Chapter 09: The Past Returns
Small hands held the warm mug with a white-knuckled grip, her eyes focused on the small puffy marshmallow that floated in the cocoa inside it. She could feel him watching her, staring at her. Once she had loved the attention, believed everything he told her, and given him everything he asked for. Paige could still remember everything that happened back then, but the memory wasn't a pleasant one… nor was seeing him again.
"It's your favorite, isn't it Paige?" Marco knelt down in front of her with a broad smile on his face, trying to look at her face. "I still remember you had this every time you came over. Sometimes I think you liked it more than you liked me."
"You're not supposed to come near me…" Paige reminded him in an uncharacteristically soft tone. She wanted to stand up, to scream at him and storm out, that was what she would have done with anyone else… but she felt like she was paralyzed, her stomach rolling over and over again in fear. He'd just appeared so suddenly… "The judge said so."
Marco's smile faded and he glanced around the room for a moment before looking up at her again. "I know… and you don't know how much that broke my heart, Paige." He took a deep, shuddering breath and his smile returned, one of his hands reaching out to touch her bare knee just beneath the hem of her white skirt. "I don't know what they kept telling you, but everything I told you was nothing but sincere… I loved you Paige, and you've only grown more beautiful…"
"You loved me…?" Paige mused softly, her eyes twitching in frustration and anger, at him, and at herself for being so damned frightened. This wasn't like her, she was strong, forceful, she could do anything she wanted to, damnit. "If you loved me… you wouldn't have touched me."
"What?" Marco blinked in surprise.
"I didn't know what was happening back then, I didn't know what it meant." Paige finally looked up from the cocoa to look into his eyes, seeing him staring at her with a stunned expression on his face. "If you loved me, you wouldn't have made me go through all of that…" she spoke softly.
"So you let them get to you…" Marco shook his head. "Don't you remember what we had, Paige?" His hand slid forward on her leg, up her thigh. "Don't you remember how it felt? I know you loved it, don't let them convince you what we had was a bad thing."
Paige gripped her mug of cocoa even tighter and closed her eyes, feeling goosebumps rising on her flesh. Yeah, she could remember what it felt like… at the time, she'd had no idea why it felt so good. She hadn't even known what an orgasm was… it had been so intense, she was sure it was love. Only much later did she realize that it wasn't love… just his sick obsession.
She could feel his hand climbing her thighs still, moving ever higher. She opened her eyes to look down at him, her grip on the mug tightening. But she wasn't that stupid anymore… she wasn't that stupid little girl. She was strong and smart now. She knew better… she knew what he was, and she knew she would not let him take advantage of her again.
"No… NO!" Without warning Paige slung the mug like a baseball bat, slamming it into the side of his head. The mug shattered on impact and the man slumped to the side in shock, his hand rising to the blood that has begun to leak from his forehead.
Paige lurched from the sofa and darted for the front door, slamming into it and fumbling to get the locks open, but one of his hands slammed into the door from behind to hold it shut while his other arm moved to wrap around her torso. Thinking fast, Paige ducked and slipped out of his arm, leaving him clutching her barrette in his arm while she raced to the stairs, her feet stomping up the steps at a pace faster than she'd ever gone before.
"PAIGE!" She heard Marco scream, his voice echoing up the stairwell. "Jesus, Paige! What do you think you're doing?" Paige leaned against the wall at the top of the stairs, gulping and keeping her mouth tightly shut as she slipped down the hallway. He couldn't see which way she'd gone, so if she could just keep quiet and find a place to use her cell phone… "Paige, please… you know I love you, I'd do anything for you. I forgive you for hitting me, just… just don't do this, Paige." His voice was wavering, Paige thought. That blow to the head must have done some damage. Good.
She slid down the hallway as silently as a mouse, looking for a place to hide, but all of the doors were shut, and with the dead silence in the hallways, she was afraid turning the knob would let him know where she was. Well, it wasn't a long hallway, and she could hear his footsteps coming up the stairs. Maybe if she could get inside before he reached the door, she could lock it and hide until the police showed up.
