. He didn't need to know that I had been hurt. He didn't need to know that he wasn't able to protect me like he said he would.
In the end, and even though it was an hour after he had originally sent me the message, I quickly responded back: None at all.
This time when I curled up on my mattress, I instantly drifted into sleep.
R&R to make my day :)