Stolen

Part 18: Alone

"Wonderful." Ashlee glared at him. "Don't do anything to her; we brought some stuff from her house. You can put that up for sale while you're here." She then left, and Everly looked down on Marilynn with his steel eyes. "I was going to give you medicine, but as I see you're gagged, it'll have to wait."

He stepped aside and gestured at his friend, or bodyguard, or whoever he was, saying, "This is Marcus. He'll be right outside your door and isn't afraid to hurt you if you try to escape." Everly turned his back on her and went out with Marcus. She could still hear him, as well as Ashlee and Neil, around the house in the hours that followed. When the sun crossed to the other side of the house, it shone through the curtains, and in the fading light, Marilynn could now see that her leg had been bandaged.

She heard Ashlee and Neil leave for their so-called "heist", but it wasn't until the bedroom she was being held captive in was plunged into darkness that Everly and Marcus' footsteps receded from the house.
Marilynn's accommodations were a fragment more comfortable than those of last night, yet she still put up a struggle. She strained at the handcuffs, screamed into the gag, then, when she thought she would never fall asleep, exhaustion overtook her.

~ Day 3 ~

She woke up groaning, as her muscles were stiff from staying in the same position for too long and the struggle from the night before. Marilynn waited, heavy with dread, for Everly to return. Then she realized it was a Monday and he wouldn't be back until at least 4:00 because of school.

Oh, no - school. How had Father reacted when he returned home to find his daughter gone and his possessions stolen? Did anyone even notice, or care, or worry about her absence? Marilynn felt like curling up in a ball and hiding from the world, which she couldn't do in her current position.
Even so, she thought, Neil and Ashlee ought to be back by now, unless they were just avoiding the house in order to not reveal their location and shake off the police. Or they had been caught. She shivered. How would Everly act towards her now, without Ashlee's protection? He could do potentially anything with Marcus at his side - the thought drove her mad.

Hours on end passed, and when  the sun rose it seemed to stay there. Marilynn felt jumpy. Then she heard the front door open. Sirens blaring in her head drowned out any logical thought. It was only Everly who entered next, though, not that that meant anything better for her. Backpack slung over one shoulder, he eyed her - or rather, her body - up and down with a predatory gaze. He hadn't said a word until he set his bag down on the floor and pulled something out, tossing it onto the bed next to her, telling her "They're dead."

"Hwm?" Marilynn tried to say. In response, while pulling out stuff she couldn't see from his bag onto the floor, "Angie and Neil. They wouldn't turn themselves in so the cops shot the store full of holes." She tried to correct him, "Ashlee," but her words came out as incomprehensible.
Her head was reeling; this was a lot to take in. THEY WERE DEAD. That meant her only defense against Everly - not Neil so much as Ashlee - but, they were gone. Forever.

Suddenly she felt very, very alone in a house with him.