muserumble-blog

[muserumble-blog]

lachrymosestorm:

“O-Oh..” She stammered out. With how the lighting had changed she had to have been crying for hours. To everyone else she probably looked as if she simply had her heart broken, not that she was almost assaulted by two strange men, not as if she had been so worn thin from what she just escaped from, not that she had failed as a mother at such a young age. No, to everyone else she looked as if she simply was crying her eyes out as if it was some trivial matter. Her grey eyes stared at where the bus was. How was she going to get to her grandparents now? They weren’t even expecting her, she didn’t have any sort of phone to call them. Even if she did she didn’t know their number, she only knew their last known address. Dez was hoping on a whim they even still lived in that small old house.  “I’m.. I’m sorry you sat here with me.. for who know how l-long.. You pro-probably had better things to do..” Self blame. She knew she was the queen of self blame and doom, but only because that was how she was raised. Being told every day that the venom spewed from other’s lips was her fault, or the fists slammed against her were done because of her, it took an absolute toll on her nonexistent self-esteem.  “I wonder.. I wonder when the next bus is supposed to come..” How long did she need to wait to get to her destination? Or hell, even have a nice shower and a change out of her bloody clothes.

      “Don’t apologize,” Beck said, arms loosening around her so that they both could get some of the evening breeze. He was sure that his mother had been worried sick about him judging by the fact that if things went on schedule, he would’ve been home at this point. But when he would explain it to his momma, he’s sure that she’d understand. 

     “The next bus probably ain’t comin’ ‘til morning,” he said, standing up slowly. He pulled out his phone and checked the time, sending a quick reassuring text to his mom. “It’s just about eight. Do you have anyone you could call to pick you up? Or any money to stay somewhere?” 

Escape | Muserumble

[muserumble-blog]

holtingittogether:

       I laughed and pushed her hand away. “Hey, I haven’t been spending that much time with her,” I said. “I make time to talk to you every night. And besides, you made those new friends that you’ve been sitting with at lunch the past couple days.”

     My expression dropped as soon as he mentioned my new friends. I wish I could tell him that those weren’t really my new friends at all, and I’d only been talking to them to see if I could get his attention. But I couldn’t say that out loud. “Oh, yeah.”

[muserumble-blog]

holtingittogether:

       “Well, then it’s a good thing I came over early today,” I said cheerfully. “You’ve been here for two months and haven’t even been to my favorite place.”

     “Probably ‘cause you’ve been too busy with your new gorlfriend~ to hang out with me,” I said, reaching my finger over to play with his chin. I snickered, then plugged my phone into the aux cord. I started playing my new favorite song, The Middle. 

[muserumble-blog]

holtingittogether:

       We went out the door and got into my car. “Have you ever been to Lily’s before?” I asked, getting settled into the car and buckling up. “I know I’ve mentioned it before, but didn’t know if you tried it.”

     “Um, no, can’t say I have,” I said, shaking my head as I got into his car. It felt weird sitting in the front seat. “I know you tell me to check it out all the time because of how good it is, but I just haven’t had the time to eat out, I guess.” 

[muserumble-blog]

holtingittogether:

       “I was thinking we could go to Lily’s Diner,” I said, standing up to meet her. “I used to go there all the time with my family, and they make some amazing omelets.”

     “Hum, okay, sure,” I said, nodding. I followed after him, trying not to sink my head. I guess I was just expecting him to say something about how I looked, but he had a girlfriend now. Maybe he was extra cautious about those things. 

[muserumble-blog]

holtingittogether:

       “Alright,” I said, and then I walked back downstairs to the chair I sat in before. I pulled out my phone and was on it for about a half an hour before Momo finally made her way downstairs. “Finally, you had me waiting forever,” I said playfully.

     Without another word, I head to my bedroom, trying not to sulk in the fact that I felt terrible for avoiding Eli. What was I doing, anyway? Did any of this even make sense? I hated being unable to understand how I felt about him, because every single day, he was shoved right in my face.

      After showering and getting ready in some weekend wear, I head downstairs, carrying my purse in my hand. “So, um,” I said, walking towards Eli. “Where d’you wanna go to eat breakfast?”

[muserumble-blog]

holtingittogether:

       “No, she has something to do with her family. And I hang out with her all the time, I have to make time for you too.”

