Screaming on the Inside

Carly and I had driven to the cafe together that morning, so I decided to walk home by myself. I never really got time alone, and this was just a good opportunity.
I couldn't help but think about everything Nick said to me, even though he was a complete stranger. For all I knew, he could have been making it all up to try and make me feel sorry for him and sleep with him or something. But he couldn't have.. Not by the way he talked, or the look in his eyes. I felt terrible for him, in all honesty. I wanted to go find him and give him another hug. It was about 11 at this point, so I figured he was already home, probably listening to his wife accuse him of cheating or something.
I finally got home, and walked in on Carly and Jacky making out on the couch. They didn't seem to notice me come in, so I just quietly went to my room. Seeing them together made me sad. Like I said earlier, I wanted that. I wanted that kind of love, but knew I'd have to wait for it.
I was dead tired, so the minute I shut my eyes to go to sleep, I was already in a dream state.

I looked around me and there was nothing but darkness, the only light that could be seen in miles was the street light that was beating down on me. Why was I on the sidewalk? Why was it so dark?
I slowly stood up and looked around, not sure what was going on or where to go. I decided to walk into the street, hoping I would find a house or something. "No." I heard a whisper.
I looked around in a panic, but no one was there. "Hello?" I asked quietly, not moving a muscle. But no reply. I wanted to hear the voice again, I didn't know why, but I felt desperate to hear it one more time. I started walking into the street again.
"Stop Marley." It said, in that same hushed whisper. I decided to turn around and walk the other direction, into a deeper blackness then the road was. "Run." It said.
"Run?" I asked, in almost a panic. Who runs into complete darkness? That's be stupid! I could run into something!
But no reply. I decided to trust this voice, for one reason or another, and I ran. Fast. It felt like I was running forever, until I got tired and fell to the ground. I found myself unable to stand, so I sat there on the ground, resting on my knees, trying to catch my breath. "What am I looking for?" I thought. I felt like I knew the answer, but someone else answered that for me.
I felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around my shoulders. I gasped at the shock of someone else being there besides me. I'd had this dream before, many times, but this had never happened before. No one else ever showed up.
I turned to see who was hugging me, but I couldn't see a face, all I could make out was a familiar grayish long sleeve shirt, everything else was black. I wasn't even sure how I could see even that. There was no light anywhere, but I didn't really mind. I felt safe with this person, and I didn't mind sitting in the dark, in the middle of nowhere. This person was with me, and that's all I cared about.
"Marely! Marley? Hellloooo? Marley!" I heard. I felt the other person vanish and a stream of light entered my vision as I slowly opened my eyes to reality.
"Mmmm... What Carly?" I said, groggily.
"Hey! Come on! We have to go see your dad today!" She said, happily.
"I just saw him the other day, why? Did he call?" I asked, a little worried, but not too much. He did this often when he knew I had a day off.
"Yeah. He just says he misses his daughters." She smiled, because she knew that meant her too.
I smiled. "Alright." I said, sitting up. "Call him back and tell him we'll be there to pick him up in an hour. I think we should take him somewhere. He hasn't been out in ages."
"Can do! Now hurry up and get ready!" She said, playfully pushing me. "And can Jacky come too?" She asked sweetly. She never really asked for Jacky to go places when I was going too, because she knew it bothered me. I didn't mind Jacky going this time, just because I had my dad with me and I didn't feel like such a third wheel, she must've known that.
"Yeah. No problem." I smiled. She returned the smile then got up and left the room.
I decided to take a shower and make myself up a little. I curled my already wavy hair into big, wide curls, something I didn't do often. I liked the look, so I kept it and started in on my make up. When I was finally done and satisfied with my outfit and make up choices, I grabbed my messenger bag and headed downstairs for breakfast.
Jacky was already there, and Carly had just set out a bowl of cereal for me. "Thank you Carly. Good morning Jacky." I said sweetly.
"Hey there Marley." He winked at me. Jacky and I played around like that a lot, pretend flirting, but it was all in fun. Even Carly thought it was funny.
We finished up eating and went to my dad's house, where he was quietly sitting on his couch watching the TV.