"Paige, answer me." Marco sounded like he was getting angry as he approached the top step of the staircase. Maybe he wouldn't be so gentle with her from now on. The thought spurred her doubtful mind into action. She grabbed one of the doorknobs and jerked it downward… only to find that it was locked. "Paige!" She heard him leap up the last of the steps while she scrambled to try one of the other doors, yanking desperately at the knob.
This one opened, allowing her to scramble inside. She whirled to put her shoulder to the door and shove it closed even while her hand moved to the lock. The door swung closed… but she felt something hit it mere seconds before it could click into place. For an instant she leaned against the stopped door, before suddenly it was thrust inward again with enough force to send her hurtling to the floor with a thud.
"Paige…" Marco stepped into the room, panting in anger and glaring down at her as he approached. Paige scrambled as far backwards as she could, until she felt her back hit the bottom of the bed. Her chest heaved in fear and desperation as she cast about for any way to escape, but he just reached back and closed the bedroom door, locking it with a soft click. He turned back to her after a second, his eyes narrowed. "That wasn't very nice."
"Get. Away. From. Me." Paige growled with as much conviction as she could muster, though the trembling that overcame her kept her from seeming very demanding. "I don't love you… and you don't love me. You're sick… you belonged in jail."
"That's what they taught you, Paige. Don't you see that? You loved me."
"I knew it felt good feeling like someone loved me, I knew it felt good when you touched me… but I know better now." Paige glared up at him. "You didn't love me, and what I felt wasn't love."
"You just need to remember, Paige." He knelt down and reached out for her, grabbing her arm and pulling her closer to him.
"Wh-no! Get off me!" Paige struggled to slip away from him, but his grip was strong, and he was almost double her size. He managed to yank her back against his chest, one strong arm circling her chest to pin her arms down against her sides. She kicked at the floor in an attempt to knock him over, but his other hand quickly slipped down her stomach.
"Aahhh!" Paige's eyes widened and she squeaked in surprised when she felt his fingers touching her. She continued to kick at the ground, trying to squirm her way out of his grasp, but nothing she did seemed to slow him down at all. "Stop it… I'm not gonna… get back together with you… stop and I won't tell anyone… just stop…" She squirmed in desperation, but his hand only grew more invasive.
"I can feel that you're remembering…" Marco whispered into her ear.
"No, I'm not…" Paige's breath came in frightened, shallow pants. "I'm not…"
Without warning the window shattered on the other side of the bed, sending a few shards of glass bouncing over both of their heads. Marco pushed Paige away from him and whirled to his feet quickly, looking over the bed with a surprised look on his face. "What the Hell is this?" He demanded angrily. "Who do you think you are?"
"That doesn't matter, what matters is that I am gonna kick your BUTT if you so much as breathe wrong!" Paige gasped when she heard Abby's voice coming from the other side of the room. Slowly she pulled herself up to the side of the bed, peering over the thick mattress to see the redheaded girl standing in front of the shattered window holding her arms in an almost karate-like pose. "I've already called the police, and I gave them more than enough evidence of what you've been doing here. Just lay down and give up."
"What?" Marco's eyes widened for a moment, then his eyes narrowed and his lip began to quiver. "You didn't… you're bluffing!"
"You'll see that's not true in about five minutes, won't you?" Abby smirked. "Step away from Paige and give up, I mean it."
"You…" Marco growled. "How dare you! You don't know what prison is like for… for someone like me!"
"Not my problem, buddy. You brought it on yourself." Abby narrowed her eyes. "I won't ask you to give up again."
Marco growled and moved around the bed towards her. Abby didn't move away, instead turning to watch him with a sharp eye. "How dare you, you little…" Marco lunged for her, but Abby's body whirled with the grace of a dancer, her leg kicking off of the windowsill and sending her flipping over the bigger man's head. She landed on the bed on his other side, crouching into the cushion before using it to launch herself straight up again, her foot lashing out.
