Rest and Relaxation

You fucking asshole. Zac thought in his mind. He silently stood over Justin's bed, seeing him for the first time.

You know, you don't look like much. Kinda scrawny. I would take beat the living shit out of you right here and now if it wouldn't make things worse for Maggie.. She's such a wonderful girl. I would do anything for her.

You, on the other hand, are the lowest thing I've ever laid my eyes on. How can you call yourself a man!? He fought the urge to scream at the top of his lungs.

Even after what you did to my girlfriend, you have the nerve to take her to court. You're the one who needs to be locked away. You make me sick.

Zac raised his fist, clenched tightly, and rested it on the metal bar on the side of Justin's bed. Him laying there peacefully, a content, half-smile playing on his lips and sparse facial hair surrounding his mouth, all made Zac want nothing more than to slam his fist into that face.

"You're not worth it," he muttered quietly, shaking his head in disgust and heading for the door. After giving his thanks to the guards outside the room for letting him enter Justin's room after seeing me, he left.

"Hey Maggie," Sarah called to me from the doorway of my dreary room. Two more days of staring at blank yellow walls had nearly driven me to the funny farm. Worse, yesterday I'd succumbed to the nurse's persistence and gone to arts and crafts. I could describe, without pride, what I'd worked on, but the Popsicle sticks aren't finished drying yet.

"Shh," I waved my hand in her direction, motioning her to come in, but kept my eyes glued on the television in mock interest.

"What are you watching?" she asked, gingerly sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Wait.." I grabbed my nearby box of Kleenex as I sensed a commercial coming on.

"Days," I whispered in response to Sarah, my eyes fixated on my 11-inch escape to the outside world. Although incredibly grateful for the television, it unfortunately only received three channels: CSPAN, which broadcast in foreign languages; Nickelodeon, for kids, although I found myself both charmed by some shows and shocked that people were actually paid for the time they spent on others; and a 'normal' station, which I was watching now.

"I didn't know you liked Days of Our Lives," Sarah smirked at me as she sat down. "I would've never pegged you as a soap opera fan."

"I'm not. It's the most ridiculous, yet addictive, thing I've ever seen." I sniffed and pretended to wipe a tear from my cheek with a Kleenex before adding,

"Like anyone could ever have such eventful lives."

"You don't have to convince me twice, you goof." Sarah picked up the box and lightly bonked me on the head with it.

"Hey," I exclaimed. "What was that for?"

"I thought something was seriously wrong when I came in here. That's for scaring me."

"Sarah, you'll give me brain damage if you hit me on the head for all the times I've scared you." I grinned.

"Maggie," she sighed loudly. Expecting her to roll her eyes and act ten times more mature than me (which I'll be the first to admit that she actually is), I was surprised when she said:

"I don't know how you keep in such good spirits. I wish I had your energy."

".. Thanks Sarah," I smiled. Glancing over her, it pained me to see her looking as tired and worn out as she did. As she closed her eyes, I also noticed a large cut over her left eyebrow. I was surprised I hadn't noticed it earlier.

"Hey, are you ok?" I asked her.

"What do you mean?" She opened her eyes and looked at me questionably. When I tapped my forehead with my index finger, her hand flew to the cut.

"Oh this," she said in a flustered tone. "Nothing. It was really stupid, actually.. I was cutting someone's hair and I reached up to brush my hair out of my eyes and cut myself with my scissors."

"Nice going. Sounds more like something I'd do." Although my tone was light, inside I was alarmed.

"Sarah.. I hate to bug you, but where did you get those bruises?" I pointed to her arms after she took off her coat.

How many drugs did they put you on that you didn't notice that? I asked myself.

"Oh, that's a funnier story," she laughed loudly.

"Looks like it might've hurt." I was surprised she was in good spirits about it.

"Just me being clumsy again," she explained, slipping her arms into her coat sleeves again. "It was.. umm, a grocery accident."

"Grocery accident?" I asked. "I'm not sure if I want to know what happened if groceries did that to you."

"I tripped walking up the stairs at the apartment, ok?" She asked, irritation slipping into her voice. It was a red flag to me that the subject had been pushed to its limit.

"Ouch," I said lightly, rubbing my own arms. "That sucks. So how's school going for you?"

"Wonderful, since it's over finally." She grinned at me.

"That's awesome. How did finals go?" I asked. Immediately, her face fell.

"Well.. not as well as I planned. But I was busy working a lot." She explained quickly. "I passed my exams, barely.. so that's good. I have certification training next week."

"That's awesome..You look tired." I complied with my knack for stating the complete obvious.

