love bites » marcelee.

62: Bait

Chapter Sixty-Two: Bait

"Mmgh..." Marshall frowned in his slumber, ultimately waking up from the nightmare that he was having and the sound of the alarm ringing from his phone.

He yawned, blindly reaching his hand out to feel around for his phone, finally grabbing it from the bedside table. Squinting against the brightness of his phone screen, he turned off the alarm and rubbed his eyes, noticing the missed call from yesterday. His gaze widened upon reading the caller ID.

"Crap..." Marshall cursed himself for not answering his phone last night and attempted to call Marceline.

But her phone was switched off. Why had she called him? Did she call to apologize? Or maybe to explain herself? Questions raced through his mind, with no access to the answers. The only way to find out was to hear it straight from her mouth, which he had the chance to do so later if he saw her at school. So without further ado, he went to get ready.

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"...got all the stuff we need..."

"...this is gonna work..."

"...everyone clear with the plan..."

The voices awakened Marceline, along with the pounding in her head. She propped herself up using her elbows, her sore body making it difficult for her. She leaned against a pillar, letting her eyes scan the surroundings of the dilapidated building she was in. Light came in through windows fogged with smoke and grime. Scrawled all over the walls were chaotic coats of obscene graffiti.

"Look who's finally awake."

The familiar voice sounded from the spiked hair guy at the pillar opposite of her, and it looked like he wasn't alone; the whole of Ash's gang from yesterday have all gathered here. Not good. Quickly teetering to her feet and hissing at her aching and surely bruised back, she broke into a run.

"Oh no you don't!"

The clump of boots reverberated through the building as they gave chase. They were relentless, hounding Marceline like a pack of wild dogs, hot on her heels. And in no time, they caught up with her.

"Let go of me!" she thrashed about in their firm restraint, but they simply laughed at her feeble attempt to escape and dragged her back to where Ash stood.

"Leaving so soon, Mar-Mar? The fun hasn't even started yet." The white-haired guy snapped his hand around her forearm, taking her other arm and pushing her against the wall, his grip constricting on her wrist.

They had a glare down until Marceline's knee thrusted up between his legs, sending him groaning to the ground. Again, she tried to flee, but yet again, the numbers gained on her. Ash, who finally recovered, felt the granite gate of restraint burst inside him. While his accomplices held her back, he neared her and swung his fist against her face. Her head whipped to the side upon the sudden impact and she tasted the blood in her mouth.

"Does that hurt?" he asked, a mocking grin crossing his face.

With an expression full of scorn, she spat at his face in response, earning shocked looks from the other guys. Unamused and definitely pissed off, he wiped the blood and spit off his face with clenched teeth, then brutally kneed her in the gut. She doubled up in pain, coughing and collapsing to the ground with a thud. There was a look of dark malevolence in his chartreuse eyes as his mouth twitched up into a cocky smirk.

Ash squatted down and draped his arm around Marceline's neck from behind, the blade of the knife in his grasp lightly pressing against her throat. With his free hand, he took out a device from his pocket and brought it in front of her so she could see what it was. He pressed and held the device's button until the screen lit up, implying that it had been successfully switched on.

"Now, do as I say or else." he warned, his breath hot against her ear, sending unpleasant shivers down her spine.

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When Marceline was nowhere to be found in school, Marshall left the place to search for her at her home. However, she wasn't there, and neither was she at Ash's house on the hill. He tried contacting her. However, like earlier today, her phone was turned off. That was, until she called him and he picked it up all too quickly.

"Hello?"

"Marshall..."

He smiled when he heard her. He'd missed hearing that voice of hers. "Yeah?"

"I-I'm so sorry, I-"

There was a sudden pause, and Marshall's smile faltered. "Marceline?"

"C-Can I see you?"

"Of course. Where are you?"

Another pause. He was starting to get worried. "Marcy?"

"Meet me inside the abandoned warehouse by the docks. After sunset."

"Hey, are you alright-"

Marceline abruptly hung up, and Marshall stared at his phone, half in head-scratching and half in gladness that she had actually called and spoke to him after what seemed like a very long time. She sounded kind of scared though, almost like she was about to cry, and he didn't feel too good about that.

There were still several hours before dusk, meaning that he had to wait for a really long, torturous amount of time before he could actually see her, which was what he had been longing to do. And so he waited.