Vulnerable
My second attempt at a story. I am very proud of this one. I've worked on it for about 7 hour's straight.
Thanks again to ShiShi Hikari for the inspirational stories!
Please comment and rate!
Garret never used to be violent. He never would have dreamed of hurting anyone. He was a kind, black husky who once stopped his car in the road, causing a line of traffic, just so he could help an elderly feline across the crosswalk.
But Garret changed. He changed the moment he got a phone call from his mom at one in the morning. I remember that night so well.
Garret's cell phone ringing had woke us both up. I saw him reaching for it, his eyes showing his weariness from the previous day. When I looked over at the digital clock near our bed and saw the time, my grey ears perked up, alert. Someone calling in the middle of the night could never be good.
"Hello?" he asked, sleepily as he opened his phone.
I heard a frantic mumble on the other end. A woman's voice. And I saw his eyes grow wide as he sat straight up in bed.
Then his facial features changed. From worry, to sadness, to something so dark that it made my heart stop. A look came to his face so frightening that it chilled me to the core.
The next few moments that happened that night were kind of a blur in my mind. Even as a wolf known for my patience, I was anxious for answers as Garret slowly closed his phone. The sad look was etched into every inch of his face. I waited for him to talk, but I was scared.
So I reached out and touched his arm. One small touch. Just a few of my fingertips brushing against his fur. And he turned a cold face towards me. One I had never seen before.
"Don't touch me." He muttered.
"What happened?" I asked cautiously, looking for the answer in his eyes.
"Don't touch me." He repeated. Louder this time.
I squeezed his arm, mistaking his words for just being a tired, upset comment.
And in a flash, he flung me off of him, off the bed. "I said don't fucking touch me!"
I remember sitting in the floor next to the bed for hours that night. I just sat there and stared at the floor. Garret had abruptly left the room after doing what he did. He didn't come back until that morning, when he pretended nothing had happened between us.
Later I learned that his brother Jake had died in a car accident.
I thought it would just be that one time. He was upset and confused, so I let it go easily. But just a day later there was a second time. Not long after that, a third. Then before I knew it, I had lost count. Many times I had thought of running, of telling someone, and of fighting back. I never did any of those things. I had an apartment that I shared with him. I was in college. I had a job. I had money. I had a life. I didn't want any of that taken away from me. I was scared.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~6 months later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I will always remember the final time I let him hurt me. I probably would have gone on longer, if someone hadn't been there at the right time.
His fist slammed against my jaw with a force that seemed beyond him. I heard a sick cracking sound and the pain that erupted through my body then made me want to throw up. But I didn't make a noise. I felt myself bounce back against the wall before I lost my balance and just fell over, catching myself on the hardwood floor with my paws.
"Where the fuck were you?!" I heard him yell.
All I could look at was his shoes which were directly in front of my face.
"I was only 10 minutes late." I hear myself whisper. It hurt to move my mouth to talk. "I was stuck behind traffic."
"Dont fucking lie to me Oliver!" he hissed, before kicking me in the side.
I groaned in pain.
"Stop whining!" He ordered. Before kicking me again.
I felt tears in my eyes. They always came at times like this. Not just because I was in pain, but because I missed Garret. The Garret I once knew was dead in my mind. The guy I loved was no longer part of the cold monster standing front of me.
I roll over onto my back and looked up at the ceiling. A happy memory crosses my mind.
"Tell rock n' roll i'm alone again, I wanna put the Midwest home again.." I sing quietly, remembering the song we used to sing when we drove around together.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" another kick to my side.
"Your time has passed, they say never means never..." I continue singing, refusing to let the memory go.
"I'm so sick of you're shit!" He yells, with one painful last kick, He picks me up from the floor and slams me into the wall. My body felt like it was shattering and I cried out. he began punching both sides of my face, over and over. "You think you're funny? I'll show you whats
funny."
Then he shoved his knee into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me, before grabbing my neck and dragging me higher and higher up the wall.
I saw black in front of my eyes. I was wiggling even though most of my body didn't seem to want to cooperate with me. I tried clawing at his hand but nothing was working. I was dying. He was killing me. And he was laughing the whole time.
And then I heard something.
Police sirens.
"Shit!" cursed Garret as he dropped me to the floor. I didn't have the will to move.
Then I saw him dash for the back door - just leaving me there while the front door swung open. "What's going on?" yelled some guy i didn't know. He was a cop, I knew. He was a large grizzly bear with a cautious expression on his face. I saw his gun out, but I still felt like I was in a dream.
The minute he saw me he dashed to me, and another cop came running into our house as well. They both started shouting things to one another, it was all one big ramble to me. Then, the first cop began asking me questions. "Are you okay? Can you stand? An ambulance is on their way, is that ok?" Where did Garret go?"
