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Holly
I grabbed some clothes, went to my bathroom, texted the whole situation to Winston, took my antibiotics, removed the little bandage from my birth control shot, and thanked my lucky stars that was a location they could provide it. They were attached to a clinic. They had nurses on staff and an urgent care facility in the back. Explained why we had to go to this particular location when there were a dozen pharmacies closer to where we were. I showered, dressed in my pajamas, and went into my room where a giant of a man was taking up the majority of my bed.
I had two options. Sleep next to him and know when or if he got up. Sleep on the floor and hope he didn't step on me. My knee hurt, my head hurt, my whole face hurt. I thought about that pistol at the back of my head and pushed past whatever illogical, inexplicable fear I had of this giant teddy bear. Huh. That helped. I once had a giant teddy bear. I loved that thing. Used to cuddle up to it at night. Then my mom redid my room and donated it because I was too old to be sleeping with a teddy bear. She replaced it with a figurine that she put on the shelf where she had also removed all my kid books. Like I wasn't saving those for my own house or life someday.
I sat slowly onto the bed next to him and considered, I had thought about that...once. Like, when I was younger. I did think about family and...boys and...it hurt so much to think about it all. I just needed to rest. I laid next to him and tried to curl up into as small of a ball that I could make.
The next time I opened my eyes, I was looking at his back. Dark-brown hair was cut short but long enough at the top it curled. Broad, tanned shoulders, a long spine, and the hint of a tan line where his boxer-briefs band was. I closed my eyes again and dreamed the craziest dream I had ever had in my whole life.
"I'm Holly." I smiled up at him. Well, someone. Not him. But someone like Stormy. Bigger than me by a lot. Handsome, holding a football.
"Deitrick. You here on vacay?" he asked and then sent the ball sailing toward some other guys.
"Yes, you?" I tried not to blush. He shook his head no, then smiled. "You live here? That must be awesome."
He caught the ball and threw it back. "It's not too bad. You want to take a walk?"
"Yes!" I was way too excited. He was so handsome. So confident. My mom would be so proud of me if I brought him home for dinner.
"Cabana is this way." He extended his arm.
I tried not to giggle as we walked that way. Once we were at the cabana, I realized it was still part of the rentals.
He closed the door and said, "You're cute."
"Thanks." I walked toward the mini-fridge in this changing space meant for beach goers as a transition or staging place between the sand and their beach house and asked, "Do you want something to drink?"
"Shouldn't I be offering you something?" he asked and laughed. Something was changing about the whole scene, him, how he sounded. He asked, "How old are you?"
"Thirteen. Fourteen in two weeks." I wanted to be older.
"Thirteen. Wow. I thought you were my age, I'm seventeen." He moved around to where I stood with the bottle of water and said, "No boyfriend? Pretty girl like you is sure to have a boyfriend."
Something started to ache in my chest. I needed to move. Leave. Something was not right here. The whole scene shifted, the inside turned dark, outside it was like a thunderstorm had dropped down, but…I shook my head, unable to think.
"Holly, Holly. What school do you go to?" he asked. When I looked up at him, he had blood red eyes, fangs. He was turning into a monster. "Private school or public?"
"Everest Academy." I whispered and looked for an exit before my heart exploded. "You?"
"I play football at Friedman." He was right in front of me, and I realized just how big he was compared to me. The moment his hand came up to touch my face, I knew I made a mistake talking to him. "We'll never see each other again, Holly."
"I should go—"
But he didn't let me go. He put his hand on my face, on my mouth, and told me not to move or say a word or he would kill me. And I believed him. Then the monster with the claws and fangs and red eyes raped me and left me there, all scratched up, dying, bleeding, and—
"Holly? Ouch. Shit. Why are you hitting me?" I felt large hands move around my wrists, and as I opened my eyes, I saw intense, confused, deep grey ones looking back at me. I broke down and started crying. He eased his grip and asked, "What happened?"
"I'm not a virgin." I sobbed.
"We didn't do anything. In fact, until you turned my kidney into a punching bag, I was still sleeping." He reached and retreated. "I don't know what to do here."
"I have an appointment today. I... don’t know if it was real or just a dream." I knew my mouth still hurt.
"I should leave. I—" He started to push up.
No. I could not let him leave. Not yet. Not until I got him back to Sophomore House and into someone else's care.
I reached for him, and he said, "I have a game tonight."
