Spoiler
Hi! So I haven't posted anything in a while but is Summer so I hope to change that. This is chapter one and to read the prologue go here: http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/viewtopic.php?t=80211
Love is Ignorance
Chapter One
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Was it all a dream? The gunshots and knifes...The scar on my face or the hole in my thigh…Did an angel really deliver me from Hell...?
“Daddy, daddy.” I rolled over. “What about my birthday party. You never do anything on my birth…” My eyes flickered open and I stared at the gray ceiling, waiting for Dads reply, when I realized that Dad wasn’t there to reply. He would never say anything to me. Ever. He would never tell me not to go to the movies or go shopping. He would never get to tell me that he loved me.
"Ugh, where the Hell am I? And-" I completely froze. Where were my clothes? I was stripped down to my underwear. Oh God, did someone have their way with me or something. The last thing I need is to have been date-raped
"You're awake, Annie." The mystery man! The angel who rescued me from those horrible shmucks! "We didn't get a chance to properly introduce ourselves. I'm your new bodyguard, Erik Andreou ."
“Greek.” I sat up in the silky black bed. The room was mostly decorated in olive green, the walls and curtains, while the furniture was a metallic black.
“What?” he raised his eyebrow in question.
“Your last name, its Greek, right?”
“Yeah. How’d you know?”
“I dee kay. My friends last name was Andreos and she was Greek. So I was just guessing.” I shrugged. “Oh, and I have a question. Did you have your way with me?" I demanded.
"Sorry, unconscious girls aren't my thing." He grinned.
"Did last night really happen?" I said, more to myself then a question to him.
Erik frowned, "I’m really sorry about that kid, but um that was two days ago."
"I’ve been asleep for two days?"
"To my knowledge, you haven't used the bathroom in 48 hours..."
"Thanks, Erik, thanks a lot." I sighed. "What am I going to do?"
“Um, the bathrooms over there…”
“No! That’s not what I mean.”
"You're gonna get over it, believe me. Your father hired me to protect you and I will.”
“And, just wondering, why am I not wearing pants?”
“Um…” he grimaced uncomfortably. “I had to help you with that.” he leaned over me and gently tapped the large band-aid over my thigh. “Remember, um you were stabbed.” His lip twitched.
“Why couldn’t you take me to the hospital?” I asked.
“Because, as far as the police know, you, your brother and father are dead. If they find out that you are alive, they will ask you questions and take you away. They might even accuse you of murder or the mob will come after you before that.” He smiled.
“Well, why did you have to undress me?” I frowned.
“Um, I just explained it to you.” He looked at me as if I was stupid or something.
"Okay, look if I wanted to be undressed by you I would've asked!" I yelled.
"Oh so sorry, Miss priss !"
"Who you calling Miss priss?!" I demanded.
"The yelling bitch in front of me that's who!"
"You're such a...!"
Erik growled, "What? What am I, princess?"
"A friggin’ idiotic dick!"
"Who are you calling a dick?! I'll take you over my bedroom and show you who's not a dick!" I suddenly felt as if a rock was dropped into my stomach by his frightening threat. Ho could dad hire a bodyguard that would say something like that to me?
"Look, I shouldn't have said anything about the, um…your stuff, thing, er…”
"My thing? My thing?" Erik broke down in laughter. "My thing? That's cute, princess."
"Oh why me? Who the Hell do you think you are, pervert?!"
Erik became violent, "The man that saved your life! And as I recall an 'angel'."
"What?" I spat.
Erik growled, "You said to me right before you blacked out, 'Thank you, kind angel.'"
"I clearly must have been mistaken, you shithead!"
He cluched my wrist and pulled me out of the bed. He lead me out of the room and past a large living room into a blue tiled kitchen with white cupboards. He twisted me around and pressed his hand against my back and pushed my head toward the sink.
"What the-"
I suddenly felt icey cold water sting my face. He realesed me and I lifted my head from the full sink.
I turned back around to him and removed the blonde hair that stuck to my face.
"Who the hell tought you those manners? Definatly not your father." Erik yelled.
