3am (Eminem / Slim Shady Fanfic)

2. Stay Wide Awake

There's something stuffed inside my mouth though, some cloth or something, and I can't get any sound out.

A few tears escape my eyes and roll down my cheeks, I feel so scared, and I have no idea what's going to happen to me now.

And part of all this still feels unreal, like it can't be happening to me at all.

My boyfriend is The Slim Shady Killer.

My Marshall, the guy I was so in love with for so long.

How could I not have known, how could I not have sensed that something was wrong with him?!

But then again, how could I have?

And more importantly now, what is going to happen to me? What is he going to do to me now that he knows that I know?!

I hear the door to the room open then and Marshall walks in.

I squeeze my eyes tight, pretending to be asleep, and I hear him move closer to me, I hear every step that he takes, then feel the weight on the bed shift as he sits down near me. My whole body stiffens up, my blood runs cold, and I feel like I'm going to pee myself from fear.

"I'm sorry about this, baby," Marshall speaks quietly. His voice is sad and full of remorse.

I don't react to his words at all, hoping that he would just go away.

"Robyn open your eyes, I know you are not asleep," Marshall says, and I slowly obey, too afraid of what he might do to me if I don't.

My vision is all clouded with tears at this point though, and I can hardly even make out his features in the near darkness of the room.

Marshall's hand reaches across towards the bed and I flinch, causing him to move away from me.

"Damn, Robyn, you are that scared of me?" He asks, and I don't know what else he would expect after damn near strangling me to death last night. Not to mention, you know, the whole he's a fucking serial killer thing!!

Of course I'm fucking afraid of him!!

"Look, I... I'm not gonna hurt you, aight? I'm gonna just take the gag out so you can talk. But you gotta promise me you won't try to scream, okay?" Marshall says and I nod.

He reaches over to me again, and I force myself to stay still and not flinch away from him this time. Very slowly, he pulls the fabric out of my mouth, freeing it.

I realize then just how dry the inside of my mouth feels, and my throat constricts painfully, and I cough.

"Water... I need water," I manage to croak out.

Marshall leaves the room and comes back with a glass filled to the brim with water. He helps me sit up as much as it's possible on the bed with how he's got my wrists binded to it, and he holds the glass to my lips.

I hesitate then, thinking he might've poisoned it or something.

"Common now, Robyn, if I had wanted to kill you, do you really think I would do it this way, by putting something in your drink?" Marshall asks me with a sigh, and I guess he's got a point.

I drink the water, and nothing happens. I'm still alive.

Afterwords, Marshall places the empty glass on the bedside table and sits next to me on the bed again.

"So, now you know," he states matter-of-factly, and I just stare at him and then frantically shake my head side-to-side.

"I... I don't know anything, Marshall!! I don't even remember anything from last night!! So please just let me go, I don't understand why you even have me tied up like this!! I..."

"Don't lie to me, baby," Marshall cuts me off. His voice is calm, but his eyes are deadly. I don't think I've ever seen him look at me like this before... Except for maybe last night. "Look," he sighs as his expression softens somewhat. "I don't really know how to explain it all to you, and I know you won't believe me anyway. But what you saw yesterday, that wasn't really me. It's fucking Slim Shady. He takes over my body every night at 3am, and I lose all control. Then, Shady gets to do whatever he wants. And what he wants to do is... well... He kills people."

I listen to him talk, and my heart drops.

God, he is insane. Marshall is crazy!! He really thinks it's not him doing all the killings, but this... other side of him?! Does he have split personalities or something?!

"How... how long has this been happening to you?" I ask Marshall carefully, trying to keep the tremble out of my voice.

He smiles bitterly then and looks away from me briefly.

"Ever since I was a kid," he replies. "Shady was weak back then though. He was more like a voice in my head. He would talk to me in my head, whisper to me to do fucked up shit. But I used to just ignore him. Then, when I was like 10, a school bully beat me up so bad that they say I was in a comma for a few days. When I came back through, something's changed, and Shady became much stronger. There would be moments when I blacked out, and by the time I came back to my senses, people would tell me how I was acting up, running wild and fighting people. My mother was told I was brain damaged from all the blows I took to the bead when that kid fucked me up. She was also told I needed anger management classes, but of course, being how that bitch never gave two fucks about me, she just continued to ignore whatever was going on with me. Not that anything could be done about it anyway. The older I got, the stronger Shady became, and I started to realize that he wanted to hurt people. Like really hurt people, women especially, so I fought against him. I've learned to more or less control him, and not let him come out too often. I can pretty much keep him contained throughout the day. I put him to sleep. But then, at 3am something always happens. I don't know what it is about that time frame, but yeah... Once it's 3am, it's pretty much over. Shady takes control, and it ain't a goddamn thing I can do about it, and he does as he pleases."

I think back to all these news reports that I used to watch on TV. Photos of the crime scenes with blood all over, and the words My Name Is Slim Shady written in victims blood on the pavement.

This whole time, it was my boyfriend committing these crimes.

And how last night, I almost became one of those victims, only I haven't.

"Why am I still alive?" I ask Marshall quietly, and he shrugs.

"I don't know. I thought for sure Shady would've killed you," he says emotionlessly. "I'm glad he hasn't though. I never wanted to hurt you, Robyn. You gotta believe me. That's why I always made sure that you were never nowhere near me during the night, because I wanted to keep you away from him. Keep you safe."

"But what would happen to me now? What will you do with me?"

"Nothing, baby. I told you, I would never hurt you."

"But this..this... Slim Shady might."

"Nah, cause I won't let him."

"But Marshall, you said it yourself that you lose all control when he... takes over at 3am. Please let me go before that happens!"

"I can't, Robyn," he says sadly. "Because I know that you'll go to the cops. I won't go to jail!"

"Marshall, you need help," I whisper quietly, trying to appeal to the rational side of him, the good side of him. "Don't you want to stop hurting people? Or do you enjoy this, do you like..."

"Don't you dare say that to me!" He interrupts me, suddenly angry, and I swallow hard, my fear of him returning ten fold. "Of course, I don't fucking enjoy it!! I don't want to keep killing people! But I've got no choice, when Shady takes over me I can't stop him!!"

"So turn yourself in," I whisper again, my insides immediately clenching in fear of how he would react to my words. "You have to turn yourself in, Marshall!"

"No!" He exclaims. "I'm not getting fucking locked up for this! I refuse to end up in jail or in a mental institution!"

He gets up from the bed and quickly walks out of the room, leaving me tied up.