Diana

12

12

Niall’s P.O.V.

When all the fans finally cleared out, Diana was nowhere to be seen. I spun in a few circles looking for her and noticed her coming out from the cornfield. She must have slipped away when the fans were focused on me. I chuckled as I walked towards her. As I was about to call out a greeting I noted someone following her at a bit of a distance. Diana seemed to know he was there. He was tall and wearing all black. Not nice funeral black, but more like a biker gang would wear. Oh, no, I thought, what did he do to her? I jogged over to meet them. Before I could say a word, Diana spoke saying his name was Marcus and he was a family friend. She’d be going over to his house for the evening. She said it all before Marcus was in earshot. When he got close enough to hear us, her face flushed. Without another word, she turned and followed Marcus to his car.

Diana wasn’t acting like, well, Diana. That wasn’t like her at all. She would have called to me that she was going to his house and invited me. I felt a bit hurt until I realized there must have been a reason why she wasn’t acting like herself. I waited until I was almost out of sight of the moving car, and then ran after it. Almost immediately I began to feel tired. But I pushed myself. If Diana could bike 200 miles to go to a concert I could run a few to make sure she was safe.

Diana’s P.O.V.

He kissed me. I was mortified. Niall was my boyfriend. But this guy, Marcus, had been my boyfriend before I’d lost my memory. And now he wanted to continue that. He kissed me. Marcus had just pressed his lips to mine. He didn’t know that I was with Niall. Niall didn’t know that I was with him. I didn’t know that I was with him! But I didn’t want to hurt Marcus or Niall. It felt wrong to lie to Niall, but I didn’t want him to think I was cheating on him. I made up something about Marcus being a family friend. I had to be sure to walk ahead of Marcus so he wouldn’t suspect or overhear what I was saying to Niall. But also close enough so he wouldn’t suspect. With all the care I took to do that, I forgot to make sure I didn’t act strange to Niall. I was pretty sure he could tell something was up.

Marcus and I got to his house alright. It was farther from the cemetery than I’d anticipated. Another surprise was that Marcus’s parents weren’t home as I’d assumed they would be.

He unlocked the door to the smallish, midsized house. It was fairly worn down and seemed to have some issues from neglect.

Marcus plopped down on the ratty couch and made it evident that I should do the same. I sat at the edge, still unsure. “C’mon babe,” he sighed, “If we’re gonna stay together after you leaving we’re gonna have to be like we were before.” I didn’t respond. Marcus put his muscular arm around me, “If you won’t start then I will.” With that he began snogging me. It didn’t feel right. I wasn’t meant to be there! I tried to pull away but he only deepened it and pushed me back against the arm of the couch. I pretended to enjoy it so he wouldn’t expect what I did next. As I let my hand wonder over the back of his head I yanked Marcus’s head back, by his hair. I whined out, “Stop!” I felt tears in my eyes. No one knew where I was. Why had I gone with Marcus? “Why?” He asked, with no sympathy. “I-“I couldn’t tell him I had a boyfriend. That would make him mad. “I-“I started again. “I’m sick,” I fathomed. He smiled, “No you aren’t. Babe, don’t you want things back how they were before? Back when we were happy together.” I bit my lip, “I don’t know. I don’t remember before. Can we, please, take it slow?” He creased his eyebrows together. Then, he slapped me. HE SLAPPED ME! Right across the face! No warning. Just a cold, hard, merciless slap! I lost any sympathy or respect I’d had for him. I jerked my head forward into his unexpecting face as I kicked upward with my knee. To my surprise and joy, both worked! He rolled away from, me nursing a bleeding nose and injured area between his legs. I ran into the kitchen to get away from him. I heard him get up as he called after me, “Get back here, Neala!” It wasn’t like Niall’s playful, ‘Come here, Diana!’ He’d called to me at the concert. It was cold and full of anger. It didn’t make me want to get back there anytime soon. I scanned the room for anything useful. There were knives on the opposite counter. I rushed over and grabbed one just before Marcus entered. He stormed towards me, fuming. I glanced at the knife I now possessed. The gleam of the blade brought back memories; dragging a blade through my own skin, warm blood seeping out onto my arm. I couldn’t hurt Marcus with the blade I held, not even in self-defense. My hesitation was perfectly timed for him to reach me and slap me across the face again, harder this time. I dropped the knife and cupped my cheek. My vision blurred with tears as I stumbled backwards into the counter. Marcus advanced towards me. Fear rippled through me, “Stay away from me!” I screamed. He paid to attention. I thought he was going to kill me, or hit me, or kiss me. But he surprised me. He spoke softly now, “Do you not want to do that? It’s okay. You just have to tell me. I know stuff has probably changed since last time. We’ll take it slow, okay? I’m sorry I lost my temper.” He hugged me. I wasn’t so sure he was for real or not. But I couldn’t do anything to him now. He was being so nice. I wanted to believe this was the real him and the other had been some awful dream. For the rest of the night he continued to treat me like a lady instead of a slave. I almost forgot about his bad side. By the time I returned to my cousins’ I believed this nice Marcus was the real Marcus.