"I'm sorry," I sighed heavily, trying to recover my dignity, "I guess I was just embarrassed that you, err, took off my clothes."
“Yeah, and did your father let you buy that?” he questioned. I looked down at my lacey black bra and undies from Victoria Secrets.
“Don’t look.” I blushed.
Erik's frown finally broke into a streaned smile as he replied, "It's okay, Annie. Please just keep in mind that I am going to be your guardian for a long while, so just don't hate. Look, I'm gonna go to Walmart, do you want anything?"
"Oh, can you get some hair coloring and jeans or something?” I asked.
"Sure thing, princess. I’ll be back in half an hour, watch TV or something.” He turned around and walked out the kitchen.
"Um, Erik?” I rushed after him. He stopped and immediately turned around, causing me to crash into him. He was quite tall, maybe six feet. For a nineteen year old, I found myself fairly sized at 5’5. But as he looked down at me, I felt his eyes look down my chest.
“Um, how old are you?” I had so many more questions to ask, who are you, what happened to my family, how do you know my father. I would even settle for what’s for dinner, but that was the first thing that came out of my mouth.
“Twenty-seven.” He smiled, proudly.
“And where are we?” I pondered.
"Baby, we're north of LA, in Calabasas."
“No way!” I screeched. “In California!” We lived in North Carolina last. We lived in Kentucky once, New York twice, Texas, Washington DC, and even Alaska.
“Um, bye.” He said walking out of the house.
He seems decent enough, but what if he's not really on my side? Granted he killed Victor and Marcus, whoever they are, but who's to say he's not really just their enemy...?
I mean seriously, how can I trust him? Dad's never ever mentioned a 'Erik' before in my life. And I'm pretty sure that Jesse and I didn’t know him growing up. I would've remembered if we did, right...?
"You gonna be okay, kid?" Erik hollered from the car. I couldn’t answer him. When I saw the black Ferrari he drived, my mouth hung open. If he was undercover or whatever, why was he driving such a noticeable car?
“Oh God,” I said to myself as I twisted the small cross still hanging around my neck. ”I’m in a whole shitload of trouble.”
I can’t believe that I just lost the two most important people in my life and there's an absolutely demonic hitman after me and to top that off my bare skin which has never been touched by any guy was touched by a complete stranger. Well, he is a super hot stranger that saved my life but same diff. I'm just taking my anger out on Erik. It's so wrong to, but it's so much fun...
***
"Hey Erik, you're back! I half-expected you to come back with bombs or something!"
Erik scowled back, "Aren't you sweet? I bet all the guys just adore you."
"One second." I hated when guys didn't groom themselves properly. I hated seeing lint stuck to anyone's clothes and if that makes me a snob, so what! "Sorry, you had a huge piece of lint stuck to you."
"Oh come on like you didn't want to touch me..."
"So how is it going in planet ‘Dream on?"
"I will dream on, thank you very much." Erik handed me the heavy grocery bag.
"Theres Frosted Flakes in there, enjoy yourself.” He laughed to himself.
I asked for an angel but instead I got a demon. Next time I ask for an angel, I'll specify one from Heaven I swear, I thought as I scoffed into the bathroom. Inside was a huge glass shower that was probably longer than he width of four refrigerators combined. I removed my underwear and stepped into the grey tiled shower. I was impressed by the bathroom and aswell as the rest of the house. Erik didn't seem like the type to be very organized, but it seemed that if there was a previous owner living in this house, she must have decorated well and Erik must have left it alone, knowing that he would not have done better in decorating then she had.
As I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a white towel against my body, I pulled out the contents of the grocery bag.
I pulled out the first article of clothing I felt and pulled it on. I cut off the tags and quickly read them. He didn’t go to Wal-Mart! He spent at least two hundred dollars at Macy’s!
I turned around and looked at myself in the huge mirror. It seemed that Erik kept himelf pre-occupied in this shower, most probably with another woman. I glanced over at my clothing and saw a girl in a black cocktail dress.