"Hi dad!" I said cheerfully. I always had to make sure I was happy and positive around him, I figured if I was positive he would be too.
"Hello honey!" He said excitedly and pulled both me and Carly into hugs. "Jacky!" He said in a welcoming tone. Jacky bent down and gave him a hug too.
"So dad, do you feel up to going out today?" I asked.
"Sure do! I feel great today!" I was relieved by this, he didn't have as many good days as he used to.
I smiled wide. "Great! Mall sound good? That way we don't have to stop more then once place to eat and shop."
"Sounds just fine to me. Whatever you crazy kids feel like doing." He replied, standing up and carefully moving to his wheel chair. He didn't need oxygen yet, but we made sure he stayed in a wheel chair so he didn't need it, even though we brought it with us anyway.
"Did you already take your medicine?" Jacky asked. I was proud of Jacky, he accepted dad and always took time out of his life to come see him and take care of him, even when Carly weren't there. He was a real sweetheart.
"Yes sir I did!" Dad answered proudly. He usually either forgot to take them or was late.
We drove out to the mall and went directly to FYE, so dad could buy some new movies. He liked watching movies, but I'm sure he grew tired of the ones he'd been watching. We bought all the movies he wanted and kept going with our journey.
Starbucks was next on the list, we all ordered our preferred drink and dad got a smoothie, but as we waited for our drinks a girl caught my eye. She was on the phone and sitting at a table by herself. "Yeah babe. I'll be there tonight... Don't worry about him, I'll take care of that. He'll have no clue... Yes of course! .... Ha! I'll get you taken care of too." She said all of this in a suspicious way. It was so obvious that she was planning on cheating on someone, oddly enough, it reminded me of Nick. It made me really hate this girl, because I knew what her boyfriend or whatever must be going through, or is about to go through. I had a completely different outlook on cheating then I did before I talked to Nick. Before, I just didn't really care if anyone else did it. That was their business and I knew I'd never do it, so it didn't really matter to me. But now, I just felt terrible for whatever man she was doing this to, and I held a sort of anger towards any other person who cheated like that, and out in public for that matter.
We left with our drinks and headed out to the next store. We wondered around for abut 20 minutes before my dad spoke up. "Anyone hungry? I'm starving!" He said.
"Yeah sure. Let's go." We all went to the food court and got our food, then met back up at a booth against a wall. I sat on the opposite side of Carly and Jacky with my dad, and I kept watching the waves of people walking. I found looking at people kind of fun, I liked looking at everyone's different styles and the way they carried themselves. Until someone stuck out to me.. It was the same girl in Starbucks.
She was no longer on the phone and she carelessly walked, just casually looking around. A man walked up to her and took her hand in his, then kissed her cheek. She looked over at him and smiled, then, when he looked away, she looked at her phone and started texting. And I knew, damn well, that she was talking to that guy she had on the phone. It pissed me off, especially when I looked at the guy more closely. It was Nick.
I got up quickly and almost ran to him, but not to where he'd notice. "Nick." I said, touching his arm."
He smiled. "Hi."
"Oh, are you a fan?" The girl, who I assumed was Samantha, asked. I didn't want her to have any proof that Nick was cheating, because he wasn't, so I just went with it.
"Uh, yeah. Yep. I am. Huge fan." I smiled.
She smiled back, but I could practically taste the venom on her lips. "I'll meet you out in the car." She said to Nick, sort or annoyed.
"Okay..?" He said in a questioning way. He turned to me and started talking once she was out of eye sight. "What are you doing here?" He asked nicely. It made me wonder if he had any other emotions except for nice and sad.
"Was that Samantha?" I asked.
"Yeah. That's her. Why?" He asked, seeming a little nervous now.
"I just.. Don't get mad at me, okay?" I was nervous to tell him what I saw, but I couldn't just not tell him. He deserved to know.
"Uhm, okay.." He said, the hint of a smile that was once there, now faded into a serious look.
"I saw her, earlier about 30 minutes ago in Starbucks. She was talking on the phone to some guy, will you just... Was it you she was talking to?" I asked, making sure I wasn't accusing her of something she didn't do.
