𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐓

[9]: Cold Shoulder

Cassie was surprised on how negative Marilyn had been these past few days. It was a given, he was a cold, heartless monster with absolutely no remorse towards anything. But he seemed to have gotten worse recently. He barely ever spoke to the girl now, and when he did, it was always mindless abuse in small doses.

He'd stopped making her any food, forcing the girl to regularly venture out and pick her own berries to eat. She didn't mind though, they were absolutely delicious - and no way was she killing another bird. She was still traumatised from the first one.

She hadn't seen Marilyn since last night, right before he locked himself away again, protected by a shroud of silence. Since he was out the way, Cassie didn't think it would be punishable for her to let Kyle pad around the house for a while. It wouldn't harm him is he didn't know. But alas, fate was never on the girl's side.

"You let that mutt inside of my house?" One hit to the face. Cassie stumbled back, almost tripping over the animal fur rug that was sprawled out across the stone floor. Tears pricked in her eyes but she refused to cry in front of him again. He wanted her to be strong and so she would.

"It's too cold outside," She stammered. The sound of her own heart beating in her ears made her gulp in fear.

Another smack. "It better be out by the time I get back," She stood strong despite the throbbing of her cheek and her wobbly knees. He looked at her in disgust, but she didn't know why. All she knew was that she never wanted him to look at her like that again. He turned on his boots and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. He did that a lot, it seemed.

Cassie allowed her knees to cave in completely, collapsing on the rug into a heap of whimpers. She sobbed at the stinging sensation across her face. Kyle sprung up to attention and curled up next to her, which comforted her as she cried. She had no idea where he was going and quite frankly, she didn't care.

She'd have to get him back outside soon, as she had no idea when Marilyn was going to return. He could be back in a few minutes... or a few days. Just as that thought crossed her mind, three loud knocks echoed throughout the stone cottage. Cassie flinched and tried to rack her brain for possible reasons why Marilyn would knock on the front door of his own home. Thinking of nothing, she slowly approached the window and craned her neck to see who it was. What she saw made her heart freeze.

Cassie ducked out of sight and ran to Kyle, wrapping her fingers loosely around his collar and gingerly but hastily dragging him down the steps and into the basement. Thinking fast, she snatched the collar from around his neck and shoved it into a draw filled with sinister metal devices she didn't want to know the purpose of.

"Sorry, Buddy," She whispered, before patting his head and dashing back up the steps. They knocked again as Cassie shut the basement door. Her hand hovered over the handle to the front door - her following actions could impact her life heavily. She began thinking of what to say, or if she should even open the door. But two more knocks sounded out and she reached down rapidly and pulled open the door. The unkempt girl was met face to face with two police officers, smiling down at her.

"Hello, Ma'am, may we come in?" One of them drawled, not even waiting for an answer before pushing his way past her. She was thankful she had briefly washed herself in the river nearby two days ago when Marilyn had been off in one of his huffs. She didn't look so dirty, but she did have quite a few bruises from Marilyn and other things.

She gulped, following them inside. "What can I help you with, Gents?" She gave her most believable smile, still contemplating if she should betray him. Why wouldn't she? She could tell these two men everything and she would get away scot-free. But Marilyn wouldn't, and that somehow pained her to think about.

They invited themselves to sit on the wooden kitchen table. Cassie sat opposite them and tried not to show her anxiousness through her body language. "A few of our buddies came down here a couple weeks back on a case." The other one started, leaning forward. "Found two of their bodies all mangled about a mile south of this place. Animal attack, we think - wolves. Didn't think you'd know anything about that?"

Cassie shook her head quickly, almost too quickly. "No, Sir. I do know about the wolves, though. There's a lot of them up here," She gulped, immediately stopping her knee bouncing when she saw one of the cops notice it.

"I see. You happen to see another guy down here.. with a dog? Haven't found them yet, wondered if you have?" She shook her head again, but answered a quick 'no' once he raised his eyebrow.

"Right. Uh... you live here alone? It's pretty isolated around these parts - we didn't think anyone lived up here," The fat one queried, locking his fingers over his stomach.

Cassie breathed out. This is where it could all go wrong. "Yes, I do." She smiled, brushing a blonde lock of hair out of her face. The cops shared a confused glance before turning back to the girl.

"Where'd you get the bruises?" The thinner cop gestured to her face and arms. Cassie trembled under his hard stare.

"Oh... I fell down the stairs a few days ago. I'm rather clumsy, nothing to worry about," She laughed, standing from her seat. She knew if she revealed anything major it was game over, and she could've. She could've revealed enough to get her safe and away from Marilyn, but she didn't want to. She didn't know why, but she felt the need to stay and help the tortured soul that hid behind a cloak of anger.

"If you don't mind us asking your name before we go, Miss?" The fat one asked, standing from his chair too, soon followed by the other one. She paused, quickly searching for a name.. any name she could blurt out other than her own. Unaware of what she was about to say, Cassie sputtered out one name she knew was one of the worsts names she could've said.

"Marilyn,"

_

lol we love an identity stealing sister

um yeah sorry for not updating this one in a while I have so many MM fics ohmygod

also comment ur name because I need a few names for cameo roles coming up and I'd like to use the readers !