"Come on Robertson! I swear my grandmother pitches better than you!” I walked into the living room with a frown pasted on my mouth. Erik sat with his legs wide apart and his hands behind his head on an old and dirty brown couch that had a disgusting stench floating around it. He stared into a flat screen TV across the room with a man wearing a striped blue and white jersey with the number thirty written on it in blue.
“Stupid Yankees, you used to be good.” he muttered.
"Hey Erik, that hair coloring was red, did you know that?" I asked.
"Naw, it was?" he chuckled, glancing away from the screen. "Looks good on you though. It brings out your anger."
I scoffed back at him, "Oh it does, thanks! And I thought you were gonna bring me back skinnys and flip-flops. But you brought me heels and a cocktail dress?”
“Sure, it was cheaper.” Lies. He pointed to the TV. “You see that guy? Freddy Garcia.”
“Yeah…” I sat down on the couch next to him and watched a man with the number thirty-six safely pass second base.
“Used to work for him.” He told me.
“What did you do for him?” I asked.
“Oh, it was before he was in the major leagues, I was his assassin.” He calmly replied.
I gulped and slowly stood up.
“Good Lord.” I mumbled under my breath. Was this man really who he said he was? Did my father really hire this bozo to protect me? I looked around the room. An old grandfather clock with an eagle hunched over it. The ceiling fan with dust nestled on the wood. I had to concentrate on what to do! Sports Illustrated on the coffee table with a plate with crumbs on it. My look of horror caused his confusion.
“Are you okay?” He asked. Am I okay? How can I be friggin’ okay when I am in the hands of an assassin?
"Did you kill a lot of people?" I whispered.
"Do you mean did I bathe in their blood like Victor? Spread blood everywhere from floor to ceiling?”
“No, no! Stop! You’re scaring me!”
"Does my old job bother you that much?"
"How can you be such a monster?!"
"Hate to disappoint you but I was a non-contract justice-assassin..."
"What's that mean?" I questioned.
Erik laughed, "It's means I could only kill people who committed multiple murders and could never be convicted cause they had the cops in their pocket-"
RING! RING! "Hold on a sec’, I'll be right back."
"Hey William, my man! Wait, what’s going on?” Erik questioned. “Seriously? Okay. I’ll be right there as soon as possible.”
Wow, he has friends...? Or drug dealers. Either way, it's hard to believe that he has contact with the outer world. He seems so cold and-and... alone.
"Naw, Will. I have the kid right now..."
Who's he calling a kid? I'm not a child! I'm nineteen friggin' years old...
"See ya man." Erik hung up the phone and turned to me and winked, "Later, kid."
"Hey wait up!" I demanded. I was not going to be treated like a child. I'm an adult! "Erik, I'm not a child that you can just throw around."
"Could've fooled me with how petty you act." He replied as I followed him out into the front porch.
"I'm petty?"
Really, I've never thought of myself that way. Am I really petty? No, I'm not! I have simply been acting stupid, due to the death of my family. My loving, caring, happy family.
“Goodbye, Anzhelina.” He reached his Ferrari and drove away, his headlights fading into the darkness. But how did he know that name? I was not even enrolled at school as Anzhelina which was a form of Angilina, it wasn’t even on my birth certificate nor my drivers license. It was a secret nickname my mother gave me. She used to make fun of Russians when they were on tv or a russian actor died, she would always laugh,
"Anzhelina you are, silly Russian girl."
How could he leave me like that?
All because a friend called him, he thought it was a good idea to leave me? All I wanted at that moment was to be held by someone who cared. Scratch that, I wouldn’t mind being held by a homeless person.
At that moment, I felt an overwhelming feeling to end my life. I would get to see my family again. And be with mom, and dad, and Jesse. I wouldn’t have to see Erik again, but that thought only made me more frightened. I pushed Erik away from my mind and thought, what about burning down the house?
I needed to concentrate. The white rocking chairs on the porch, the old lantern collecting cobwebs and insects too. The grey garage door, the large palm tree.
