Pillow Talk Secrets

Chapter 6--Photo Shoot

(Marinette POV)

         Sleep escaped me again.  People are gonna start calling me a zombie due to lack of sleep.  But, it couldn't be helped.  Images from the other night kept flashing through my head like a slide show with a jammed repeat button.  With every image, came a feeling.  Fear, horror, adrenaline.  Later, lust and desire.  

         All my emotions were warring at once.  The bad trying to overtake the good, and vice versa.  I couldn't shake the fear though.  It felt as if it had carved a lengthy tattoo all across my body; engraved in deep, even on my heart.  With that feeling, the mental movie reel once again started projecting the horrific home movie through my mind's eye.

          I could still feel their vile hands on my skin; trying to rip it, find an opening and invade me.  Their laughs still ring in my ears; grating, nail-biting, deafening my ear drums.  Remembering the stench that had escaped their mouths nearly made me vomit.  Cigarettes and something else.  Decay is what comes to mind.  Yes, cigarettes and decay.  The rancid miasma of something dead and rotting is what oozed from between their lips.

          The worst part of it all was their eyes.  Even though they were only teenage boys, their eyes had been wild, like from a starved animal.  Crazed, deranged, sociopathic; ready to devour you whole with no regret or reason.

           Before the darkness of the memories could consume me, a light leaked and filtered through the gloom.  An inescapable reassuring fact.  Adrien had saved me.  He had protected me, kept me safe by using himself as a shield.  Putting himself in harm's way to keep me out of danger.  He said and did all those things for me....WHY???

          I recalled then the menacing look I had seen in his eyes when he had confronted them.  The unmasked hatred and rage all but bled from his usual comforting green.  It had scared me, almost more so than the reeking empathetic boys.

         Dismissing that thought, my mind quickly replaced it with a much more heart-pounding one.  Adrien and I had full-on canoodled!!  The borderline between prudish and down-right slutty had been severely blurred.

          I remember every detail.  The way he looked longingly into my eyes.  His warm touch.  The way his fingers roamed my skin, making it tingle.  His soft lips. The smell of his cologne.  How his sweet voice said my name....I got goosebumps just thinking about it!

         How am I supposed to act around him now?  What does this mean?  Has our relationship changed?  And if so, to what?  I just don't know what to do!  I need to think about all this...what will I tell the girls?

        I really debated if I should stay home today and try to sleep, but let's me honest, there's no way that was going to happen.  Going through my normal morning routine in a daze, I got ready for school.

        I could feel Tikki's worried eyes boring a hole in my back.  Sighing, and doing my best to keep my smile together, I looked at her.

      "What's with the staring, Tikki?  Do I still have breakfast on my face?"  I asked, trying to sound normal.

      "Don't put that tough girl act on with me, Marinette.  I've been around a lot longer than you; watching and serving past Ladybugs.  I've seen lots of different things regarding you humans; wacked-out emotions and nonsensical drama are just a few.

        What you went through was horrific and I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you.  You're lucky Adrien came by when he did.  If he'd been any later..."

        Turning away quickly, I attempted to block out the scary images that threatened to drop me cowering in a corner.  I refused to let Tikki's words get to me.  I was Ladybug, after all.  I'm stronger than this.  I want to believe I'm stronger than I think I am.