I wasn't sure what he wanted me to answer first. "I'm fine. Garret's gone." As I informed him of those two things, I realized he had already known who Garret was. That meant someone had called and told him our names. It was someone who knew us personally.
"Can you tell me who called you?" I heard myself talk softly. My jaw ached, my head ached, my throat ached - and I was exhausted.
"Confidential." He told me with a sad nod.
"Was it Marcus?" I ask, trying to use my victim innocence. "I'm not angry."
I actually wasn't sure if I was mad or not. Marcus was my best friend and I had never told him about how Garret treated me. All the bruises Marcus saw had an excuse to go with them. He was the only person I could feel normal around and I didn't want that to go away. I knew if I told him about it, he would get all ‘Big Concerned Brother' on me and things would change drastically between us.
But it could have been a neighbor. How else could Marcus know what was going on?
The cop hesitated. "Yeah." He sighed. "He told us he was stopping by to see you, when he heard it all. He was smart and decided to not interfere himself but to let us handle it."
I licked my lips and it sent another sharp pain through my jaw bone. I wondered if Marcus was mad. That was the only thing I thought about, which was probably really stupid. But I knew I couldn't handle someone else getting mad at me.
I never replied to the cop. All I said was that Garret went out the back door - not caring anymore. Then he ran off with his little cop buddies after telling me that the ambulance would get me soon.
I sat back against the wall. I wonder what Marcus thought when he had heard my cries of pain and Garret's yelling. I wanted to die. I felt so useless and meaningless that I wished Garret had just killed me. A few minutes later the ambulance arrived and put me on a stretcher. The hazy feeling never went away, and then my vision went black.
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When I woke up, I noticed I was wearing a hospital gown, and Marcus was sitting beside the bed looking half dead and staring at me.
I just looked right at him and blinked. I had no words. He was pale and stricken. He seemed like he was shaking a little as he let out a sigh. "God..." He whispered, choking a bit on that one word. "You're okay. They thought you might have gone into a coma."
His eyes were filled with tears, but he wasn't crying. I opened my mouth to talk, but it sent pain through my jaw and neck.
"Don't try to talk Oliver." Marcus whispered. I had never seen him so freaked out.
The red fox swallowed so hard I could hear it. I wanted nothing more that to tell him i was okay, but even I wasn't sure at this point.
"I hope you're not mad at me for calling the cops." Marcus muttered to the floor. "I didn't know what else to do."
"I'm not mm-" I started to say, forgetting about the pain for only a second. "Mad." I finished quickly, wincing.
Marcus licked his lips and swallowed hard again. He closed his eyes for a second - really tight. As if he could shut them hard enough so that they could erase the image before him.
When he opened them, he just looked and looked at me. Like he was in disbelief that I was still there or something. He reached out and very, very, gently touched my neck. I could hardly feel it - his touch was so light.
"That bastard left his entire paw print." He whispered to no one in particular it seemed.
"Listen," Marcus began, removing his paw from my neck. "The cops are going to catch
Garret soon. In the meantime, I've already been by your apartment and packed your stuff. You'll be bunking with me for a while."
I nodded, having no reason to protest. Everything was happening so fast.
As he turned towards the door, I spoke up. "I'm sorry. Sorry for not telling you."
My best friend turned away before answering. "And i'm sorry for not noticing sooner."
And then he left.
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I didn't sleep the entire night. I was on a lot of pain killers and I felt drowsy, but I just couldn't fall into slumber. Every time I started to doze off - I would basically have nightmares. I figured it was just the combination of drastic changes, being in pain, being on medical drugs, being scared, being near death, being afraid, worrying about everything, and just being forced to sleep in an unfamiliar place.
I couldn't stop thinking about how things had changed. Garret, the guy i had loved for years, had turned into a cruel bastard with no room in his life for me.
Basically from two to eight in the morning, I sat watching the lights in the eerily quiet room.
It was exactly 8:03 when something new lit up in the room. I looked over at the dresser and noticed my cell phone vibrating. It must have been in my pocket when I got here, I thought.
I reached over, ignoring the pain in my neck and jaw, and flipped it open. It had one unread message from Marcus.
"hey. i'm guessing ur awake. everything ok? I had to smile, he knew me too well.
I texted him back hastily. "yeah, how'd u guess? I'm hurting, but its bearable."
About fifty seconds later i got a response. "I know more than you think ^_~ anyways, I
picked up your stuff last night and i'll be over at the hospital to pick you up at 11 ok?"