“Wait!” I hollered out loud. “The garage!” I could crash a car into a palm tree or something! The idea flowed into my mind naturally.
I opened to door to the garage and stared in shock at the Mc Laren F1. I knew that it was the top 5 most expensive car at almost a million dollars. I could remember my friend Paul telling me about it. We were only fourteen while we sat in his yard, on the soft green grass of Texas. “In the nineties,” he explained to me. “It was the fastest and most expensive car. It has a ludicrous top speed of 240 miles per hour and reaching 60 miles per hour in 3 seconds!”
How I would miss Paul, such a good socially awkward friend. He was so interested in cars, he told me all about them while we sat in his backyard and I panted and complained about the humidity, the heat. I begged him to go inside so that we could have some lemonade, play Halo 3 or to even watch his favorite show, SpongeBob.
What were the chances that the key was in the car? Well apparently, high enough. I opened the orange door and pushed on the gas. I drove out into the freeway and pulled down the windows, enjoying the wind through my hair. I hoped that Erik wouldn’t be too upset about me wrecking his car.
I came into a crowded street. I noticed a group of skateboarders outside Abercrombie and Fitch as I wondered if I might have dated one of them if I didn’t have to live a hidden life. It upset me that these handsome boys would get into illegal trouble and soon go to jail. They would never find love or get a job. They would never succeed.
Success. That was a word used a lot in my house. All my father wanted for me was success. All my mother wanted was for me to do the right thing. And I was sure that killing myself would be the wrong thing indeed.
Before I knew it, I stopped in front of the boys.
“Hey, sweet cheeks. Need our assistance?” a black haired boy in purple skinny jeans smirked.
I quickly said the first thing that came to mind. “Where’s the nearest night club?”
A red-head smiled sweetly. He must have been the youngest of the teenagers, maybe thirteen. “Yeah, keep going for a mile or so and take a left when you see a neon sign that says, ‘Paint.’ Then you’ll see a small gas station, go inside the convenience store and go into the men’s room.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks.”
“Yeah,” the black haired kid called before I could hit the gas. “They sell drinks to minors too. Tell them you’re with Taj.” He winked as I drove that mile.
***
“Erik!” Stephanie opened the door and threw her arms around me.
“Stephanie, what is going on?” I questioned.
“Marcus is still alive, we found he is inside.” She replied.
“Don’t worry about it, ‘kay?” I said, pulling her chestnut hair back behind her ear.
I placed my hand on her chin and lifted it up towards my face. She crushed her lips to mine. She pulled me inside the quite building and I pushed her up against the wall of the hallway.
“Mhm, Erik.” She mumbled.
“Annie…”
“What?” she jumped away from me. “Who is, Annie? Oh my God! Mel’s daughter?” she gasped.
“What? No, no! You must not have heard me! I said Steph Annie.” I replied.
“Erik! Get over here!” I heard Williams voice holler.
I rushed into the living room and saw the contents of the Crew all sitting together, except for the leader, Anthony.
“Where is Anthony?” I asked.
“With Marcus in the kitchen. You better help him out.” William answered.
I rushed into the kitchen, to find Anthony pacing around Marcus, who was tied to a chair in the middle of the room.
“Anthony, what happened?” I asked, glancing at Marcus suspiciously.
“Marcus was alive. I am not blaming you for not saving Annie successfully, but you could have done better.” He frowned.
“I apologize.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. Victor is dead, I mean at least you killed one of the brothers.” He scowled.
“I said I am sorry.” I hissed. “I’ll take it from here.” Anthony sighed and gladly walked out of the kitchen.
“Why are you here?” I glared at Marcus.
“Untie me and I’ll tell you.” He snarled back.
I removed the knife from my back pocket and stepped toward him. I violently cut the rope that intertwined around him.
“Put down the knife.” He demanded.
I placed the sharp metal on the countertop and asked. “Why are you here?”
He stood up and spoke clearly and quickly.
“I came to burn down the building…Mazarsky sent me. You didn’t kill me when you tried to strangle me. You only made me black out due to lack of oxygen. Annie will be dead soon, they are looking for her this very minute. We assumed that she was with you, so they searched your house.” He paused for a moment.
