April:
That´s true. I´m glad that you like the M&M dynamic, that was the goal, lol. You´re on vacation now, right? So have a good time.But there's a difference between being a GUY in a gang and being a GIRL in one.
art_junkie:
You´re maybe right here...Something tells me her life in "captivity" was better..
Candyland: I won´t take long until M&M meet again, promised.
crazysnape:
Liz & Maria will have their momentsare Liz and Maria going to see each other soon ? Because I think their realationship can be so good, they need girl friend !
Is Ava going to be a good person ? cause can decide If I like her or not...
and their friendship will increase. To Ava, well her character isn´t really a main part here, so I can´t really say something about her now TO ALL: Thank you so much for the great FB and MERRY CHRISTMAS
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Part 9
At Brody’s....
Brody’s apartment is very small. Even smaller than Sean’s, I think, but it is the closest place to the skate park. We sit in the living room, and Brody wraps a blanket around me and brings me a cup of tea.
Ryan enters the flat, rushing through the door. Billy had called him and Ava as soon as we arrived at the apartment. “Are you okay, Maria?” he pants, winded from his exertions.
“When did they capture you?” Sean asks.
“Wednesday morning,” I reply. “I was on my way to school, but Kyle and this Alex-guy grabbed me at the underground station.”
Everyone seems worried about me – everyone but Billy.
“Where did they take you?” Ava wants to know.
“First I was at Kyle’s, but than M.... uh, Rath took me to his apartment.”
OMG, I almost said Michael!
“Did they hurt you?” Sean inquires.
I shake my head. “No.” I won’t tell them about Kyle. I’m too ashamed of it and it only would make things worse between us and the Bandits.
“And then you decided to fuck that bastard, you little bitch?” Billy roars, standing in front of me.
“What?” I wince, afraid. “NO, I didn’t fuck any of them, okay?”
“Fine!“ He doesn´t seem convinced to me. “So, where does he live?”
“Who?“
“Rath!“ Billy hisses in anger.
“I don’t know,” I lie.
Billy takes my head in his hands roughly and forces me to look at him. “Tell me where he lives! You were there, so don´t give me this shit.“
“I said, I don’t know, okay?” My voice shakes, but I try to stay calm. “They blindfolded me, I couldn´t see anything.”
“He’ll pay for touching my woman!” Billy decides and looks at Sean, Ryan and Brody to get their understanding nods.
“Billy, he didn’t touch me! Ever! Okay? Why don’t you believe me?”
“Maybe I do believe you. But he acted like he fucked you and I’ll make him pay for that.”
“He didn’t say that. Max was the one who made the insinuation. Maybe we should go after him,” Brody suggests.
“No!“ Billy decides, refusing to accept anything that might take the heat off of Rath. “Rath didn’t deny it and I don’t like the way he looked at her. Forget about Max for a while. Rath is our target!”
A wide grin appears on his face. “Let’s figure out how we can blow him away,” he says to the guys. “Ava, take Maria home and then you go home, too.“
I try to hide my desperation when I walk out of the apartment. What will they do to Michael?
***
“Are you okay now?” Ava asks me on the way home.
“Yeah, thanks. As I said, they didn’t hurt me, so...”
“I’m sure it was scary for you to be alone with all of them. Especially with Rath, he seems so cold and violent to me.”
I was scared in Kyle’s apartment, but not in Michael’s. I’m more scared now, with Billy, than I was with him.
I desperately want to tell the truth to somebody, but Ava wouldn’t understand. Instead of I say, “Yeah, a little bit. But at least I’m out now.”
“Fortunately!”
The rest of the way we walk in silence. I don’t have anything else to tell her, and she doesn’t have anything to say either.
***
I’m home again and I find my mother and George half naked in the living room. They passed out on the couch, an empty bottle of vodka between them. I shake my head in disgust and quickly walk into my bedroom. It’s so cold that I pull on another pullover, sit down on the bed and wrap the blanket around me.
Michael’s words still resound in my head: Didn’t you even notice that your little bitch was gone?
Tears are running down my cheeks, but it’s okay. I’m alone now, so nobody will see them. I allow myself to be weak in these rare moments.
A small smile appears on my lips as I clutch the old Teddy, which was a present from my grandma, when she was still alive. It reminds me of the better times in my life.
I often stayed at my grandma’s house when I was younger and my mom was still at work in the hospital. I always felt safe and happy with her. But when she died four years ago everything went south. My mom started to drink because she didn’t deal well with the loss. Then she lost her job because of the alcohol. Every week she brought home another lover, who paid our bills until he was sick of it. But she still loved me.
Until George came into our lives. He’s worse than the others. He completely drags my mother away from me. In his opinion I’m the disrupting factor in her life and he wants to get rid of me.
