World's End

Chapter Two

A few days passed, giving Marissa time to heal and sleep the effects of her adventure off. Her bruises took their time healing but the swelling on her face went down. One morning after Marissa had been out talking to the neighbours, she came back with a bag of fresh veggies that she showed off proudly to Ellie Rae. Her friend raised an eyebrow at her but took the veggies from her and got to work on a salad for them to eat. Marissa offered to do it herself but her friend shooed her from the kitchen and sent Marissa to sit outside on the porch. It was at this time that Marissa regretted going outside.

"Look what the cat dragged in!" Marissa scowled as she turned her towards the bottom of the steps. Lincoln grinned up at her, crooked smile and all. He was her least favourite person in this place and it took all she had not to get up and clock him. Not that she was sure she would be able to with being in pain and all but she would still try.

"What do you want?"

"I wanted to check in. Saw you limping through town. Mrs Myers wanted me to make sure you weren't too hurt and that you didn't need more of a professional care."

"What, were you volunteering to be her ambulance?" Marissa scoffed. Lincoln's blonde hair glinted in the sunlight as he tossed his head back in a laugh. Marissa scowled. She wasn't sure why but his laugh always made her stomach flutter. Was it in disgust? Was it because she liked his laugh? She didn't know but she didn't like how it made her stomach surge and make her heartbeat. Lincoln gave the railing a pat before he started to walk away, not taking his eyes off of her.

"You sing out if you start dying!"

"I think I'd rather die!" She yelled back, if not a little half-heartedly. She didn't like Lincoln, he was a little too pretty looking, even after the incident where she broke his nose many years ago. He disappeared from sight as Ellie Rae came out of the house and handed Marissa a plate with a salad sandwich.

"Who were you yelling at?" Marissa took the plate gratefully and shook her head as she bit into her food.

"Don't worry about it." Ellie Rae stood where she was for a moment before shrugging and then sat down beside Marissa and ate her food in the quiet.

Marissa and Ellie Rae had been friends for as long as either could remember- they were six when they met and the two of them had been even more glued together since Ellie Rae's parents had died when they were 14. Marissa, who hadn't had the pleasure of knowing her own parents, had taken it upon herself to make sure Ellie Rae wasn't alone. Ellie Rae had, in turn, had made sure Marissa didn't bleed to death every time she fell over or got into a fight. The amount of times Ellie Rae had to stitch Marissa back up was innumerable at this point, but it was a system they had, and it worked for them better than any other system they could have come up with. Since they were 14, they had relied on each other and that had worked perfectly. And Ellie Rae's ability to sew up a human being improved significantly when Marissa started venturing out into areas such as Old New Hampshire. The amount of times Marissa returned home with scratches, bruises, sprains and the occasional bloody gaping hole in whatever part of her body had been stabbed or shot. Not that Marissa purposefully tried to get shot, it was just that number of homeless lunatics had had deemed the city their territory.

"So, some of the guys down the street are planning on doing a bonfire tonight." Ellie Rae mentioned as she finished chewing on her bit of sandwich. Marissa raised an eyebrow but didn't turn to look at her, instead continuing to stare out at the street through the trees. She could hear Lincoln still, yelling at someone in greeting. Marissa took another bite of her sandwich.

"Okay... And?" Ellie Rae put her sandwich down, staring at her in a way that made Marissa want to run and hide. She knew why she was saying this. "Pretend I'm dense. It's not like it's hard." Ellie Rae elbowed her right in the bruised ribs.