My Heart's Always With You

The dream Amber was having slowly began dissolving into bits of reality. But of course since she was still asleep she didn’t know it was reality. Was that the smell of French toast really there? Was someone really watching her sleep? Was that Willow’s tail or a spider on her arm?

The feel of Willow’s whiskers brushing against Amber’s arm felt similar to a spider or other insect as the cat cleaned her paws. Of course Amber wasn’t paying attention to the fact that the feeling was moving back and forth because she was mostly asleep. But the thought of a bug crawling on her was enough to cause her eyes to fly open and a scream to erupt from her mouth.

The first think Amber saw was Alyce’s face just inches from her’s. Alyce had been watching Amber in hope that it would wake her up since it had in the past. Naturally Amber’s scream caused Alyce to scream, which in turn caused Amber to scream, then Alyce scram again. This went on for several screams until Alyce asked “Why are we screaming?”

“Well you scared the crap out of me so I scram, then you scream, and so on.” Amber wasn’t happy about this. When Amber had scram Alyce jumped back so they were now sitting on opposite sides of the bed.

“Oops?”

“If you ever do that again I promise you I’ll-” Amber stopped to think.

“If it makes you happier your dad and Lisa are already gone. And your mom is still home.” Alyce cut in distracting Amber. “And there is still French toast waiting. So let’s go!” She jumped up, grabbed Amber’s arm and pulled, causing Amber to land on the floor with a loud thump.

At the sound of the thump Alyce burst into laughter. “Damn bubbly morning people.” Amber grumbled as she sleepily pulled herself to her feet. Instead of waiting for Alyce, who was still laughing at her, she walked out of her room and downstairs towards the kitchen. Even when they made it to the kitchen Alyce was still quietly laughing to herself.

“Roll out of bed sweetie?” Esme asked.

“No I was pulled.” Amber grabbed two slices of the French toast and went to sit down.

“Don’t be so grumpy.” Alyce sat down next to her and began eating.

“You pulled me off my bed and onto the floor. I’m mad at you.”

“You are so cranky in the morning.”

“I’m not a morning person.”

***

That evening Amber found herself stuck at home with Anthony, Lisa, and Aaron. Trying her best to ignore them she turned to her cat and the laser toy she held in her hand. Alyce and Kellan we having dinner with their families so that escape was a dead end. Matt was out of town for the day with his family and the guys, so that too was a dead end. So she was stuck.

She’d already tried staying in her room, but Anthony had sent Aaron up to bring her back down by using whatever force necessary. That had turned into a nasty fight scene between the two which had been broken up by Lisa screaming. So defeated Amber took a seat at the furthest end of the couch and began playing with the cat and laser.

“Cat will you come to me?” Aaron asked as Willow ran past him trying to catch that little red dot. Amber heard Esme walking around in the kitchen which meant she would join them soon.

The next time Willow ran past Aaron he made the mistake of grabbing her. Willow was the type of cat who had a mind of her own and if she didn’t want to do something then she didn’t. Simple as that. When she didn’t want to be held she will meow, throw her ears back, and occasionally growl. But with Aaron she was a bit more violent.

The cat threw her ears back, poofed her tail up, opened her mouth and hissed at him. She then dug her claws into his arms and bit him as she continued to claw his arms. He tossed her away and she landed on the floor on all four of her paws with a slight thud and a quiet meow.

When she sat down and began cleaning her paws and face Amber had to laugh. Lisa however was freaking out about the blood spilling from the claw marks on Aaron’s arms. “Your evil cat hurt him!” She shrieked at Amber.

“Willow isn’t evil, she is a good judge of character. And he shouldn’t have picked her up.” Amber picked up a still very angry Willow. The cat meowed twice and then quietly growled. Aaron had pissed her off. “Good kitty.” Amber scratched the cat behind her ears and smiled at the bundle of fat and fur in her arms.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Aaron asked standing up.

“It means you are an asshole.” Esme walked into the living room and took in the current scene that was unfolding before she spoke.

“What happened?” She asked looking at Amber.

“Aaron picked up Willow while she was chasing the laser and it made her mad, so she attacked him.” Amber brought the cat up higher in her arms so that Willow’s head was resting against her cheek.

“Come on Aaron, let’s go get those puncture holes cleaned out.” Lisa grabbed Aaron’s hand and led him up to her bathroom. That is when the idea hit Amber. That is what she and Alyce needed to get. An attack dog, trained to only attack Aaron.

“I’m going up to my room to calm Willow down.” Amber announced turning to go up the stairs. She was however frozen in her tracks when Anthony spoke.