"HYAH!" Abby's foot slammed into his face with enough force to send him stumbling back, struggling to keep upright. He nearly lurched out the window, but his arms caught him on each side. Abby landed on the bed, crouching once again before sending herself hurtling towards him again, thrusting both feet straight toward the window.
Both feet dug into his chest, sending him sailing out into the open air outside the two-story building. Abby's hands shot up and caught the top of the windowsill, keeping herself from flying through the air after him as he plummeted to the grass below in a heavy heap. He lay motionless on the grass, except for the movement of his chest with his shallow breathing.
Abby pulled herself back into the window, landing on both feet and staring outside while her chest heaved from her exertions. Paige could barely believe what she'd just seen. Abby looked smaller than Paige was… but she'd just kicked a grown man out a two-story building like he wasn't even TRYING to fight back. While Paige herself… had been unable to do anything.
Abby turned to look back at her, brushing her bangs out of her eyes and giving her a slight smile. "You okay, Paige?" Yes, Paige thought to herself. She would be just fine, the threat was over and no real harm had been done. This was what she wanted to say, this was how she wanted to feel. But when she opened her mouth to say it, the breath caught in her throat and she could only stare at Abby as the tears began to well up in her eyes, quickly beginning to spill over onto her cheeks.
"Paige…!?" Abby's eyes widened and she rushed over the bed to her side, kneeling beside her and gripping her shoulders tightly. "Paige, it's okay…" She slipped her arms around Paige, pulling her into a tight embrace, which Paige gratefully melted into, burying her face into Abby's shoulder in a vain attempt to hide her sobs. "It's okay, let it out… let out all you need to." Abby whispered soothingly into her ear, her hands stroking her back with a gentle, comforting touch.
Paige gripped her tightly, her mind racing, though one thought just kept coming back to her over and over again. She just kept thinking to herself, 'you sissy.'
***
Abby's heart felt heavy the next day. Paige hadn't come to school, which was no surprise to her. She had barely stopped sobbing at all after Marco had gotten finished with her, right up until her mother showed up to retrieve her from police custody. Abby too had spent a little time being questioned, but the pictures she'd taken of the act were way more than enough evidence to put Marco away for probably the rest of his life. He'd gotten out of jail on good behavior… but he wouldn't see the light of day again.
Now, however, there was a second concern. She hadn't seen Paige since the police arrived at Marco's house, and now Abby found herself staring up at the theater in the park where the rest of the cast and crewmembers who'd chosen to join them were hastily setting up last-second props and makeshift sets. All of these kids were working towards what Paige had wanted for weeks now, and there was no sign of Paige. It was no surprise, really, Paige needed her rest… but she was the only one who knew how to play Amy. Without her, this show couldn't even begin. Besides, this had been Paige's endeavor all along, the passion she'd been working towards for over a week, for something she'd wanted all her life. Would she really just blow it off?
"Abby?" Naomi approached Abby with a concerned look on her face. She wasn't actually one of the cast, but she had volunteered to help when Paige asked her to. "Some of the other crewmembers and I were wondering… you know, we can do this show without a couple of extras, but we can't do it without our stars." She noted. Of course, nobody else had been told about what happened to Paige, so they didn't know why she would fail to show up here. "Do you know what's keeping Paige?"
"Yeah… I'm pretty sure I do." Abby said softly. "I'm going to go talk to her, the rest of you keep setting up, but don't start handing out the notes until I call and say we're on our way."
"Yeah, sure…" Naomi nodded with an unsure look on her face. "Do you think she might not come? Is something wrong?"
"Just… hold out for a little while, okay? I'll be as quick as I can." Abby turned away from the stage and made her way to the sidewalk where she broke into a swift jog. The sun was arching down toward the horizon, though it wasn't down far enough to make her worry about losing light before the show… unless Paige simply didn't come, of course. If that happened, it really wouldn't matter how much light they had.
