Made of Glass Chapter 14

I don't know about this chapter. I think it makes Dolly look too damsel-in-distressy so I'll probably take it out when I go back over the book but for now I've written it, so you can read it.

Eddie had yet to make an appearance the next day so I decided I had to do something different. If Eddie wasn’t going to be my distraction I would have to find something else. Initially I turned to Elaina. She invited me out with her all the time. I felt bad that I always turned her down because she clearly didn’t have many friends. I decided to remedy this situation by inviting her to a movie with me that weekend. Movies seemed like a safe outing to me. Limited amounts of forced conversation were needed and there was something interesting to keep your attention. I thought a movie with Elaina would simply be two hours sitting in a dark room and not thinking about my past or Eddie or my life or anything but the screen in front of me. It would be easy.

Ten minutes into the film I was looking around for blunt objects to bash some heads with. My first mistake was letting Elaina pick the movie. I had never sat through an entire chick flick before. I found the entire experience horrific, demeaning, pointless, and not even the slightest bit funny. Women should never put themselves through half of the things those moronic bimbos were willing to do for nerdy men that were clearly undeserving. But the movie wasn’t even half of my problem. Elaina was the problem. Apparently she never got the memo that you weren’t supposed to talk during movies. No matter how many times it happens on television, people never actually throw popcorn and shhh you when you are being obnoxious in the theater. Not even when you wish it to happen to the incredibly annoying girl sitting next to you. It’s like the millions of words she had pent up inside of her for all the years she was too afraid to say anything to the cool waitresses just came spilling out in those two hours. And there was absolutely nowhere to hide. After I had escaped to the bathroom for the third time during the movie she started to get suspicious. Not to mention the thirty dollar tab I built up by buying bucket after bucket of popcorn and then dumping it out to have an excuse to go back to the concessions to get some more.

The entire night was so painful I vowed never again. I had to find something else. There had to be another Eddie somewhere out there. Or at least someone even the tiniest bit like him. I’m sure he’d never talk during the movies.

I decided my next target would be Bucky. I would have started with him since he was the only other person in the bar that I hadn’t grown to abhor. The only problem was I wasn’t sure how great Bucky was at hanging out with people one on one. Massive amounts of awkward silence would be inevitable. The conversation making would definitely fall to me and I was never very good in that department. Again I suggested a movie just so the talking thing wouldn’t be necessary. There was no doubt in my mind Bucky observed the silence rule in theaters.

I was a little concerned that Bucky wouldn’t say yes when I invited him out. As far as I knew Bucky was even more socially recluse that I was. But then I also knew that is just what he wanted people to think because he didn’t want them to know about Ashley. Ashley was a normal girl and she would have dragged him to movies before, right? It wouldn’t be that weird. Probably.

Also, there was the issue with Bucky being like ten years older than me. I knew that it wasn’t anything untoward because he was completely devoted to the devil in disguise but what would other people think. Not that I cared about that but he definitely did.

In the end I laid out the whole situation for him. I told him that I was dying from boredom and my thoughts were making me go mad. I told him I needed a distraction, desperately, and he complied like the good guy he is.

I made sure to pick the movie. An edge of your seat thriller was exactly what I needed. I even suggested that we meet at the theater so we wouldn’t have to worry about conversation on the drive over there.

My thoughts were cautiously optimistic right up till I walked through the doors of the movie theater and saw that little harpy Ashley firmly attached to Bucky’s arm. I wanted to sink to the floor and drop my head in my hands. I had willingly stepped into the third wheel position. It was all my own fault. I started this whole disaster. And I never thought from that moment on that it wouldn’t be a disaster.

Ashley’s first words to me as I approached reaffirmed this fact. “You look horrid in that color green,”

I looked down at my shirt. I thought it was blue. I didn’t have any green on. “What co-“

“Whatever, we’re gonna miss the previews,” Ashley pulled on Bucky’s arm and he gave me a wary smile before heading into the designated theater.

I was thankful for the few minutes I had alone when I was buying my ticket. I wondered what they would do if I never showed up. I could just walk right out the door again. Ashley wouldn’t care. Bucky would probably understand.

But then what was I going to do?

Even a hellish experience would be better than no experience at all. It was just a movie. I wouldn’t need to talk to her. I would need to focus on the movie.

I doubted she knew about the silence rule though.

When I took my seat next to Bucky he turned to me and said in his deep rumble, “We never get to hang out with anybody else. Cause, you know. I really appreciate you offering to be our third wheel.”

