Monsters

(Maggie's perspective again)

What am I going to do? Sarah asked herself that night. She sat gingerly on the floor of her apartment, nerve-racked, staring at the blue-gray tints that remained on her bruised wrists. Ironically, the morning after Mark's outburst, he had sobered up enough to apologize for yelling at her.

That's probably the only thing he remembers.. She watched his chest rise and fall as he slept deeply from his familiar position on the couch. Her eyes traveled down to the bottles of alcohol strewn around the room, several of which were broken.

Her eyes focused on his face. She barely recognized him any more: his jet-black hair, desperately needing to be cut, parted out in different directions; his cheeks sagged under dark indentations that circled below his eyes. She couldn't remember the last time he'd brushed his teeth or shaved, let alone taken a shower.

Glancing down and rubbing her tender wrists again, she caught sight of her stomach.

My baby.. oh God please don't let him hurt my baby, she prayed. Examining her clasped hands, she felt a sense of calmness wash over her body. Although not knowing how, this would pull through. She stood up and walked into the kitchen. She considered opening the refrigerator in hopes of searching for something to eat, but she knew it was empty. Walking past the counter, she brushed against a stack of papers, sending them scattering.

Clumsy, she scolded herself, bending over to pick up the bills.

There's no way I can pay for these.. she realized, looking them over. She didn't make nearly enough money on her own to support herself, let alone Mark.

Let alone a baby.. I can't even afford an abortion.. which I could never go through with in the first place.

Wearily glancing at the kitchen clock, she noted the time: 4:17am. Slowly creeping into the bedroom, she collapsed in the middle of the bed she'd slept alone in for the last few weeks. Tonight, however, she had no tears to cry herself to sleep with. That required too much energy.

the next afternoon..

As far as my troubles, paling in comparison to Sarah's, were concerned, one might have thought that my inspirational afternoon with her in the park the other week might've changed my whole disposition on the Hanson brothers, a certain one in particular. Well, let me put it this way: Once a wimp, always a wimp. I still couldn't bring myself to confess to anyone else, let alone HIM, how I felt about Taylor. The ride back to my house permently engrained the idea that he had no feelings for me into the back of my head. I again chose to make my schedule so incredibly busy that I simply had no time to think about the matter. Well, at least it worked.. sort of. I'd bore you to tears with the uninteresting details of my life, but they are just that: uninteresting.

Besides, I much rather wanted to hear about Sarah's little Saturday night encounter, much to her dismay.

"Tell me tell me!" I demanded the minute she picked up the phone.

"Geez, I just saw him a few nights ago.." she sighed loudly, her breathe sending a crackling sound into the phone that nearly deafened me.

"Umm.. Can you meet me somewhere?" She spoke quietly, not wanting to disturb Mark.

Fifteen minutes later, we found ourselves across an all-familiar table at the diner. Being the mid-afternoon, we had to settle for a rather large, burly man named Chuck rather than sweet old Marj. His name reminded me more of a meat cut rather than an identity.. I shuddered at the sight of his dirty hands gracing food that would eventually circulate through my digestive system. Not that we were here for food. I was more interested in-

"Details. Now." I commanded her.

"Such as.. ?" She spoke softly.

"You know what I mean! Spill it. Everything." I made sure to clarify.

"Well, I figured you'd find out eventually anyway." Sarah let out a small sigh but smiled. "And no interruptions."

"Scouts' honor." I held my index and middle finger poised at my forehead in a salute.

"You were never a girl scout."

"That's not the pointed. Just get on with it." I begged.

"We went out for coffee and talked. Nothing happened." She sat back in her chair, folding her hands across the table.

".. That's it?" I figured she wasn't telling me the whole story.. or rather any of it.

"Well, I had a good time. He's a great guy, and we got along really well."

"So there will be future dates?" I raised my eyebrows suggestively.

"Not exactly. This wasn't a typical date." She looked at me through narrowed eyes.