     “Oh... really?” I lifted my brows, suddenly feeling a little stupid for being so mean to him. “Well... if that’s how you feel, okay then. You can wait downstairs while I get ready.”

[muserumble-blog]

holtingittogether:

       “How about you go shower and then we go out and get breakfast together,” I suggested. “My treat.”

     “Y’mean, you’re gonna wait around for me or something?” I asked, looking down for a second. When our eyes met, I hardened up again. “Aren’t you gonna be hanging out with Hannah today?”

[muserumble-blog]

holtingittogether:

       “Oh you know,” I started, trying to think of an excuse other than ‘to force you into a conversation’, “we always hang out on Saturdays, and I thought I’d get here early this time.”

     I stood up quickly and looked at him. “Well, it’s too early! I haven’t even showered or eaten breakfast yet. You might as well just go and come back later.”

[muserumble-blog]

holtingittogether:

       “Oh Ms. Fujioka, it appears that you are alive!” I heard Sebastian say from the balcony before looking at me and winking. I got up off of the chair I was in and jogged up the stairs to see Momo with her face in her palm hiding behind a wall. “Um, hey Momo,” I said.

     “What?! No, no!” I whisper-yelled at Sebastian, letting go of my stuffed giraffe to flail my arms at him. As soon as I heard footsteps and watched Sebastian head into his room, I knew I was in for trouble. 

     I looked up from where I sat with my back against the wall, big eyes staring up at Eli, who had the guts to come into my house. “Um, hi. What are you doing here?” I asked, picking up my giraffe from the floor and clutching it, remaining sitting down. 

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holtingittogether:

       After about a minute of waiting, I saw Sebastian walking down the stairs, but without Momo. “Is she still asleep?” I asked.

       “I’m sorry to inform you,” Sebastian said, “but it appears that Ms. Fujioka is dead.” As he said dead, he used air quotes, but the fact that she said that to him at all meant that she didn’t want to talk to me.

       “Well can you just let her know that I wanna talk to her?” I said.

     As quietly as I could, I pitter-pattered out of my bedroom, not even bothering to shut my door out of fear it’d make noise. I head to the balcony before the staircase, crouching down as to not be seen as I watched the scene unfold between Sebastian and Eli. 

      It appears Ms. Fujoka is “dead.” 

      OH GOD! Sebastian, you nincompoop! Immediately, I hit my palm against my forehead, but realizing that it made noise, I hurled myself away from the balcony and over towards the wall. 

      Well can you just let her know that I wanna talk to her? 

      “Sure, Mr. Holt. I can certainly do that,” I heard Sebastian say downstairs. Please don’t see me, please don’t see me...

[muserumble-blog]

holtingittogether:

@muserumble

       On Saturday morning, I woke up and realized that I had fallen asleep during the movie we were watching. Not only that, but Momo and I were no longer on video chat, so she must’ve gotten off. I had no other plans for the day, so I decided to hop in my car and drive over to her house. I hadn’t gotten a good chance to talk to her since she began acting weird, so confronting her at her house meant she had no choice but to talk.

       I arrived at her front door at around 9:30, so I had to hope she was awake. I knocked and as usual, was greeted by her butler. “Hey there Sebastian,” I said as he let me in. “Is Momoko up?”

       “Have a seat, Eli,” he said, “I’ll go upstairs and check for you.”

     Gosh, what the hell happened last night? All of a sudden I started crying in front of Eli and losing my cool. Eli hadn’t seen me cry since we first met that day in the bathroom and he pretty much had to drag me out. Long story short, I hated feeling vulnerable-- but even more so, I hated looking vulnerable. 

      I lay in bed, dangling my head off the edge. I was glad today was Saturday, or else I would’ve made up some stupid excuse to skip school. When Sebastian came into my room and told me I had a visitor, I sat up. 

      “Huh? Who is it?” I asked curiously, reaching for my stuffed giraffe and clutching it. 

     “I believe it’s one of your friends... Mr. Holt,” Sebastian said. 

     I gasped, face turning completely red. “No! No way. He canNOT be here. Just tell him I’m, like, dead or something!” 

     Sebastian looked at me for a moment, then turned around. “Very well then.” 