"That's an understatement." She forced a small smile at me, her normally bright blue eyes looking dull gray in color. "Like I said, I wish I had your energy."

"Energy's not everything." I pointed out, squeezing her arm lightly to comfort her. "I wish I had your strength."

"Strength, yeah.." She looked at me with amusement on her face, as if she didn't believe me.

"I'm serious. I really admire you for it. Look at me," I raised my hands, showing her the remains of my fingernails, all ragged and chewed off to their limits.

"What did you do that for?"

"Stress. My parents are meeting with the lawyer Justin's parents hired right as we speak."

"Oh," she said softly, nodding in sympathy. "I'm sure everything will get worked out."

"I hope so. I can't tell you how upset I've been about it."

"I'm assuming you haven't gotten enough sleep either, if you feel as terrible as you look right now." She grinned at me and stood up.

"So you're going to insult me, then leave? What gives?" I looked up at her.

"Sorry. I have an.. appointment before getting back to work. This is my lunch break. If it makes you feel better, I skipped eating so I could visit you."

"That doesn't make me feel better at all! Now I feel worse, thanks." I frowned and looked at my discarded food tray from my own lunch. Examining it, I picked up an apple I'd been saving for an afternoon snack.

"Here," I tossed it to her. "It's not much, but better than something you can buy in a vending machine."

"Are you sure?" she asked, circling her fingers around it's smooth surface.

"Yes," I cried. "I can't believe you asked me that. Get outta here, you'll be late if you hafta be back in at one." I glanced at my watch.

"Yes mother." She stuck the apple in her purse and headed for the door.

"I want you to eat all of that! No nibbling around the core either. Damn kids these days: they waste everything!" I called after her. I settled myself back in my bed after I heard her laughter down the hall in response. Although she sounded happy, I couldn't help but have a nagging feeling in my stomach. I couldn't get the images of her bruises out of my mind either, as I closed my eyes to get my well-deprived sleep.

"It's ok Sarah." She whispered words of encouragement to herself. Releasing her tense grip on the steering wheel of her car, she slowly reached over and grasped the gear shift. With a snap of her wrist, her car lurched forward a little into park.

"You can do this.." She released the gear shift to lean over and grab her purse. "Not like you have any other options." She'd been hoping and scrimping for weeks in hope it wouldn't come down to this, she realized as she opened the door and stood up. She glanced briefly around the parking lot of the pawn shop before walking through the front door. A clamoring bell attached to the handle on the door's inside announced her presence and she peered around the door.

"Can I help you?" The familiar, large man called out to her. It sounded more like a 'what do you want?' question by the tone of his voice he used. Yet Sarah smiled, remembering the comments I'd made in reference to his grotesquely-hairy forearms so many months ago.

"Y-yes. I was wondering if you'd be interested in buying something from me." She said quietly, slowly approaching the front counter he stood behind.

"Well, what is it?" He crossed his arms and frowned at her. His impatience only added to her apprehension.

Just do it Sarah. Closing her eyes, she lifted her fingers to her engagement ring and slid it off her finger. She presented it to the dealer with trembling fingers.

"Hey.." he murmured in thought, his eye catching the gleam of its delicate gold band. "I just might be interested in something like that."

"How much?" She immediately asked. Her heart sank as she thought of how much comfort the token had brought her over the last few months, the only thing absolutely pre-determined in her relationship with Mark. The only promise from him that ever made me happy, she thought bitterly. In some small way, she was doing herself a favor by getting rid of it.

"One thousand."

"Fifteen hundred."

Even though it's priceless to me.

".. Twelve hundred fifty."

It will cover the late payments from the last six months. She didn't think twice.

"Deal."

"Wake up, sleepy-butt." I felt a nudge on my left leg. Recognizing the voice as my dad's, I instantly sat up in bed.

Back already? I thought; it hadn't felt like I'd been asleep for very long. Glancing at my watch, I noticed it was seven o'clock.

"Hey, that was a new record for your wake-up time." Karen said with a gleam in her eye. "How come you don't get up that quickly for school?"

"You guys are smiling," I noticed. "That must mean you have good news?" I crossed my fingers and closed my eyes briefly, mentally praying for the best. When I looked at my parents again, I was surprised to see them sitting on the edge of my bed, in each other's arms. The sight put a smile instantly on my face.

"We have wonderful news." I sighed in relief as Gerald continued, wrapping his arms tighter around Mom. "Out-of-court settlement."

"Uh-oh.. How much do we owe them?" I asked, nervous butterflies still twittering around in my stomach.