“I am serious Amber. One day you will marry Aaron. Do you understand?” Amber spun around again, thankful that Willow was still in her arms to keep her from doing something too rash.

“You can go screw yourself. If you love Aaron so much you marry him. Because mark my words Anthony if he keeps this up I will kill him.” She then spun around to go back upstairs once again.

“You will call me dad.”

“Then start acting like one!” Amber ran up the stairs before she either accidentally squeezed Willow and hurt her, or put the cat down and began beating Anthony and choking Aaron when he returned.

The privacy of her bedroom and the black and blood red was comforting to Amber. In this house it was the only place that she ever wanted to be. Even with that truth right now it wasn’t where she wanted to be, she didn’t want to be in this house. She had to get out.

The keys to her car were sitting on her dresser, there was a clean pair of jeans that didn’t have the scent of anyone in this house except Esme sitting on her bed, a shirt that fit slightly better than the one she had worn to work that day and that wasn’t as plain, and an entire city out there that wasn’t full of the people she currently wanted to hurt. The opportunity was far too good to pass us. Granted she didn’t really have anyone to hang out with but that didn’t matter at the moment, she’d find something to do.

“I hate to leave you alone after your traumatic experience with that asshole Willow,” Amber began to tell the cat after sitting her down and grabbing the jeans. “but I really need to get out of here for a while. So what if I don’t really have anyone to go hang out with. Maybe I’ll go get some coffee or a hamburger or something. I’ve just gotta get away for a while.”

After changing into the clean pair of jeans and into a shirt with the image of a fairy sitting atop a large skull on the front, Amber quickly redid her make up and grabbed her cell phone and keys. She then looked around her room making sure there wasn’t anything else she should grab and then it hit her. She needed her wallet.

In the living room Esme had taken a seat on the couch, Lisa was still closely watching the claw marks on Aaron’s arms for blood, Aaron was smirking up at Amber, and Anthony was openly angry. “Let me guess you are leaving?” Anthony’s tone of voice openly conveyed his unhappiness with his oldest daughter.

“Yes I am.” Amber didn’t bother hanging around to be asked where she was going or who she was going with, instead she just left the house without another word. Once she was on the highway with the music turned up she began to think about where she would go now.

There were so many places that she could go, but none of them seemed to really be where she wanted to be. There was a reason for this, the one place she wanted to be wasn’t in Huntington. After all the one place she really wanted to be was with Matt, and since he was out of town it would take her hours to get there. So she settled for coffee as a first stop, caffeine was always good after all.

After ordering her coffee beverage from Starbucks Amber found seat at one of the outside tables and began thinking. There was a million ways to silence Aaron, but that wouldn’t stop her dad’s determination to apparently control and rule her life. There was still the Lisa problem as well. Two for Aaron, zero for Amber. She did however have three people on her side that he never would: Alyce, Matt, and Kellan.

Amber was so deep in thought that when she first heard the voice it not only scared her, but she didn’t even recognize who it was. “Amber Davis?” With a slight jump Amber looked up to be completely shocked.

“Samantha?” Amber couldn’t believe that Beth’s little sister was actually standing in front of me.

“Yeah that would be me. Can I sit down?”

“Yeah of course. Is Beth back in town?”

“No just me. I came to visit my parents for the summer.”

“How has Beth been?” Samantha had found out about what Aaron had done when Beth moved in with her aunt across the country. After finding out what happened Samantha went and moved with Beth to support her.

“Good for what happened. She has started piecing herself back together as much as she can. Is the trash still in Hawaii?”

“Um no. He is back. My dad is pushing me towards him, and he is actually seeing Lisa.”

“Lisa? Your little sister Lisa?”

“Uh yeah, my little sister.”

“You haven’t killed him yet?”

“He won’t die easily.” After the conversation with Samantha and finishing her coffee Amber left Starbucks and began driving around to find her next stop. After a stop at the mall for a few hours Amber headed home.

The house was completely dark which meant that everyone was already in bed and most likely asleep. While at the mall Amber and talked to Alyce who now knew everything, so she planned on just going up to her room and going to sleep. After all she was extremely tired.

Amber had just gotten her pajamas on when her cell phone went off. I want to see you Amber smiled at the text and hit reply.

I want to see you 2. 2morrow?

Is that a promise?

Promise. Amber thought about telling Matt about the evenings events but decided against it.

***

The smile broke out across Amber’s face the second she pulled into the restaurant parking lot the following evening. She could already see Matt waiting by his car and she couldn’t bottle the excitement that she felt. He did know what had happened the night before since she’d told him on the phone earlier that day.

“Hey” She smiled wrapping her arms around his neck as his warped around her.

