The Stølen Girl

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

    Her heart stuttered to a stop.

    Mary stood five feet away from the man who had kidnapped her. He looked laid back, his hands stuffed in his khaki pants pockets and a pair of sunglasses hanging from the neckline of his polo shirt.

    Dressed to impress as always.

    Keith was used to the limelight. He was attractive in the way that girls threw themselves in his way, just to get his attention. Most of the time, he ignored them. But today, Mary took note of the two girls on his arms, each of them blonde. The same kind of girls he had brought to the house when she had been in the basement.

    Mary only knew of them because of what the maids gossiped.

    He seemed surprised to see her out and about. Of course, she was Don, but he was one isle over picking out bread while Mary was perusing the cereal.

    Her hand was on a box of Honey Nut Cheerios, and she was frozen in place.

    Her mind tried to work overtime to figure out why he was here. Keith and Don lived in totally separate places. In different states, even. It made no sense that Keith was here, in her supermarket.

    "Meredith?" The words slipped past his lips in a strangled fashion. Like he was afraid he was hallucinating.

    For a moment, red hot anger ran through her at the sight of him, carefree and in her space. She belonged here. He did not.

    "What, don't recognize me in real clothes Keith?" The words fell from her mouth without her permission. Not once had she ever talked back to him, but the sudden boldness had a hand around her neck, pressing for more word vomit to come up.

    Keith physically flinched at her tone of voice. However, it wasn't him who spoke.

    "Honey, Keith's done with you. You can stop flirting and showing off your late night escapades because we're here." The blonde on the right said, flipping her hair. It took Mary a moment to realize what she meant.

    She thinks I was talking about sleeping with Keith! She thinks I was referring to wearing no clothes rather than that cloth dress!

    She could barely breathe at the sight of him, never mind speak enough to correct the thoughts of the girl hanging off of his arm.

    The hand around her throat felt differently.

    "At least Keith knows my name. What does he call you two? Slut one and two?"

    She didn't know where this was coming from. She only just learned what the word slut meant from Kelsey, who was ranting about a girl in her grade. And her usual timid demeanor would have never said that.

    It was the confidence of being free and safe that made the words come out. It was the fact that she knew Keith couldn't touch her, no matter what she said. It was liberating.

    The girls gasped in unison. "Excuse you, bitch. Keith does know our names. And we're more than sleeping buddies."

    "Yeah," The other girl stepped in. "We're friends with Keith. And not in the 'friends with benifits' way."

    Mary didn't care about them. All she cared about was Keith, who was still frozen in time. He looked like a statue, not that Mary minded. She hoped she did bother him. She should. After all, he was in her domain.

    "What are you doing here, Keith?" She addressed him. Not that she cared - she just never wanted to run into him again. Ever.

    "Shopping, duh." The blonde on the left spoke for him.

    Mary looked over at her. "Am I speaking to you? No. Keith can speak for himself."

    Mary was scaring herself. The hand around her neck was tightening, pushing her to say more. And she wanted to, but she knew better.

    I just want to show him I'm fine without him. I want him to pay for what he did to me.

    "I'm here because Theodore is." Was his response.

    "What are you talking about?" Mary finally pulled the box of cereal from the self, holding it in her arms tightly.  "Why would you see Theodore?"

    "Now that he has an apartment here, I never see him. He's my brother, after all." Keith scratched the back of his head. "Not my fault he moved to be closer to you."

    Mary knew he sounded mad because of that. "Not my fault he's a compassionate human being who doesn't hurt others!"

    She was right. Theodore hadn't been in her life long, but she was fully attached to him. How could she not be? He was the first to show her kindness. He was the first to make her feel self worth.

    She felt like a leech, stuck to him.

    Keith flinched at her words. "Meredith, we can talk about this-"

    "It's Mary," Don said from behind his daughter. The anger was clear in his voice as he looked at Keith. He knew exactly who he was, and he knew just what the boy had done to his precious daughter. "And you're never talking to her again. Come on, Mare. We have more shopping to do."

    Mary turned from Keith, not saying anything as she followed her dad out of the isle. Truth was, she wanted to say so much more, but it wasn't worth it. Wasn't worth the waste of breath, especially if she never saw the guy again.

    "Meredith!" Keith yelled one last time as she reached the end of the isle. She paused, but didn't turn around.

    "My father... he's getting out of jail, soon. Thought you should be aware!"

    Mary continued turning the corner, trying to hold onto every piece of herself so she didn't fall apart right there in the store. She felt like she would at any minute.

    Keith being in the same town as her was enough to give her a panic attack. Hearing that his father would be out of jail soon was enough to give her a mental breakdown.

    "That boy's father will never get to you again," Don reassured Mary, but she still wasn't sure she believed Don. How could she? Mr. Chambers was a man of many things. Getting what he wanted was one of his many skills.

    "I hope so." She muttered to herself, dropping the box of cheerios into the cart. "If he does, I'm a goner."

    Don placed a hand on her back. "I'm never letting you go again, Mary. Trust me when I say he will never lay a finger on you again."

    She wanted to believe his words, but it was so hard. Putting faith in someone was hard.

* * *

A/N: Hey guys!

This update is so late! I'm stuck with a bad case of writers block for this story. I have the plot laid out and everything, but I can't seem to write. It's like, my motivation for this story is gone.

I promise I'll finish it - don't worry! But I can't promise I'll update every week like I'd hoped!

Anyway. Love you all, and thanks for reading! XOXO