"..No.." He said, knowing what I was about to say. I could see the heartbreak in his eyes. I knew he was upset. They seemed to actually be getting along.
"Then I'd watch out if I were you. She said that she'd take care of him[/] and he won't have a clue." I put air quotes around "him". "She said she'd be there tonight and she called him babe." I was trying to be careful with how I said this, but I knew no matter how nicely I put it, he'd still be just as hurt.
Nick stared at me, as if trying to figure out weather I was lying or not. He eventually looked down at the ground and muttered, "Fuck.." He looked back up at me, and smiled, even though his eyes told me smiling was the last thing he wanted to do. "Thank you Marley, for telling me."
I was kind of surprised he remembered my name. I told him what it was once, and we hadn't actually texted since then.
"Are you okay?" I asked quietly.
"Yeah. I'm fine." He lied. "It just really sucks. We were finally getting along. I did what you said, we started fighting and I ended up making the night romantic and better for the both of us. That's why we're here. We wanted to actually do something together, so I told the guys I wouldn't be going in today so I could be here with Mammfa. And.. It backfired. Damn it." He looked around, at anywhere but me. He seemed to do this often when he was confused or didn't know how to express what he was feeling.
I stepped closer to him and wrapped my arms around his torso and lay my head down on his chest. I admit, I felt safe there, and I fit in his arms pretty perfectly. He returned the embrace, resting his head on top of mine.
"It'll be okay.." I whispered.
He didn't reply, but I felt his breathing get heavier. I figured he was holding back tears, because that's what I did when I was upset. My breathing would get heavier and I'd have to get away from everyone and be alone. So I expected it when he let me go and said his almost silent thank you's and left.
I walked back over to my group of people and sat back down. "Who was that?" Carly asked, way too excitedly.
"He's a friend. I met him yesterday. His name is Nick." I explained.
"He seems like more then a friend." She said, suggestively.
"No Carly. He's married." I was getting annoyed, which was unusual. I never got annoyed when Carly did this.
"He's married?" She sounded shocked.
"Yes Carly. That bitch he was walking with is his wife, Samantha." I was super pissed, but not at Carly. I was mad at Samantha. I openly saw what she was doing to him, and it was affecting him in a bad way.
"Bitch huh? You must really like him." She said. I admit, it did seem like I liked him, I mean, come on. He was attractive! And he was a sweetheart. But no. I couldn't like him. He was married.
"Yeah. She's a bitch. She's cheating on him and he knows it. I just saw her in Starbucks talking to another man on the phone, telling him she'll take care of him and that her husband will never find out." I said, mocking her. I grew angrier and angrier by the second. I didn't get too pissed off until I saw Nick's reaction. I felt protective over him, because he seemed so innocent in the situation. I knew he didn't deserve this.
"What? Ew! What a bitch!" She exclaimed, but she wasn't half as furious as I was.
"Yeah. She's hurting him so much. I met him at the cafe yesterday and I asked him why he looked so upset. I got him to tell me everything. Apparently he came home from tour, because he sings in a band, and he caught her screwing another guy on the fucking kitchen table!" Which reminded me that I still had to listen to the CD Nick had given me. "And even after that blow up, she's still doing it!"
"Wow. You're really pissed off." Jacky interjected.
"Yes. I am. And all I can do about all of this is sit back and watch it slip away." I said, calming down,realizing I was almost yelling. "That's just.. Not okay. He's hurting so much, and she doesn't even give a shit. It's sick and he needs to get away from her." I was trying to not sound so defensive, but I couldn't help it. He did need to divorce her. He was so much better then she was. He deserved better.
"Well. It seems you were sent to him right?" My dad asked. He was very religious, and even though he knew I wasn't terribly religious like he was, he still brought stuff like this up to help me out.
"I guess." I said, wondering where he was going with this.
"Maybe it's your job to show him that he deserves better. Maybe that's why God lead to you him. I think you need to help this boy, Marley." He said, then went back to eating his food.
I thought about what he said, maybe he was right. Maybe I did need to help Nick.