“Hey.” He gave her a kiss on the lips and they then went inside since they were meeting Alyce and Kellan at the bowling alley after they ate. “So when do you want me to kick his ass again?” Matt asked after they had got their food.

“Whenever you want to. I just want to watch.”

“Sounds like a deal to me.” Amber loved being able to spend time with Matt, and she only wished that she could do this without hiding. “We will find a way. You don’t have to worry about it right now.”
“I know, but sometimes its hard to not think about it.”

“I know, but I mean it when I say that nothing is going to keep me away from you.”

“I know you do, and you know that I mean it when I say that nothing will keep me away from you too.”

“Yeah I do know.” After dinner they ended up at the mall, which they found out may have been a huge mistake. Everything was going great until she saw Aaron and Lisa.

“Matt we’ve gotta go. Now. Aaron and Lisa are here.” Amber whispered hoping it wasn’t too late.

“Lets go then. Damn it.” Matt wasn’t happy about having to leave, but he understood why. After that they decided it would probably be best if they each went home and just spent more time with each other the next day.

When Amber got home and got done telling Alyce about her night she went out side and sat down in one of the patio chairs with a book. It was another beautiful California night outside, so the book light gave off just the right amount of light for her to see the words on the pages.

She had finished reading and was just enjoying the night when she heard the sliding glass door open and glanced over to see Lisa. “Hey Lisa.”

“Hey Amber.” Lisa sat down in the chair across from her sister. “You really should be nicer to Aaron. He’s really sweet.”

“Yeah I’ll be nicer to him, how about I make sure his death is quick.”

“You are a bitch you know that?”

“I try.”

“There you are Lizzy.” Even the sound of Aaron’s voice was the most annoying thing in the world to Amber.

“Where else would I be?” He sat down next to her and she grabbed his hand.

“Hey Amber.”

“Go screw yourself.”

“Is that anyway to say hello?”

“To you, yes it is. Actually it is a nice way of saying hello too.”

“I’m going to go inside and talk to dad. I’ll see you in a bit Aaron.” Lisa gave him a kiss before she went inside. As soon as Lisa was inside and away from the door Amber began the attack on Aaron.

“Have you hurt her?”

“Not yet. I told you, your sister is safe for now.”

“What have you told her.”

“I told her that I love her if you want to know that.”

“You don’t mean it.”

“She doesn’t know that.”

“Breaking her heart counts as hurting her.”

“I’m not scared of you.”

“You should be.”

“Why does Sanders want me to stay away from you?”

“I don’t know let me think. He is a nice guy, unlike you.”

“I’m offended Amber.”

“Good because I’m just saying the truth.”

“If you got to know me you might like me more.”

“Get this straight in your twisted little fantasy Aaron I’m always going to hate you.”

“And why is that?”

“I know the real you. The rapist. The guy who beats girls because he doesn’t have the guys to stand up to another guy. The scum of the earth.”

“And you know what you are miss Davis.”

“Enlighten me.”

“A bitch. A bitch who is never going to get any guy to want her, because you think you don’t need a guy to take care of you. You seem to think you can take care of yourself and protect yourself. No one is ever going to want you.”

“How do you know someone doesn’t? And I don’t think I can take care of and protect myself, I know I can. I’ve been having to against you for almost my whole life. I’ve had a lot of practice.”

“When you crash and burn and end up as Amber Marshell I’ll be there to laugh my ass off and make your live a living hell.”

“I’m never going as you put it crash and burn and end up with you. Never gonna happen. So how about you stop living in your twisted little fantasy and accept the reality that I’m not yours, never been, and never will be.”

“Your dad has a different story about that.”

“He doesn’t own me and he doesn’t control me. You may have him and Lisa on your side, but I have everyone else on my side. You remember that.”

“Oh I will. And you remember what I’m saying about how you will be mine one day.”

“You remember that I won’t. And that if you hurt my sister then I’ll kill you.”

“Whatever.” Aaron stood up and went inside and Amber pulled out her cell phone to text Matt.

I really hate Aaron, have I said that today? She waited for her phone to go off and she smiled when it did.

I know you do. Don’t worry I’ll kick his ass again soon.

Thanks. I think I’m going to go get some sleep. See you tomorrow?

See you tomorrow. Night. I love you.

I love you too

Amber fell asleep that night with a smile on her face since she was thinking about Matt. Somewhere she knew that one way or another Aaron would be taken down. Lisa would be convinced of the truth, and in the end Aaron wouldn’t succeed.

Now how she and Matt were going to work out being basically forbidden to each other she wasn’t sure of. But Alyce did have one extremely good point. If all else failed, there was always Hawaii.