She jogged up to Paige's mansion and knocked quickly on the door, stepping back to wait. Moments later she saw Paige's mother pull the door open, her eyes reddened and her expression rather worn. "Abby." The woman smiled and opened the door all the way. "I'm so glad you decided to come. I think Paige needs to see you." She turned to look up the stairs towards Paige's room.
"Yeah, I kind of thought so." Abby smiled and moved to head up the stairs, gripping the handrail with a white-knuckled grip as she made her way up toward the door. She pushed her way in slowly, trying not to make too much noise in case she was asleep.
The door crept open, revealing the sight of Paige lying on her thick king-sized bed in her light blue pajamas. Her bloodshot eyes were open, staring at the ceiling, while her hair framed her head in clumpy, messy locks that didn't even look like it had been washed that day. When she heard the door open, however, Paige glanced at the door, then squeaked and rolled quickly over to one side, her hand darting for a hairbrush.
"Oh! Abby!" She quickly tried to brush her hair out into something decent, but the hair resisted with powerful tangles. "I-I was just-"
"Everyone's waiting for you, Paige." Abby cut her off with a soft voice. Paige's hand stopped moving on her head, holding the brush against her scalp. "We're waiting for you to come do what you set out to do."
"I…" Slowly Paige set the brush down on the nightstand again, though she didn't turn to look at Abby. "I don't think I can do it."
"What do you mean?" Abby blinked in surprise.
"Abby… the truth is, I'm not as strong as I want to be." Paige's voice wavered slightly as she spoke, her hand slowly lowering the brush to the nightstand again. "Ever since my mom found out I was with Marco all those years ago, I've always thought the experience made me stronger, taught me something, that if anything like that happened again, I'd be ready… but I wasn't." She lowered her head to her chest. "I wasn't ready, I couldn't do anything. I really am… I really am just a weak victim, a statistic…"
"Paige, you are NOT weak." Abby approached to sit down on the edge of the bed back-to-back with Paige, leaning back to look at her. Paige kept her face hidden behind her curly blonde hair, staring at a picture of herself on the nightstand for something to focus on. "That could have happened to anyone."
"Not you." Paige replied sharply. "You jumped in and handed his butt to him like it was nothing, like you were some kind of superhero. If it wasn't for you I…" She trailed off for a moment as her voice began to waver, only speaking once she'd forced herself to calm down. "I just wish I was as strong as I always pretended to be."
Abby pulled her legs up onto the bed, wrapping her arms around her knees and staring at Paige. "Do you know why I never liked you, Paige? You want me to be honest?" When there was no response, she continued. "It's because everyone listened to you, you just had this gift for making others see things your way. I always assumed it was just because you were cute, and had all this money, while I was just a mildly athletic nerd with a sick hobby."
"That was just me acting tougher than I really am…" Paige mumbled.
"I don't think so. People listen to you because you have something that a lot of people don't have… you have the kind of personality that makes people listen, the kind of attitude that says 'I'm right', and enough brains to back it up." Abby stared at her, watching her chest rise and fall with her steady breath. "Sure at first I thought you were just spoiled, but after watching you for these last few weeks, I'm sure it's more than that. You are strong Paige, just not physically."
Abby turned to slide off the bed, walking around it toward her slowly. "I mean look at what you got us all to do. I never DEFY my mother, but here I've been, so many nights openly defying what she's told me. Organizing this potentially volatile and illegal show in the park to make a point, why? Because you wanted me to." Abby moved halfway around, until she could see Paige's face from beneath her hair. "All those other kids involved in it, many of whom had nothing to do with the show in the first place, all chose to get involved. Why? Because you asked them to."
Abby finished her lap of the bed and sat down right next to Paige, placing a gentle hand on her knee. "That's why Charlie picked you for this role, that was why you got the role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, that was why you were picked to decorate the gym for that dance. You deserved all of it, and I was just too jealous to see it at the time." Finally Paige looked up from the nightstand to look her in the eye, and Abby met her with a soft smile. "You are strong, in all the most important ways."