I texted once more. "thanks, Marcus. <3"
Throughout the morning I had conversations with nurses and a doctor eventually came in to tell me what I had to do, how much rest I needed - blah, blah, blah - and we discussed my payment method before he finally said I could get dressed and wait until Marcus came to get
me. It was such a relief.
Around 11:15, Marcus walked through the door smiling. "Morning sleepless beauty."
i couldn't help but laugh at his attempted joke. At least his humor was back now.
Marcus studied me for a minute. I saw him look at each and every bruise that was visible before glancing back up at my face. "You sure you're okay to leave?"
I rolled my eyes at him. And moved around him and towards the door. "Of course." I huffed.
"Hey..." My best friend came up behind me and touched my arm. "Don't get all pissy. I was asking a simple question. Sorry if I actually give a damn about you unlike your Goddamn boyfriend." It was harsh words, but came out of his mouth much less harsh than I assume he intended.
"Ex-boyfriend." I corrected him with a straight face.
I heard the fox next to me swallow. "Whatever." He sighed. "My point is... you don't need to be getting mad at me, Olliver. I'm just trying to help."
My hand was on the doorknob. I wanted to just turn it so I could get the hell out of the tiny white room that was way too clean and giving me claustrophobia. But I didn't want Marcus and me quarreling for the day. I knew both of us were completely on edge. At first I thought it was just me, but the tension was coming off of Marcus quite a bit.
But I didn't want to argue with Marcus. So I turned my head towards him and I apologized. "I know. I'm sorry. I'm just--"
"It's okay." He said quietly, cutting me off. I was grateful.
We walked down to the front desk and he signed me out. By the time he finished, I was running to the front doors, ready to escape this creepy white prison.
After i got outside, i took a deep breathe. The air was much less stale out here.
Marcus chuckled as he slowly followed behind me. "You would think you've spent the night in jail."
"That about sums it up." I flashed my smile at him.
We walked over to his red Mustang that he named "Flamer" for his own enjoyment. We buckled in and started down the road. It wasn't long before we arrived at his apartment building. It was a nice place, with trees and flowers out in front, with a freshly painted door to welcome visitors.
When we got up to his apartment, he pulled me to the middle of the room and stared at me. "You look like you seriously need some sleep. The bedroom is the first door on the right" He said, pointing to the hallway.
"I already brought all of your stuff in, so if you need-" I cut him off with a hug.
He stared at me, shocked for a few seconds, before returning the gesture.
"Thank you for doing this," I said, my eyes starting to water. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
Marcus smiled down at me, his eyes seemingly radiating warmth. " I told you before you even started dating Garret that i'd always be here for you." he said, a hint of sadness in his voice. "I never break a promise."
It was true, Marcus had always been there when I needed someone to talk to. He had comforted me through every bad event in my life, just like he was now. But, I realized that he had never asked for anything in return, which struck me as odd. Marcus had never come to me with his problems, and I felt selfish for just realizing this.
"Marcus, what would you like in return?" I asked, letting a smile grace my lips.
"In return for what?" He asked confusion going across his face.
"For always being there for me." I answered, tightning my hold around him. "So what would you like?"
Marcus mumbled something so low I couldn't understand it. "Huh? I couldn't hear." I perked my ears up to listen more closely.
Marcus lifted his head up next to my ear and whispered, sending a shiver down my back. "You. Always you."
I opened my mouth in suprise. That definitely wasn't the answer I expecting. But judging from the ashamed look on Marcus' face, he must have been keeping a secret for a while.
"For how long?" I asked after a few seconds.
Marcus sighed. "Ever since three years ago when your parents threw you out." He answered, " When you cried in my arms that day I realized that I couldn't live without you. I love you so much"
Suddenly I felt like an idiot. All those times Marcus had kissed my forehead or hand playfully, had actually meant something else to him.
But another realization crossed my mind. They had meant something to me as well. Each kiss made my heart stop. I had thought it was because I was suprised, but eventually I secretly got used to his displays of affection.
"Well....only one thing to do then." I said, my voice sounding grave.
Marcus looked up, sadness filling his eyes. He tried to smile, but failed miserably. "I'm sorry for pushing this on you. i'm pathetic."
"No you are not." I exclaimed firmly. "Besides, I was going to say we should go catch up on our sleep, i'm sure there's room in your bed for two.
Marcus' head snapped up with a look of pure disbelief. Then it was replaced by the smile I had come to love.
"I agree completely." he said as he interlocked his hand with mine. We started walking to his room.
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If I could descibe happiness with a moment, it would have been the feeling I felt when I woke up, refeshed, with Marcus' arm wrapped tightly around my waist.
I know it seemed rushed at the end, Please forgive me :(