I hope my mother will come to her senses soon. She’s my mother; she wouldn’t dump me, would she?
What should I do, when even my mother doesn’t love me anymore?
Billy doesn’t give a shit about me. He wasn’t worried about me for a single second. All he could think about was his injured ego.
I think back about the days in Michael’s apartment. I can’t see him as an enemy. I don’t know why, but I have the feeling that he cared about me, even if he tried to play it cool.
Take care after you’re free, okay? ...you have to get away from him.
I can remember his words so clearly. But does it matter? We’ll probably never talk again. I won’t get the chance to find out more about him. All I can do is hope that Billy and the others don’t kill him.
Day of Billy´s payback November 3rd, 2007 – Saturday - 8:00 am
I didn’t sleep well last night. I was haunted by nightmares.
Suddenly my mum walks into my room. “Where have you been?” she hisses.
“Nowhere! As if you care,“ I answer, still a little sleepy.
George shuffles her to the side, storms into my room and drags me out into the kitchen. He shoves me into the room, causing me to lose my balance and fall on the floor, hard. “Answer her question!” He shouts while I pull myself together and get up.
“I was with Sean!” I breathe heavily.
“Don’t you dare lie to me!” George yells and slaps me across the face with the palm of his hand.
I hold my cheek as pain explodes through skin and bone and turn to face my mother. For a moment she seems to be shocked by what happened, but she doesn’t do anything.
“You let him hit me?” I scream at her.
She doesn’t even react.
Before George can make the next move, I’m out of the flat.
***
I decide to go to the park, where my grandma and I often went when I was a child. I wasn’t here for years but it hadn’t really changed. The playground is still there and I sit down in a swing.
The cold wind makes me shiver. I didn’t even have the time to grab my jacket. Fortunately, I’m still wearing the extra pullover from the night before and I had pulled on my shoes. My cheek hurts like hell when I move my face. I think it’s swollen and most likely black and blue.
I watch a father and his son playing football. The little kid laughs every time when his father pretends to fall down from the “hard” thrown ball. “One day my boy, you’ll be a great football player,” the man says and the young boy squeals with delight. I smile at them sadly.
“Maria?” Someone jolts me out of my daydreams.
I look in the direction the voice had come from and my heart skips a couple of beats.
“Michael!“ I whisper, afraid that somebody would hear or see us together. It looks like he was jogging or something because he’s wearing a pair of sweatpants.
“What’re you doing here?” he asks, puzzled. “It’s early and it’s cold out.”
I look around nervously. What if Billy sees us?
“Don’t worry, I haven’t seen anyone from your gang around this place and my friends are fast asleep, I’m sure. So, what’re you doing here?”
“Just hanging around. And why’re you here?“
“Well, I try to stay fit and morning’s the best time to go jogging.”
He studies me intently and crouches down on his haunches. “What happened to your face?”
“Nothing. I just fell on the stairs to my place last night.”
He turns my head with his hand so that he can have a closer look at my cheek. I close my eyes. No, Maria, you can’t let yourself enjoy his touch.
“It doesn’t look to me like damage you could have done to yourself. Somebody hit you, right?”
I don’t respond. I don’t have to, we both know that he’s right.
“Billy?”
I can feel his muscles tighten as he speaks his name aloud, but I’m too shaken to answer.
He slips closer between my legs and his hands grip the ropes of the swing. “Look at me,“ Michael orders gently.
I turn my head slowly until we are face to face. I almost can’t stand his strong gaze. “Who did that to you?” he asks seriously.
I can’t choke back my feelings any longer. Tears flood my eyes and a few stifling sobs escape my throat. I hide my face behind my hands. This is so embarrassing, I don’t want to be weak, but I can’t keep it in anymore.
“Go away, Michael,” I plead while crying.
But he doesn’t. All at once I can feel his hands on my hips. He brings me up against his chest. At first I try to resist it, but after a short time I give in and wrap my arms around him. I bury my face in his neck and revel in his warmth as it surrounds me.
We stay in this position for long minutes. He holds me tightly against his body without saying a word until I calm down.
“You don’t have to tell me the details. Just let me know if it was Billy or not?” he says while he strokes a strand of hair behind my ear.
“It wasn´t him. I promise.“
He nods. “Okay. I believe you… I have to go now. Max wants to see me in a few minutes.”
“Sure.” I try to hold onto him a little longer, but I know I have to let him go.
“Bye.” I pull my arms away from him.
He stands up. “Go home, it’s too cold outside.”
“I will” .... not .
He turns around and starts to leave.
Suddenly I remember the conversation between Billy and the others. “Michael,” I jump from the swing and run after him, “you have to be careful. Billy’s planning to come after you because of my abduction.”
“I’ll keep my eyes open.”
Today it’s my turn to look at him with concern as he leaves.
***
