Daddy's Little Girl

Daddy's Little Girl- 17

Ryan and I are on the beach and I see a dark figure walking towards us. I ignore it and turn back to Ryan, letting him pull me through the water. As the figure gets closer, I can tell its a grown man. I stop suddenly and Ryan stumbles, almost falling into the water. He turns to me with concern in his eyes. "What's wrong?" He asks quietly.

I shake my head, but don't take my eyes off of the figure. "It's nothing. Sorry, I just got distracted for a second." I say distantly.

Ryan follows my gaze and takes a step closer to me, wrapping his arm around my waist protectively. "Oh. I didn't see him. Do you want to go back to Amy's before he gets here?" He ask. He knows that I have problems with strange men, even if they are just passing by.

I shake my head. "No, I'm just making a big deal out of nothing. He'll pass without a second glance." I say, more for my own benefit than Ryan's.

He nods but doesn't let go of me. Instead, he leads me out of the ocean and toward dry sand. Together, we sit down and I lean my head on his shoulder. I look and see the man is a lot closer. I have to do a double take. For a moment, I thought he looked familiar. I brush it off and scoot closer to Ryan.

He notices. "Are you sure you don't want to go inside?" He whispers. I shake my head again but this time I hesitate a little, thinking about it. I close my eyes and I feel Ryan put his head on top of mine.

I hear the soft footsteps of the man in the sand a few feet away from us. I open my eyes and I feel Ryan's head shoot up. Glancing up, I realize who I saw before was no mistake.

My father lunges at us, having seen that we noticed him. He manages to pry me away from Ryan, yelling, "she's mine! Don't you think you can take her away from me!" I scream and try to wiggle loose, yelling Ryan's name to come save me.

Ryan jumps up and runs after my father, trying to drag me back to my old house. He latches onto my arm and tries to tug me away from him. It becomes a tug of war over me. I shriek in pain and Ryan lets go, sending me right into my father, who laughs triumphantly.

Ryan runs at him and, before my father can move any farther, punches him in the face. My father lets go of me and I crash into the sand. He sends a punch right back and Ryan and Ryan staggers back from the force of the blow. I cry out but neither pays me any mind. I struggle to get up and after finally succeeding, I jump in between my father and Ryan. I rip Ryan from my father's clutches and together, we sprint down the beach, careful to lead him away from Amy's house.

I glance back and see that my father isn't following like I expected him to be. Ryan bends down, catching his breath. "Man, I've always wanted to do that." He pants.

"Do what?" I ask breathlessly.

"Punch that b*st*rd."

I feel someone shaking me and open my eyes find Ryan gripping my shoulders, trying to wake me up from my nightmare. "Maggie wake up. You're having a nightmare." I don't even remember falling asleep. I glance around and see that we're still at the beach.

Ryan is looking at me with eyes full of concern. "Maggie are you alright? You fell asleep then you started talking and crying. You kept saying my name, asking me to help you."

I shake my head. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. You know, just a bad dream. It's nothing. Let's go back home though." I say, nervously looking around, searching for any dark figures. I can tell Ryan notices but he just stands up then offers out his hand to help me up.

I graciously take it and he pulls me onto my feet. I stand up and find myself looking directly into Ryan's eyes, only a few inches away from him. He doesn't let go of my hand and I make no effort to take it away. I don't know how long we stand there, looking at each other before Ryan gently kisses my lips.