Happy Birthday to Me

MARISSA

Dane took the guy's advice and took off running out of the alley in the direction the rest of his meat head friends had gone.

Chris stuck glued to his spot, but his eyes sported a dangerous flame that read 'Don't mess with me.' as he stared at the intruder. "That stupid idiot." he muttered about Dane before he glanced down at my crumpled body on the ground. "Stupid bitch." he spat before he gave me one swift kick to my stomach and finally tore out of the alleyway.

My eyes started to spot with little black dots. I tried to get up, but I couldn't get my legs underneath me and slumped back down to the ground. I really didn't want to pass out in the alley, but it seemed like I was headed that way.

The mystery person ran up to my side and kneeled next to me. "You're an idiot." he quietly told me.

I slowly opened my eyes and blinked the blackness away until my sight became a little bit better, but not by much. "G-Gerard?" I questioned, "I-I didn't c-call you." I whispered. I distinctly remembered pulling out Connor's cell phone and pressing redial...Didn't I?

Gerard smirked at me, “And yet here I am." he replied.

The black dots became more prominent and I was having even more trouble seeing straight. I set my head down on the cement as the world around me began to spin. My eyes rolled back into my head and I felt myself slip into the blackness.

THIRD PERSON

Gerard sighed to himself as Marissa passed out. He scooped her up bridal style and made sure to pick up her skateboard in the alley before he began to carry her back to the hotel.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

MARISSA

Slowly I felt myself wake up. Beneath me I felt the warm comfort of a hotel room bed. But that can't be right. Last time I was aware of my surroundings I was in that alley on the ground. So how did I get here and whose bed am I in? Oh God, who's bed am I in?

Everything hurt. My back, my neck, my stomach, even my legs. I replayed how that guy attacked me and winced at every hit and blow I remembered. I wondered why I didn't pay better attention in those phys ed classes about how a girl should defend herself. Every year my high school held one week of classes specifically for the 'what ifs' a girl could face. I thought I would never need to know stupid things like that and it was embarrassing to try the tactics in front of my friends with the teachers hinting at how to do it better. So instead of sticking around and learning how to defend myself I skipped out of those classes and hid out under the bleachers. Now, with what happened, I wish I hadn't. I'm sure it would have gone down a lot differently if I had known what to do.

I could hear muffled voices just outside the closed door but I couldn't hear them very well. I strained my hearing to try to hear them better and it seemed to work as I could hear the conversation going on in the next room.

"Where did you find her?" that was defiantly Frank.

"In an alley." okay, that was Gerard.

"Was she okay?" that would be Ray.

"She will be." Gerard replied.

"How many guys were there? How many of them attacked her?" Frank asked, sounding more frantic.

"I counted six, but only one of them hit her." Gerard answered.

"Why do you think that?" ooh, Mikey joined the conversation.

"Most of them took off when I showed up. One refused to fight me and took off. The last kicked her before leaving as well. When I got closer to her I found Marks on her neck too." Gerard explained.

"At least she's safe." Bob said with a sigh.

"So...what happens now?" Ray asked.

"For now, we let her rest." Frank replied.