"Quite the opposite. Justin's also facing another case against the state. I'd say his chances of escaping a prison sentence are pretty slim." My mouth dropped open in surprise. I was utterly speechless.

"My goodness, she's at a loss for words." Karen reached out and patted my arms. "Surprise, sweetie. The case was dismissed because his parents dropped their charges the instant Gerald and I went on the attack."

"What exactly do you mean by an attack?" I laughed.

"They had no other evidence than his broken pelvic bone. Which I was meaning to ask you about, young lady." Gerald cleared his throat.

"Umm.. I can explain that. It's all Mia's fault." I replied meekly. "She taught me self-defense."

"You have no idea how grateful we are that you reacted the way you did." I crawled into Karen's open arms to join in their embrace.

"And you have no idea how grateful I am that you're my parents." I whispered. As I buried my head in her shoulder, I could feel tears of happiness coming into my eyes. "I love you."

"Right back at'cha, kiddo." Karen replied.

"Actually, you owe a lot more to Mia than you may realize. She served as a witness for you, as well as the photographs of your own injuries. Sarah even came down to testify against Justin's.. behavior years ago." Gerald continued.

"That's so incredible." I whispered, my tears spilling over. I couldn't believe how wonderful this was working out.

"Here's the real killer," Karen reached into her purse and pulled out a small, black book. Lifting my head and staring at its worn edges, I tried to remember where I'd seen it before. It can't be-

"My diary?" I closed my fingers around the smooth leather.

"Good thing you were such an expressive little squirt," Gerald reached over and fluffed my hair.

"Hey, hasn't my hair been through enough tortured enough this week?" I grinned.

"I think you've been through enough torture to last a lifetime." He looked in my direction, showing me emotion in his eyes.

"Yeah, hmph." I reached around Karen to squeeze his shoulder. "Sometimes feels like a freakin' soap opera.. So where on earth did you find this?" I asked, opening the diary to its first page and finding my name scrawled in purple ink.

"Taylor dropped it off this morning." Karen replied. "It helped us immensely."

"Really?" I raised my eyes to hers in surprise.

"Really?" Zac asked. "That's great."

"What's all the excitement about?" Taylor asked, walking into the kitchen. He couldn't help but overhear the last bit of Zac's phone conversation.

"Just a sec," Zac hissed quietly.

"Thanks a bunch Sarah.. Yup, I'll tell him." He glanced at his brother before hanging up.

"Tell me what?"

"All charges against Maggie were dropped. Justin might be going to jail too."

"Peachy." Taylor simply replied. He continued his path casually to the refrigerator, where he stood hunched over its open door, looking at nothing in particular inside.

"Man, what is your deal?" Zac asked him in a frustrated tone.

"Nothing."

"Nothing. That's all you ever say. I wouldn't call moping around in your smelly old clothes," he paused, pointing to Taylor's sloppy appearance. "And putting everyone you come in contact with in the same sour mood that you're in nothing. Look, I know it sucks that Mia dumped you, but-"

"But nothing. I told you, I'm fine." Taylor replied in a flat voice. "And it has nothing to do with Mia."

At least the last part's true.

"I give up." Zac threw up his hands and headed out the kitchen. He stopped in the doorway when Taylor made no attempt to stop him. Turning, he said in a quieter tone over his shoulder:

"I doubt it helps, but Maggie's diary helped convince Justin's parents to drop the whole thing. The girl I love could've gone to prison over this. You know, you could at least stop being selfish for one day to appreciate the fact your life is not the hell you make it out to be. I'm also not going to add that she might've died throughout this shit."

"Zac, wait." Taylor reached into his pocket and pulled something out. Zac recognized it as the necklace his brother had given Mia. After holding it up at arm's length, Taylor tossed it to his little brother.

"Here."

"You.. actually want me to have this?" For once, Taylor had surprised Zac.

".. Yeah. Take it." Zac noticed his tone hadn't changed, despite the kind gesture.

"But you gave it to Mia-" he objected.

"And she obviously gave it back. Now I'm giving it to you." Taylor finally faced him, rolling his eyes.

"Well, as much as I like wearing jewelry, I don't think so. Besides, I prefer gold over silver." Zac made a face and reached to hand it back.

"Not for you, dumbass. Give it to.. the girl you love." The words stung as Taylor said them. It took all his strength to get them out. The smile that spread across Zac's face only made him feel worse.

It's my own brother, he remembered his guilt at the hospital. This whole situation is getting entirely too complicated.

"Thanks Taylor."

"Not a problem." If only his brother knew the real source of his melancholy..