"I'm just teasing. That's cool you guys are friends.. so what aren't you telling me?"

There has to be more.

"Ok, he doesn't want me to marry Mark."

Bingo! That was the kind of gossip I wanted to hear her admit.

"What?" I was surprised, to say the least. "Sure, he's a little rough around the edges.. but has he ever even met him before?"

"Well, he did after dropping me off." Her voice lingered on sarcasm, remembering their earlier encounter. My words 'rough around the edges' echoed in her mind.

"I'll take it it didn't go over too well.."

"You could say that." She looked at me.

"So why didn't he like Mark if he didn't know him?"

"Jealousy." She replied quickly. "Ike has not had the greatest experiences in dating, so he longed for the 'good old times,' I guess."

"Seriously?" Sounded a little weird to me, but what did I know about guys? I'll answer for you - absolutely nothing.

"Yeah." She half-lied.

"I told him it wouldn't work." She tapped her engagement ring.

"Wow.. Where does he get off coming back into your life and telling you what to do with it?" I whistled softly. "I can't believe he pulled that."

"Me neither. It won't happen again though, that's for sure."

At least one good thing came out of this: I'll won't be seeing Isaac Hanson again in my life. As much as she tried to convince herself otherwise, Sarah wasn't completely happy about that idea.

Like I have much of a choice. She thought, twisting her engagement ring around her fourth finger absently.

"Goodnight Mia." I called to her across the parking lot after work that night.

"You too Taylor." I added, sighing softly so he wouldn't hear me. If he wasn't so darn gorgeous, I'd start feeling tired of seeing so much of him. This time was to take her out to eat after work.. And yes, I'd gotten to hear all about it from her, much to my lack of absolute delight. She had a candlelight dinner, cooked by Mr. Wonderful himself, followed by a small serenade, complete with flowers and 2000% romance waiting for her.

"Good night." She tossed her hair over her shoulder, graced by having his arm around it.

"Same here."

How can Taylor always manage to sound so casual about everything? I couldn't help but wonder as I unlocked my car door. After pushing the topic out of my head, I sat down behind the wheel. I fumbled with my keys between my fingers, numb from the cold. My heart dropped into my stomach when the turn of the ignition key produced no results.

Again!? I was furiously frustrated. I don't believe this! I just got the alternator fixed two days ago.

I rummaged around in the glove compartment for my flashlight. Zipping my coat up, I stepped out of the car and walked around to the front. After flipping up the hood and examining the engine, I discovered the problem. My fingers found two perfectly cut wires sticking out of the battery.

Is this some idea of a joke? I stared at them momentarily.

"Shit." I said under my breath, snapping out of my gaze. After slamming the hood shut, I ran over to Mia's car. Fortunately, and this is probably the only time I'd be grateful for this, Taylor was kissing her. Feeling like a complete idiot, I raised my hand and rapped on the passenger's side window in interruption. I saw her head snap in my direction and the confusion in her eyes until she recognized me in the dark.

"Hey," I said meekly as she rolled down the window. "My car died again.. can I have a ride home?"

"Sure, no problem. Hop in." She reached over and unlocked the door.

"Thanks so much." I said, sliding in next to her.

"I'll see you in about half an hour, Honey." Taylor wouldn't let us ignore his presence as he squeezed her left shoulder lightly before taking off.

"Such a sweet guy." Mia sighed after my door was shut.

"If you say so." I slumped down in the leather covering the passenger's seat.

"Oh, he really is." She sounded like she was trying to reassure me of that. I couldn't help but be curious.

"You trying to convince me of that?"

Wow, not everything completely heavenly in the world with Taylor?

"No.. why?" She glanced at me before pulling out of the parking lot.

"Never mind." I doubted my suspicions.

Besides, I have my own 'relationship' to worry about, I reminded myself about Zac. As we left the health center in silence, neither of us noticed the dark figure that remained hidden in the shadows, watching us leave. He slipped a pair of wire cutters into his black leather coat pocket.