HER

CHAPTER 17 You again... (MARINA)

We loaded our few belongings into the boot, slamming it shut as the rain pelted on the grass.

It was a miserable day.

People were running in for shelter. All I could see was a blur of colour. Flashes of pastels and gaudy yellows and reds.

Lana's hair was plastered to her face, her makeup beginning to smudge in the rain. I couldn't help but smile. Life felt so simple with her. There was no need to try I could just be. She stared back with a loving look dragging her nails across my forearm.

Her hand dropped as her face grew pale. Lana froze. Like she had seen a ghost. Mouth hanging open in terror as if to scream.

I shook her laughing anxiously, trying to see what had spooked her. She grabbed my wrist and turned me sharply.

My laughter ceased.

It was him.

He was alive?

I started to shake, I felt like the wind had grown colder and sharper, biting at my skin and tearing into my bones. I told myself to run, to move, to do something, anything. But I remained, still as a statue.

Like always.

He walked right up to my face. The way he moved scared me, it was calm and controlled. Like a beast circling its prey. He was shouting, words spitting out like bullets. I didn't say anything, not in fear, but in utter exhaustion. Of course I hadn't killed him. It was just my fucking luck.

"MARINA!"

I couldn't pull my eyes from him as he inched closer. He looked like shit. Like someone had kicked and beaten the living daylights out of him. Part of me wanted to laugh. Finally a taste of his own medicine.

He walked right up to me, face too close to mine. I could smell alcohol on his breath. Teeth white and shark like.

"Baby I missed you so much, it's time to come home."

I could hear the threat behind his tone.

I gulped sucking in air.

"No."

I had never disobeyed him in public. My breath was raspy and hoarse but it was clear. I knew what was coming.

He looked at me and Lana, noticing her hand placed on my lower back. I could see the cogs and wheels turning in his mind, deciding what vicious thing to say.

Finally his lips pulled into a demented smile, he had picked his weapon.

"You sapphic whore."

His words were slurred but they didn't hurt any less.

"You were always watching the girls at school and I see you finally found one gullible enough to fall for you."

"Marina the dreamer! Did you really think that they could keep me from finding you?"

" Who?"

"Oh I see. Has your little friend not told you!"

He laughed hysterically.

"Should've stuck to my yogurt instead of her apple pie!"

"Don't talk to her like that."

I jumped, I had forgotten she was still there. Still supporting me, as always.

He turned to her, eyes bright.

"And you Lana Del Rey? Don't make me laugh, Larry loves to talk about you. Well, loved I should say. Until I found out who you really were. Miss Elizabeth grant, aged 14. Missing. His little Lolita. How disgusting can you get? you think I'm discpicaple Marina?! Well at least I wasn't some perverted monster. Did you enjoy it when he whisked you away from home? Just so he could dig his scaly claws into you."

My senses dulled. I felt numb and heavy. He knew her this whole time? I felt disgusting. Although my husband was vile this betrayal seemed somewhat worse. She had lied.

Lana tasted like Pepsi cola, like apple pie, like candy. She tasted sweet, sugary and like those treats she was fake. Just like everyone else.

"You... you s-said you were 17?!"

"I- I didn't-

"Didn't what? I trusted you! I told you everything, every godamn thing about me!"

My eyes pricked with frustrated tears.

"You see Marina, this is a wicked world full of liars and cons, now get in the car we're going home."

"N0."

"What do you mean no?!"

"No."

I repeated less confident.

He laughed viciously. My stomach turned.

"You really think anyone's going to believe you?"

I ignored him, obsessing over Lana. Although she lied to me, I still couldn't help but love her. And I hated that. I hated the fact that the one person I let myself truly fall for had lied to me, especially when I had been so intimate about my own life.  My rage bubbled and finally spilled over.

"I gave you everything! Let you feel my pain and grief and you lie? Really?"

Something snapped within her.

She turned to me eyes glazed. She shook her head, I could hear him in the background taunting her.

"Lana, Lana, Lana, Lana, LANA, LANA, LANA!"

He was a bastard he knew exactly how to torment people. Know exactly what buttons to push to get a reaction.

I felt helpless. He could outrun me, he could beat me, I couldn't win. I wasn't strong enough. I'd already tried once.

The only thing keeping him from grabbing me and shoving me in his car was the people watching us. They weren't close enough to hear but they could see.

I popped the boot of the car and hastily grabbed my things. Tears marking my cheeks as I tried to calm my breathing. Lana followed, catching on to my plan.

She saw the glint of metal and snatched it. Knuckles white.

Rain dripped from his face as he waited.

Lana looked at me, eyes searching for the green light. I studied her face. Unsure of her thoughts until she finally grimaced, signalling me to go.

Lana raised the crowbar high in the air and whacked him. I flinched as she did so. She did it again. I heard his bones crack the second time. His face turned red and his eyes screamed murder.

He caught it the third time.

He hit her.

She cried out in pain. Sharp and loud. Making sure people heard her.

I couldn't stand it any longer.

"GET AWAY FROM HER. DONT YOU DARE TOUCH HER."

"OR WHAT?"

"I-I-"

"EXACTLY YOU'LL DO NOTHING."

"I SHOT YOU ONCE, AND I'LL DO IT AGAIN YOU BASTARD!"

He raised the bar at me.

I narrowly dodged it.

"You won't do it Marina, you can't do anything right you're pathetic, worthless!"

"You're right I won't, you managed to do it all by yourself!"

He took a step towards me and struck me. Hard. Right along my jaw.

People from the hotel watched in horror.

I let him abuse me.

Let him split my lip, bruise my ribs, blacken my eye. The greatest performance of his life. With over fifty witnesses.

It felt like a lifetime until I heard a bang ringing in my ears.

His eyes rolled back as blood poured from his head. Bits of brain littered the car and my shoulder. The bullet went straight through his skull. Lana rushed to my side pulling me from under him. Cupping my face in her hands.

"It's over."