I don’t know how our signals got crossed so horrifically but he seemed so thankful I couldn’t run now. I gave him a big fake smile and with that he turned away from me and said not another word throughout the rest of the evening.

Ashley on the other hand made up for the lack of speaking on his part. “I do not understand why you would pick this movie of all things. Way too much blood and guts and the lead guy isn’t even cute. He’s like all . . . old.”

She didn’t talk quite as much as Elaina but I hated her so much more that every word ground my nerves down twice as much. My jaw was so tired toward the end of the night from clenching to keep myself from snapping at her. I finally snapped when in the last twenty minutes of the film the lead macho man (who wasn’t past thirty-five by the way) confessed his undying devotion to the early twenties blonde idiot that he had just spent the last two hours trying to save from a giant fiasco that was her own stupid fault. The bad movie wasn’t the part that drove me to the edge though. It was Ashley and Bucky’s reaction. Ashley thought the scene just about the sweetest thing she had ever seen and broke the number one rule that everyone knows whenever you are on a date with an awkward third party in the seat next to you. She kissed Bucky. Bucky seemed embarrassed at first although not nearly as embarrassed as me. However, Ashley and her black magic fingers soon made him forget my existence and they were snogging in a way I had never before been witness to. It took about thirty seconds of this major indecorum before I was up out of my seat and claiming a sudden freakish yet deadly stomach flu. I was out of the theater before Bucky could even respond.

I just didn’t understand why I was so horrible at this. Surly these sorts of things didn’t happen to other people. Other people met other normal people all the time, didn’t they? Normally people could stand more than one person on earth. And yet it seemed my only hope had died in Eddie.

I couldn’t go back to the bar like this. I knew what waited for me there and it wasn’t healthy. It was dark outside by now and very cold out but I decided a brisk walk would be greatly welcome. I just needed to clear my mind. I needed to find a way to put things behind me. Just forget the past. If only I could wipe a magnet across my brain and scramble the memory for good.

I walked on angrily a lot longer than I should have. I didn’t know where I was going just that I needed to be going in the opposite direction of the bar. I couldn’t go back to that life yet. I walked on in the cold trying to think about nothing but my breath meeting the cold night air and the endless stars above me. I didn’t know how much time had passed but when I noticed that the streets where basically bare. I knew I had wandered too far and for too long. I turned on my heels and headed back the direction I had come from at a faster past.

I was wondering whether the buses ran this late at night when I saw a few figures standing out in front of an even more run down bar than the Blue Flame. When I drew a little closer I noticed it was three men raucously enjoying a smoke. One of them looked very familiar to me but I couldn’t quite place him. He also looked at me like he knew me but the way his face clouded over when he saw me made me think it wasn’t an acquaintance I wanted to re-forge. I crossed over to the other side of the street and power walked to the end of the street.

I made it to the end of the block when I remembered where I knew it from. My stomach hit the floor as I looked back over my shoulder at Damion walking toward me.

Perfect. Apparently I was going for a new world record on how many things could go wrong in one night.

He called after me as I hurried away from him but I didn’t stop. I turned at the corner trying to break his line of sight to me and then ran past the next building to turn again. It was another poor decision. I had ran into a dark alleyway complete with those old fashioned metal trashcans in the corner and a broken street lamp. It was like my whole life was a cliché. I did a one eighty and headed out of the alley only to be flanked by Damion and his two lackeys.

“That’s not very nice. Making us chase after you. Didn’t you hear me calling you, baby?” Damion said leering. I flinched away from him and stumbled a few steps backward into the alley which was both my only line of escape and a perfect trap.

“Yeah, you remember me don’t you? This cute little thing works at the Blue Flame,” he introduced me to the two men who had accompanied him. I prayed that they were just trying to scare me. “What was your name again?”

I wasn’t about to answer that question. I continued backing away from them deeper and deeper into the darkness behind me.

“Oh well. I never really care about their names,” he laughed along with his buddies. I quivered. “Not so tough without your large friend, are ya? I think you owe me a little something for our last encounter, don’t you?” he said rubbing his crotch. I had felt so smug when I had brought him to the floor last time. Chances were that wasn’t going to happen again.

He advanced toward me still leering. I knew I wasn’t going to get out of this myself. I needed help. But there was no one to call to. No one would hear my small screams.

I needed Edward. Him and his bizarre super powers. He was my guardian angel and he should be here. He already saved me once. The only person in my life that had saved me from anything. He was the only man I could hope for. The only one I could count on. If only he could hear me.

