Kill Me With Words

Beth couldn't help but feel tears welling up behind her eyes as she said goodbye to her dad and boarded the bus with the rest of the band. They'd be home again in a weeks time but a weeks time was too long after a three month tour of love, loss, depression, torture, hospital visits, mental break downs, and arrests but still having the greatest time of their lives.

"Beth, look!" Spencer tapped her arm furiously trying to get her attention.

When Beth looked out the windshield of the bus, she saw the moon looking bigger than she'd ever seen it before. It looked so close she felt as though she could reach out and touch it with her own hands. It was flushed with a pinkish red color, almost as if the moon was blushing at the sun and the earth was watching their romantic encounter, a strange observer.

"Oh my god," She breathed. "That's so beautiful."

Spencer watched her eyes grow wide with admiration for the way the moon appeared in the sky. He couldn't help but blush himself, for she looked so beautiful with stars in her eyes. Spencer was Beth's moon; hiding in the shadows to let her shine, and helping her when she needs to rest. Beth was Spencer's sun; the brightest object in his life; what his world revolved around.

Marcus was laid up in bed with Emily's shoulders under his arm and her head resting lightly on his chest. She was so tiny compared to his large, muscular frame. He glanced at her slumbering face of innocence and thought of his sister.

"Marcus, please. I need you to pick me up." His sister's voice sounded grave and frantic over the phone.

"I will." Marcus was urgent. "Where are you? I'll be there as fast as I can."

"At the corner of Pleasant and South. Please, hurry. I'm scared." She let the phone go silent.

Marcus's head was spinning with all different thoughts of the worst kind: rape, abuse, battery, assault. Anything could have happened to her and he didn't know what was wrong. He wouldn't know until he got to her. She refused to tell him over the phone, and that made him even more worried.

Marcus jumped in his truck and whipped down the street to pick up his sister. He was more than half way there when a cop car pulled out behind him and turned his lights on. Marcus ignored it and kept speeding down the road to his sister. He wasn't about to let anything stop him from getting to her in time.

He pulled up next to the corner where his sister stood under the street light, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. A big black circle was forming around her left eye.

"What the fuck happened?!" Marcus shouted. The police sirens grew closer as the cop pulled up behind Marcus's truck.

"H-He punched me!" Jessie cried. "He punched me in the face because I refused to kiss him. I just.. I wasn't ready for that yet!"

"Who did?" Marcus demanded.

"I did." Ryan, a guy Marcus went to high school with, stepped into the light.

"You bastard!" Marcus spit.

"Hey!" Another voice added itself into the conversation. Everyone turned to look at the police man approaching the three of them. "What's going on here?"

Marcus ignored the officer and lunged at Ryan, beating the devilish smirk right off his face. He pinned Ryan down on the ground and began pounding him in the face as the officer attempted to pull Marcus off.

"He hurt my sister!" Marcus was shouting over and over again with each deadly blow to Ryan's face.

"Marcus, stop! Please!" Jessie was crying again and Marcus stopped at the sound of her voice just long enough for the officer to cuff him.

"Hey!" Marcus protested. "What are you doing?! Get off me!"

The officer shook his head. "You're under arrest for resisting to pull over for an officer, speeding, and battery."

Marcus was led to the flashing car. "What about my sister? He hurt her! He should be the one getting arrested here, not me! She's 15 for fuck's sake!"

The officer ignored his pleas and shoved him into the back of his cruiser. Marcus glared out the window at Ryan's smug, blood stained smile. He averted his eyes to his sister. "Call mom!" He called out to her through the thick window.

His voice was muffled but she knew what he had said. Jessie nodded in understanding and stood there still under the light, watching her brother get carted off to the station. She was alone again. She was always alone.