Borrowed Time

Chapter 12

A cold breeze sends shivers down Marcy's spine making her bury deeper under the soft duvet until she is jolted up by a sharp force pulling them away from her grasp. She tries to sit up, but a strong force pushes her by her shoulders as a heavy weight rests on her chest. Short, quick breaths escape her lips as she tries to gasp for air feeling her lungs cave in. No amount of effort can drag Marcy from this trap as she lets out muffled screams and cries.

Her eyes wander uncontrollably around the dark room, finally finding the strength to turn her head to the side. Desperately trying to escape, tears slowly stream down her cheeks as a tall figure walks triumphantly towards her helpless form.

Elias. His face scarred in Marcy's memory, haunting all her thoughts. He paces slowly around the room chuckling to himself until he stops at the foot of the bed and smirks devilishly straight into her eyes. Drawing a gun from his holster and pulling a silver bullet from his pocket, Elias cocks the gun and aims straight at her head.

Marcy closes her eyes tight and screams as loud as she can, but her lips are stitched shut. All she can do is watch powerlessly as Elias presses his finger firmly on the trigger.

*BANG*

Her body shoots up and releases her screams and cries manically, searching the room for his presence. A sudden touch frightens her to the core as she instinctively attacks, flipping them onto the mattress and straddling on top with a raised fist, ready to slam into their face.

"Calm down" A soothing voice says as they gently take her wrists in their hold, lowering them to her side.

Marcy falls out of her trance and climbs off their lap, clearly still shaken up as she curls up into a ball and hugs her knees tightly to her chest, exposing her fragility.

"I-Is he s-still here?" Her voice barely audible through her sniffles.

"Who?"

Gaining no reply, they engulf Marcy in a warm embrace and stroke her hair in an attempt to calm her down. She stays silent only letting out quiet cries and small hiccups as they feel Marcy wrap her small arms around their waist, tightening when they shift slightly in place. After some time, soft snores rumble from the young girl as she is tucked into bed and drifts deeper into her slumber.

A few knocks later and Chris staggers to the front door, opening to reveal Fred holding a metal container in his hands as he makes his way into the kitchen and places it gently on the counter. He lets out a heavy sigh and slouches on the stool sipping a glass of water on the table.

"Afternoon," Dylan greets cheerfully as he emerges to join Fred and Chris, "what did you bring?"

"I made some soup for you all," he says pointing at the metal container before Chris takes the lid off releasing the delicious aroma, "woah, woah, woah, save some for Tommy and Marcella"

The two boys pout but nod as they dish themselves a bowl of soup, "Where is Tommy? He is normally the first awake" Chris asks between his spoonful's.

"Is Marcella still asleep?"

"I think so" They both say in sync as Fred makes his way upstairs.

He softly knocks on the bedroom door waiting for a reply but after a few minutes of silence he decides to just go in. Turning the handle gently Fred peaks his head through the door and sees Marcella still asleep as he quietly shakes her slightly.

"5 more minutes please" Marcy groans out.

"There is some soup downstairs" Fred says as nicely as possible.