[muserumble-blog]

Injury Starters

“Whoa, when did you get this?”

“Who did this to you?”

“Hold still— I need to clean it.”

“I’m supposed to believe this was an accident?”

“Damn— I’d hate to see the other guy.”

“Does this hurt when I touch it?”

“What the hell, ___? Another fight?”

“What the hell happened to your face?”

“Why are you so calm about this? You’re really hurt.”

“I think your arm is broken. It’s not supposed to bend like that.”

“Here, let me help you with that.”

“You’re bleeding a lot. Too much. Apply more pressure. I’m calling an ambulance.”

“Did you think I was gonna leave you like this?”

“Instead of helping you, they ran off? What an asshole.”

“You need to be more careful. You keep getting hurt like this and you’ll put yourself out of commission.”

“Let me grab the first-aid kit. Don’t move.”

“So, do you wanna explain to me what the hell happened?”

“You look really pale. Sit down. I don’t need you fainting before I get this stitched-up.”

“I’m not blaming you, I’m just saying this looks awfully suspicious.”

“How many of them were there? This doesn’t look like one man’s doing.”

“Sit still. I need to clean this before it gets infected.”

“Wiggle your fingers. I need to make sure it’s not broken.”

“This is gonna hurt. A lot. But it’ll be quick. I need to pop it back into place.”

“I told you not to act recklessly like that. You might think you’re protecting me, but you’re gonna get yourself killed if you keep jumping in like that.”

“That was really close this time. Too close. Please, promise me you’re gonna listen to me and be more careful in the future.”

[muserumble-blog]

lachrymosestorm:

Normally the feeling of being held would make her feel absolutely panicked, yet as he held her she just felt herself trembling against him. Perhaps it was because this was the first gentle touch she had in quite some time where nothing was expected of her, but she finally let the tears fall. A quiet cry as she wrapped her arms around his, clinging to him gently.  She was afraid to hold him too tightly, afraid that if she did it would turn out to be just a mere dream. She was afraid that she was back on that bus and she so desperately dreamt of kindness only her brain could will it upon her, and that her reality was still drenched in darkness. The teenager really didn’t want this to fade away. Hearing his words, how he wouldn’t hurt her, she wasn’t sure how much of it was true. Yet at least for this moment, whether it was a dream or reality, she had no reason to not believe him. Or, more as if she didn’t have the strength to defy anything beyond acceptance. She was exhausted, beaten, and broken. She just needed the comfort this stranger brought her in this moment.  Dez wasn’t sure how long the two of them sat there while she cried, but eventually she felt herself slowly calming down. “I..Th-th-thankyousomuch.” Her words were quick; rapid. Even though she was calmer than she was, Dez was an absolute anxious mess. There was dark question that soon appeared in her head: Did Thomas realize she was leaving? Did he send this man to track her down and bring her home?

     If he had to sit with her all night, he would. Beckett was an empathetic dog. He picked up feelings more so than others and never abandoned anyone in need. Even if that person in subject was just some random girl he’d seen getting messed with at the truck stop. 

     As he held this nameless girl in his arms, he thought about what would’ve happened if he hadn’t stopped those two guys. He thought about what would’ve happened if he’d never been picked up after being tossed away as an infant. He wondered what it would’ve felt like to be given up on. 

     The feeling made him sick to his stomach. He gently pulled her closer, listening to her cry until she seemed to finally run out of tears. For a long time he listened to her crying. When she was done, almost no one had been at the rest stop, and the only thing lighting up his face was the street lamp overhead. 

     “It’s okay. Just, uh,” he said, looking around. Only his dad’s pick-up truck was close by. “Your bus left you.”

Escape | Muserumble

[muserumble-blog]

lachrymosestorm:

The violence before her made her even more anxious. Dez sincerely thought she would have a panic attack right then and there. Her vision started to blur and brighten as her chest began to tighten. The blows she was observing terrified her greatly as it hadn’t been an entire day since she was on the receiving end not that long ago. She was already on the ground from the tallest man, she could only watch the scene with intense eyes. Dez had become far too frightened to find the ability to flee by this point. She could only place her hands on the side of her face and tremble. Two police officers had managed to arrive and tear everyone away from each other. Dez wasn’t coherent enough to to have a proper conversation with the officer’s, and wasn’t even able to process how the tallest one managed to not be thrown into the back of the cop cars like the older men, but eventually it was just her and the man who rescued her.  “Th-Thank you!” She choked out, but she was still an absolute mess. She was trying to keep her intense anxiety under control. She needed to not cry, things always got worse when she cried. Dez was absolutely positive he would hit her too. It happened every time tears fell from her eyes. “Pl-Please don’t hi-hit me too. I’m tr-trying to calm do-down!” She was so riled up she wasn’t sure if she could calm down.

