love bites » marcelee.

56: Torn

Chapter Fifty-Six: Torn

After tuning her axe bass, Marceline checked her phone once more, almost frowning at the screen like it was the device's fault that her boyfriend hadn't replied in the last ten minutes. With a sigh, she pocketed her phone and proceeded to strum her bass guitar, humming a slow tune at the same time. She couldn't get the events of last night about how prom was ultimately ruined out of her head. It was too fun and hilarious to forget, and she bet it was going to be the talk of summer.

She jumped a little when the doorbell rang, and for a second her mind went into a state of alarm. Her father was supposed to be at work, and she thought that Marshall was still asleep at his home. However, she soon came to a realization that it was nothing more than just a doorbell in a suburban neighborhood at like, twelve in the afternoon on a Saturday, so what's the worst thing she could be faced with?

It took a good ten seconds before Marceline actually moved, previously snugged up on her bed. Rolling her eyes at what a lazy bum she was, she made her way downstairs to the front door. She unlocked it, preparing to open it to either someone trying to sell her something or just her father coming home early and having forgotten his house keys, yet she just couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was off.

By the time she had fully opened the door, her stomach churned and she struggled to breathe. No matter how many times she blinked, it didn't vanish; it was still there, confirming the fact that this wasn't a figment of her imagination, and how she'd regretted leaving her bedroom in the first place. Standing right outside her house was the last person she'd ever wanted to see, and the mere sight of the unpleasantly all too familiar locks of white hair was enough to make her eyes widen and her jaw drop.

"N-No."

Marceline's heart pounded wildly in her chest and she frantically slammed the door but it didn't close as it was flung back open. Ash invited himself into her house, barging in and banging the door shut behind him.

"Listen, Mar-Mar, I-"

"Stay away from me!" she screamed at him, moving backwards with every step he took towards her.

Marceline soon found herself backing away from Ash, yelling obscenities at him across the living room all the way into the kitchen.

"Get outta my house or I'll call the cops!" she threatened, pulling out her phone from her pocket, really intending to call Marshall instead of the police.

But before Marceline could even speed-dial her boyfriend, white knuckles wreathed her wrists and slammed her roughly against the refrigerator. She flinched as magnets clattered to the floor near her phone. Breathing heavily, she peeled her eyes open to see Ash's chartreuse pupils staring back at her.

"Let go of me!" she demanded with rising anger but he simply smiled enigmatically to himself.

Ash then snickered and shook his head lightly, as if amused, doing nothing but baffling Marceline further. The constriction on her arms slackened, but he pressed his palms on either side of her, still trapping her.

"Looks like I'm gonna have to do this the hard way." he uttered tensely into her ear, making her squirm uncomfortably under his gaze.

Sensing a hostile intruder, Schwabl scampered into the kitchen, growling and barking at Ash but the latter irritatedly kicked the poodle away, sending it reeling to the far end of the room. Marceline gasped at his cruel and vindictive action. The edges of her vision were flickering white, resisting to her hurried blinks. Hell no.

In one swift motion, she whipped her head sideways, teeth colliding and digging into the sensitive flesh of his neck. He yelped and staggered back, giving her time to claw at the crevice next to the fridge and clutch her only weapon, a deadly and menacing...broom.

"I deserve that, huh?" Ash stated sardonically, holding his neck.

"How'd you know where I live?!" Marceline demanded an answer, prodding the bristles against his chest.

He ran his tongue over his teeth and adjusted the strap of the satchel which she didn't realize he was carrying until now. She shouldn't have let her guard down in that split-second, because he took this brief opportunity to instantaneously snatch the broom away from her and threw it onto the floor. His cold fingers pinned her shoulders against the refrigerator yet again, and she braced herself for the worst.

"Oh, I know a lot of things, Mar-Mar," Ash spoke gruffly, his animalistic eyes boring into her. "I even know about your undead boyfriend."

Marceline's eyelids raised at the mention of Marshall, and more precisely, his secret identity. "H-How...?"

He simpered. "I've been watching."

"You're crazy!" she scoffed but he blatantly ignored her comment.

"Oh, and here's the best part. Me and a bunch of guys happen to know how to kill a vampire...in more ways than one," Ash grinned sadistically. "And trust me, it ain't pretty."

Marceline stared daggers at him, clenching her teeth and balling up her fists. "Don't you dare hurt him."

He sneered and released his hold on her, taking a step back. "Well, that depends, really."

"Cut the crap, Ash!" she yelled, her patience running low. "What the hell do you want from me?"

A few seconds of silence prevailed, tension hanging heavily over them before he finally piped up.

"I want you back, Mar-Mar," Ash disclosed his desire with a smirk. "Break up with him, and come back to me."

"What? No!" Marceline refused, shaking her head at that preposterous notion. "No!"

"I don't think you really have much choice here, babe."

"Don't 'babe' me, you jerk!"

"I'll say this again, in case you didn't get it the first time," he closed the distance between them, and repeated it again in her face. "Break up with him and come back to me, or he dies...literally. And if that's not enough, there's still your old man."

"Leave my Dad out of this, you psycho!" she yelled, her voice crackling in outrage.

How dare he.

Instead of replying her, Ash turned his attention to his satchel, unfastening and pulling back the flap which covered the bag. Marceline watched him in cluelessness but her eyes widened at the item that he took out from the satchel. It was extremely faded with one blue button remained as its eye, but it still had its stitched smile and the red tint to it. She couldn't believe her eyes. It really was Hambo.

"How did you-?"

"I got it back for you, Mar-Mar." he said smugly and as soon as the stuffed toy was in his hands, it was shoved back into his bag, out of sight, to her dismay.

Marceline felt tears stinging in her eyes but she blinked them back. Words could not describe just how much she'd missed Hambo.

"If you want your beloved teddy bear back, and your boyfriend intact," Ash stressed. "Do as I say. You only have three days."

Then he spun around on his heel, walking off in the direction of the front door, but not before stopping in his tracks to glance backward and issue his final warning to her:

"Oh, and don't tell anyone or even try to get the cops involved. The outcome's gonna be the same as when you don't do what I told you to."

And with that, he left. Marceline threw her hands over her face and hit her back against the fridge, sliding down to the cold tiled floor in tears.

"I'm sorry, Marshall..."