"You really mean all that…?" Paige asked softly.
"Every single word." Abby reached out to pull her into a gentle hug, pressing her lips against her moist cheek before pulling Paige's cheek up against her shoulder, stroking the back of her head and shoulders with a gentle hand. "You are an amazing person, Paige, no matter what I used to say about you behind your back." She felt Paige chuckle softly against her shoulder. Slowly Abby pushed her back to look into her eyes. "I understand if you don't feel like doing anything… but I also think you'll regret it if you don't see this through. You've worked so hard for this."
"Yeah…" Paige took a deep breath. "I can't just leave it unfinished now… EVERYONE'S been working so hard…"
Abby slipped her hand down her arm to take her hand in a tight grip, looking into her eyes. "Everyone's waiting for us right now, all we have to do is send out the invitations."
Paige nodded slowly and set her mouth in a determined line. "Let's do it…"
***
A knock on the door drew Ty Archer out of the kitchen, rubbing his forehead with a soft grumble. He opened the door and peered out, only to see that the front step was empty except for a single piece of paper on the front doorstep. "What on Earth…?" He knelt down to grab it, but there were only two words written on it.
"Park. 6:00."
"Huh…" Ty turned the paper over in his hands curiously and turned to head inside. "Mom, something weird just showed up…"
***
The suitcase was packed, his things all tucked neatly inside its depths where they would be ready to go whenever he got the call that the show was cancelled. He was expecting it any time now… the studios always hated bad publicity, and there was nothing worse than some of the allegations being leveled against them by this town's inhabitants. He'd done his best to plead his case, but soon the call would be made and, quite likely, that was it for the show, and his career.
He blinked in surprise and looked at the door when he heard a loud knock, followed by something padding rapidly down the hallway. Curiously, he moved to open the door, and saw a single piece of paper sitting on the floor in front of him. He knelt down to lift it from the floor with one hand.
Dear Charlie:
Please consider this a personal invitation to come to the City Park in one hour. You don't have to, but it would mean a lot to all of us if you were there to see it, even if it's the only time.
Love: Paige
Charlie grunted and gripped the paper tighter in his palm. "Damnit… what are you girls doing?"
***
Abby peered out from behind the curtain, seeing people beginning to show up over the hill surrounding the otherwise empty theater in the park. They had no seats, but they had brought enough blankets to cover the grass in front of the theater so people could sit on the ground and watch the show. Naomi and several other students were standing at the top of the hill waiting to show them to open spots on the grass and let them know that the show would be starting soon. The more Abby watched them pile up with mystified expressions on their faces, the more her stomach began to turn. What if they stopped the show the minute it started…?
She looked back when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Paige was standing right behind her in clothes that somewhat resembled her actual costume, though they were actually taken from Abby's closet. "We're going to be ready in twenty minutes… looks like the crowd's filling up… it's going to be show time soon."
"Yeah… how are you holding up?" Abby asked.
"I'll be fine… it feels good to get outside." Paige stretched and waved off the worried question. "It'll be nice to get this over with. The first performance is always the worst, isn't it?"
"Haha, yeah, so nervous." Abby agreed with a nod, then turned to look out the curtain again. The breath caught in her throat when she saw her mother and father, along with Ty, heading down the grassy hill towards the blankets. Her parents looked confused, but Ty just looked worried.
"Oohhhh great…" Abby took a deep, steadying breath. "My family's here… they're going to see everything… judge everything…"
"Relax, that's what we wanted, right? For them to see what it was really about?"
"Y-yeah…" Abby nodded. "I'm just afraid they'll still decide that it's terrible…"
"They won't. We'll give it our all to make them see, okay?" Paige gave her a soft smile. "Between you and me, we can make them see what this play really means."
Paige nodded again, more steadily, her breath slowing to normal. "Yeah… we've always worked well together. We can do this." She nodded firmly and clenched her mouth. They had to do this…
To Be Continued