     Beckett was about to tackle the other man into the ground when he felt a pair of hands snatch him away from the scene. He continued trying to grab at the two, but was inevitably separated by two men in police uniforms. Giving up, he let out a sigh and let the officers get him back on his feet. After a moment, he remembered the girl-- and looked at her, seeing her crying on the dirt. As long as no one touched her, she was okay, and that was a relief to him. 

     Once things died down and Beckett talked to the officers, he somehow managed to break away without getting cuffed and sent to the slammer for the night-- something his mother would not be very happy about. He searched for the girl he’d been protecting, somewhat panicking that she had fled or had been taken by someone else. 

     When he saw her near where she once was, she was a crying mess. He looked at her, lips parting, unsure of what to say. She was such a vulnerable thing, no younger than 14, dirty, bloody. He noticed things about her that no one else did. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have let her get away this far. 

     Please don’t hit me too. Beckett felt his heart break in half like a crack on Earth. He crouched in front of her. The buses had left a few minutes ago and most of the cars who were at the rest stop earlier were mostly gone. It just meant he didn’t have to care about who saw them, but he wouldn’t have either way. He didn’t know what to do, so he just pulled her over to him and held her. “It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.” 

Escape | Muserumble

[muserumble-blog]

lachrymosestorm:

The frail teenager had absolutely accepted her fate when she felt a hand grab onto her thin arm. She was then shoved away from the two older men and her terrified grey eyes looked about widely as she tried to understand what was going on.  The man that pushed her away was younger than the men who were harassing her, but he was absolutely intimidating with his size. Her grey eyes simply stared at the back of him for a moment before she peered around him to look at the adult men. She could see the irritated expressions on their face, the two of them obviously debating how much this entire situation was worth it. The first gentleman, clean cut brown hair looked at a gentleman with bleach blond shaggy hair. The brown haired man let out a ‘tsk’ before looking at Dez’s rescuer. His voice was gruffer than the blond’s, and certainly made her body tremble. “Why don’t you mind your business boy? The adults are playing right now!”  The other, blond, gentleman grinned as he saw Dez in a way that made her skin crawl. Why did these adult men feel the need to smile at her in that way? She felt her aching stomach twist in knots before she hid back behind the taller boy. If they couldn’t see her then they could smile at her. Her heart was hammering away as she heard the blond’s next words. “Unless you’d like to join us? She seems cute and easy, doesn’t she? She certainly doesn’t seem like she’d put up much of a fight. Look how weak she looks.” Dez took a few steps back out of instinct. If she heard him agree she might have a few seconds to run, no matter how exhausted she felt. Maybe she would have a shot. Maybe.

     “I ain’t interested. And if she ain’t interested, y’all have to be man enough to accept that and walk away,” Beck said, still keeping his composure despite the men’s hostile temperaments. As much as he liked to stand up for people, he didn’t wanna go pick up fights where there weren’t any. 

     “Unless you ain’t goddamn man enough.” 

     Ah, never mind. There was no use getting to this boy. He wore a smug grin as he challenged the older men, ready and able to fight. He was agile enough to dodge any punches thrown and swift enough to throw his own. Even if they were older than him, he was a tough dog-- he didn’t give a shit. 

     Beckett Abel Boyer, your mother would be very disappointed. 

     “That’s it, you little shit!” the brown-haired man growled, swinging a large fist towards Beck. Immediately, Beck pushed the girl behind him down onto the ground, protecting her from getting hit as he dodged the punch and moved to the right. 

     “That’s all you got? I’d like to see you really try,” Beck said, smirking still for a moment, before taking the man off guard and crossing his fist against the man’s eye. 

Escape | Muserumble

[muserumble-blog]

but does anyone want me?