Abuse

Chapter 13

Desire stood in front of Marcus, now face to face with both Anon and Kaleb. Her expression was revealing that of anger as well. She growled at them, but it posed no threat.

"Move, Desire," Anon called, but she refused.

"No!" She shouted, "If you want him, you'll have to go through me."

"Desire, I said move!"

With ease, he picked her up by her legs, exposing Marcus with his face of confidence. She screamed and kicked, but nothing worked. Anon held her high as Kaleb walked up to Marcus, ready to sucker punch him.

"I can't fight the fact that your girl wants this, man." He said, angering Kaleb further. With that concluding everything, Kaleb finally threw a punch. The crack echoed throughout the store, and Marcus was sent flying back to the shelf of cereal like a ragdoll.

"Baby, stop!" I shouted, attempting to bribe him but he growled. His voice resembled the roar of a lion, and so I jumped back, watching as he crawled on top of Marcus and began punching his head against the metal cereal shelf.

"Somebody help!" Desire shouted, but no one came. Kaleb threw repeated jabs at Marcus, who was now barely breathing and bleeding from his nose and mouth. In fear, I rushed to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, jerking him off of Marcus.

"I told you to stop!" I screamed in his ear, but he elbowed me in my tummy. The sharp pain forced me to hurl over, and within the next second, I felt two hands wrapping around my neck. My feet were no longer on the floor, and my breathing had come to a cease.

"Piss off, Lill!" He shouted, tossing me down the aisle headlong. The pain from both the friction against the floor and the impact had slammed against me all at once as the chaos had sprung to life. Both Anon and Kaleb were now beating this man's life away, and there was no one to help him at that moment.

Suddenly, the manager had crossed by the corner. He was a tall, fat man with large and bulky arms. His face revealed a mean look and his goatee beard only made it worse. Without hesitation, he grabbed both Anon and Kaleb by the back of their shirts and lifted them high. The fear that was in me could now be seen on both of their faces as the man growled at them.

"There's a rule in my store called no fighting," He shouted, "And this here looks like fighting. Y'all wanna hit somebody? Hit me, or get out of my Walmart."

He set them both down on their trembling feet, waiting for one of them to throw a punch. Anon gained a bit of confidence and threw a jab, but the manager stopped it with his palm and death stared him.

"Get out of my Walmart," He growled, and they both scurried off in a hurry. His gaze had then shifted to me, and I could now see why they were so fearful. When staring directly at the man, his face resembled that of a furious bear.

"Young lady," He called in a booming voice, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave as well. I don't want any drama going around in my store."

"Yes, sir." I replied politely, trying my best to get up on my feet. My legs were too weak to hold me up on my own, and I found myself collapsing into Desire's arms. She was staring down at Marcus's motionless body, barely breathing and coughing up the bits of blood pouring from his mouth. Her face revealed shock and fear. What Anon and Kaleb did to him was wrong, despite what he said about banging me.

Both Desire and I walked over to him slowly, attempting to get an answer from him. For the first few minutes, he kept silent and tried catching his breath. As his eyes finally came to an open, he let out a soft smile as his gaze met Desire's eyes.

"Hey there," He said weakly.

"Marcus," She called in shock with her trembling hand covering her mouth. Her tears refused to cease, quickly running down her face from both eyes as she stared at his nearly lifeless body.

"Hey, Lillian," He called, but I refused to speak to him. Despite how many times I had tried, all I could do was whimper.

"I just wanted to apologize for talking about banging you," Marcus said, "I wanted to grab Kaleb's full attention and make him as angry as I could because he was coming at me sideways. I'd never do such a thing to you, and I'm glad I get to personally tell you."

His apology was accepted with a slight nod. For the most part, I had ignored the threat to Kaleb and me and so it meant nothing. Kaleb was much more sensitive than I was about things, and so I could see how this got to his head. For such a bold man, his feelings reveal otherwise.

Marcus rested his head down on the shelf, closing his eyes for the last time that day and breathing no more. Desire panicked, turning her gaze to the manager and demanding that he call an ambulance to rush him to the doctor, but the manager was so insistent on getting us out of his store.

"If I dial the ambulance for you," He said, "Will you leave my store and never come back?"

"I'll do anything!" She blurted, "Please, he's dying!"

After hearing the agreement, he pulled his phone casually out of his pocket and dialed for the ambulance. With all of the stress build up in me, I had decided to walk out of the store for some fresh air.