Scars | ✔

Chapter 8

"Please, Timothy.. Pleaseee..." Clem whined, pushing herself back against the chair as Timothy grew closer, closing the distance between them.

"STOP CALLING EM THAT! I AM YOUR FATHER." Timothy yelled, grabbing Clem by the hair and slamming her head into the chair. Clem groaned in pain as she felt her head hit the surface. She could hear Marshall yelling, but she didn't want to look at him. She felt guilty. This was all her fault.

Clem watched in pain as Timothy did the same thing to Marshall, before hitting him upside the head with the same metal bar from earlier. Marshall folded over a bit, trying to lift his head back up, before being hit again.

"Stop! Please!" Clem yelled as Timothy hit him one more good time, making Marshall black out. Clem's lip trembled as Timothy came to her side again. Raising the bar above her head, Timothy swung it down on her. The force wasn't very big, but it had hurt a lot. Timothy still wanted them alive, Clem could tell.

Timothy hit her again, and again, and again. Until she passed out. The last thing she could hear before her vision went black was; "I should let you die."

Clem jolted awake. She heard a strange noise coming from downstairs. She slowly got out of bed and went to her parents room. They weren't there. She grabbed her dad's hat off of the nightstand and put it on her own head.

"Mom? Dad?" Clem asked, slowly heading down the steps. She could hear muffled speaking, so she assume it was her parents.

"I can't sleep." Clem said, standing still on one of the top steps. The voices seemed to hush themselves as they heard the small girl speaking. "I have your hat dad. You can come and get it.. and also read me a bedtime story." Clem said, a hint of confusion and fear in her voice. Clem stood silent for a minute.

"Okay.. I'm going to back to bed and try to fall asleep.." Clem muttered, walking back up the steps, but standing still. The voices waited a second before talking again. The same muffled speaking. She could hear a whining noise, and what sounded like crying. A very muffled crying.

Clem slowly, and quietly made her way back down the steps, being frozen in horror as she saw a few people in black. Her parents were tied up and crying. Their eyes seemed to plead to Clem to go hide. Clem watched in horror. The people hadn't noticed her yet. She watched as the group of men started to beat her parents to death. She tripped to the ground and started to cry.

"Nooo!" She cried. Her cries seemed to echo through the house as she watched her parents be beat to death. She only laid their and cried. She watched as one of the sick men turned towards her, giving her a smirk of pleasure.

"Well, darling. My wife outta love you. She's always wanted a girl, but.. But after four sons, we figured it ain't gonna happen." He said to her, giving her a smile that gave her chills.

"I.. Pleeeease.. Don't hurt my mom and dad... Pleeeease.." She cried louder, watching as the life slowly faded from her parents eyes. Watching as they give her one more look of sadness, before they finally take their last breath and die in front of her.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. The wife wants what she wants." The man turned back towards the lifeless bodies. They were folded over and limp, pale and sickly looking. Clem's lips trembled. The imagine scared her.

One of the other men snickered as he grabbed a match from his pocket. He flicked it across the box a few times before a flame finally sparked. Clem watched in horror as she followed his movement. He set fire to the rope that held the couple together. She watched as he stepped back, a horrible smile spread across his face.

"Grab the girl." The man spoke. A few men grabbed Clem as she tried to get away.

The men took her out to a van. It was black with graffiti all over it. All the men got in the van, and sat Clem in a seat.

"Buckle up, honey." The man spoke again. Clem just sat there, paralyzed in fear. The man forcefully buckled her up, glaring at her as he did so.

"We need to get outta here, sir." A man sitting next to Clem said. The man nodded, starting to drive, cranking up the radio as he did so.

The rest of the ride, the men listened to the radio, talked and joked and laughed about the prior events. All the while Clem was sitting there, slowly loosing herself in her thoughts, and feeling herself slowly fade away.

Clem fluttered her eyes open, feeling an aching sensation in her head. She drowsily looked over at Marshall, who was staring at the ground. He had tears in his eyes, and Clem could see him silently crying.

"Marshall? Are you okay?" Clem asked with a dry voice. Marshall jerked his head in Clem's direction. Both of their eyes locked, and both filling with sorrow after examining each others faces.

"Clem? I thought he.. uh.." Marshall stuttered as he stared at the side of Clem's head.

"Me too.."

"Are you okay?" Marshall asked. Before Clem had a chance to answer, Marshall was scolding himself. "Of course she's not okay, idiot. Why would you even ask that? She was hit with a metal bar, and you ask if she's okay?" Marshall yelled at himself for asking, all the while Clem watched with sadness.

"It's okay. I'm okay." Clem said, making Marshall give her an 'Are you sure?' glance.

"Clem.. you have a huge bruise on the side of your head.."

"You too.." Clem started to cry. She could tell Marshall has been crying, too. His eyes were red and swollen. His eyes were glossy, and his voice cracked with every word.

"I'm just glad you're alive." Marshall said, turning away and sighing.

"I'm glad you are too," Clem told him. They both stayed silent as they did't know what to say. "What did we do to deserve this?" Clem finally asked, sniffling as Marshall looked at her.

"Nothing, Clem. We're just kids.. and you're just a kid who got kidnapped by her parents killers." Marshall spat out, trying his hardest to not break down. He knew he needed to stay strong. For Clem.

"Will we be okay?" Clem asked, her voice now cracking as well, and tears running down her red cheeks.

"What? Of course we will. I promise." Marshall said, trying his hardest to reassure her, even if he needed reassuring himself.

"Yeah.. we will.. we'll be.. okay.." Clem muttered, sniffling and sighing.

"We have each other. That's all that matters." Marshall forced a smile for Clem, making her sadly smile back.

"I love you, Marshall." Clem whispered, letting the tears start to fall again.

"I love you too, Clem."