Eddie, Eddie, Eddie I pleaded for him in my mind as I ran out of room to back up further.

“What do ya think, little chicky. What are you going to do to apologize to me? Want to have a little fun?”

“No, thank you” I said in a small voice.

Eddie!

“Boys, she’s a little shy. Why don’t we help her with that?” Damion reached toward me and grabbed my upper arm.

I couldn’t give up that easily. It was worth another try. I swung my leg up between his legs again and connected full force. Damion crumpled to the ground groaning.

What an idiot. How could he fall for that twice?

Damion’s other friends let out hoots of laughter as he rolled on the ground. I took the opportunity to jet toward the tiny opening out of the alley.

Unfortunately the other two men were more interested in keeping me as their prize than they were in their friend’s pain. The biggest man of the group caught me around the wrist and pulled be backward with enough force that I let out a little yell of pain.

Eddie! Hurry!

For the absolutely rotten luck I have had in my life it really is ridiculous that I didn’t know any other forms of self defense than the typical kick to the groin. I attempted my sole attack again against this new attacker but he was much quicker than Damion. He swatted my leg away from him with one large arm and then slipped one grimy hand up into my hair roughly ripping out my pony tail causing my long hair to spill out about my shoulders.

I yanked hard against his hold on my wrist but his grasp held firm around me tooth-pick arm.

“Stop struggling, baby. You’ll enjoy it more this way,”

I spit in his eye and with one last pull finally broke from his grasp. I only got three steps away from him before I collided with the third man.

I held my breath as he reached for me and shut my eyes tight. I didn’t want to watch this next part. I didn’t want to live this next part.

A deafening crash off to my side popped my eyes wide open. The third man was no longer standing in front of me. I whirled around to see him entangled in a mess in the trash cans over twenty feet away. My astonished stare was pulled from him when I heard what could only be described as a growl coming from the back of the alleyway where I had left Damion. There standing over him was the most terrifying monster I had ever beheld. He had bright red eyes with fury painted clearly across them and a pair of gleaming sharp fangs.

“Edward.” I breathed. A whirl of confusing emotions spread through me. Relief and fear. I wasn’t sure if I was afraid of him or if it was just leftover fear from the other men. Also, it felt strange that I would feel such a sense of relief when looking upon a monster straight out of my nightmares.

Edward didn’t turn toward me as I said his name. He didn’t take his eyes off Damion as he slowly approached him another low growl escaping from deep within his chest. Damion’s face was filled with absolute horror. He crawled backward before scrambling to his feet and darting to the side trying to slip past Edward to make it to the opening of the alley. Edward moved to intercept the movement.

“No!” I screeched.

Edward somehow got a grasp around his neck and then Damion was crashing into the side of the wall. Edward headed straight toward him but I grabbed his arm trying to halt his progress. He yanked his arm away from me so roughly I stumbled after him. I regained my footing and jumped in front of him and pushed against his chest with all my strength, but it was like pushing against a brick wall.

“Edward, please! Don’t!”

“Why not?” his voice was rougher and deeper than I had ever heard it. I questioned whether this was the same guy from the bar. “They don’t deserve your compassion.”

“No, it’s not compassion! They already got what they deserved,”

“What they deserve!” he was not convinced “After what they were going to do to you!’

“But they didn’t! All they did was scare me! And I think you’ve gotten even for that!”

I looked back over my shoulder at Damion where he trembled in a lump on the floor where he had fallen. He stared with wide empty eyes at Edward.

“They’ll do it again. To some other innocent girl. I have to.” He said darkly.

“No! No, you don’t! and you don’t want to. You’re not a monster!” Yeah. I think I believed that. He hesitated but didn’t take his death glare off from his target. “Look, Edward! I need the man that I knew last week to come into the bar tomorrow. I need him to make me laugh and forget about my whole s****y life. And if you go and hurt those men you won't be that guy anymore. You’ll be someone I want no part of. I want the old Eddie to come back to me.”

“The old Eddie is the same as this monster before you,”

“I know. I know that but I know you won't be the same if you kill these guys.”

Eddie finally looked down into my eyes. He held my gaze for a very long moment. I stared up into his bright red eyes with my heart pounding in my ears.

And then he just disappeared. He left me standing alone in the alley with all three men incapacitated on the ground. I thought about calling for an ambulance but then decided I really didn’t care enough about them for that.

I sprinted the rest of the way back to the bar and curled up into a ball on my bed to stop my shaking.

Reviews

[Summer]

WHOAH! That was EPIC bro. Loved it.