“She wasn’t there. We tore apart your house but we found no cars in the garage. So we assumed that she was with the Crew. I was sent to find her and if she wasn’t here, to burn down the building.” He finished.
“She wasn’t there?” I repeated.
“No.” he smiled.
I felt the rage burn inside me. Feedman took her. She must have.
I took the collar of Marcus’ shirt and balled it in my grip.
“Where the fuck is she.” I spat in anger.
“Dude. I don’t know.” He yelled back.
I jerked his head back, causing it to hit the cupboard. The wood cracked apart by the sudden pressure as I could feel his blood seep down his neck.
“Tell me! Why would she leave for no reason?” I screamed.
“It doesn’t matter!” he replied. “She’s gonna die anyway.”
I yelled and threw across the room.
“Why are they after her?”
“You know why! They want Mel to give in. They are gonna use her as bait.”
“Who is they?” I questioned.
“The Feedmans and Mazarskys teamed up. They are both after her.”
“So the Russians have finally teamed up with the Greek?” I wondered.
“Wow bro you’re screwed. When you come home your gonna find out that one of the sides have murdered her. Her guts all over the walls and her beautiful head with hang on the chandelier. They might have raped her too.” He laughed.
I cursed hauled him over the countertop. I continued to punch him as his face became disfigured. He began to choke on his own blood. He screamed to be saved as I punched his nose once more, to be satisfied by his death.
I quickly realized that I had to find Annie before it was too late.
I ran out and got in my car. I circled the streets to find her, when I stopped by McDonalds for coffee.
“Man, dat chick was hot. And that black dress!”
“Dude and did you see the car she was drivin’?”
I turned to a gang of teenagers, could they be talking about Annie?
“Hey kids,” I shouted. The boys stopped and glared at me.
“What?” The tall one yelled as I walked up to them.
“Was it a girl in a orange car?” I demanded. “Blue eyes, blonde- er, I mean red. Like really crazy red hair?”
“Urm, yeah.”
“Where did she go?” I pleaded.
“Um, we told her to…” a small boy was hushed by the tall one.
“Don’t tell him, it ain’t his business.” He said.
“I’m her guardian... oh for the love of God! If you don’t tell me I assure you that I will call the police with no hesitation about those.” I pointed to the bag with green powder in it.
“We told her to go to the club at Crystal Frame and seventh street!” Another boy blurted out. “It’s called el miedo. It’s in a convenience store.”
When I reached the store, I glanced at the cashier from behind the chips and sneaked into the back. There was no ladies room, only a men’s bathroom. I could feel the vibration of the loud music as I placed my hand on the knob and walked in.
I immediately noticed Annie’s strange red hair in the ultraviolet lighting. She sat at the bar giggling with another man.
“Thank you so much!” she smiled. “Um, a apple martini. You see, I’ve really never had one before.”
“Really? I couldn’t tell with how well you kept in that pina colada. Hey barkeep! Get my lady a apple martini.” The bartender served her the green drink. She lifted it up and slowly took a sip of it. She closed her eyes in disgust and gently let it down her throat.
Her eyes fluttered open. “It’s good.” She smiled awkwardly.
“Come on Ally.” He took her hand and she slid off the barstool with him. “Enough drinks, let’s dance.” He smiled.
“Um, it’s Annie.” She muttered as he led her to the floor.
“Yeah, yeah. Same diff.”
I wanted to murder this horrible man right on the spot. But Annie would never forgive me if I made a scene. I took a seat at the end of the bar, in the darkness and watched them dance in loathing. I knew that her father was rolling over in his coffin, under the ground.
Suddenly, she muttered something behind tears and walked back to the bar. He shrugged and walked across the club and into the guy’s room. I followed him and pushed him against the stall. He cried in pain as I hissed,
“What did you do to Annie?”
“Who? The redhead?” he questioned.
“Yes! What happened?” I pulled my hand over his neck and squeezed it as hard as I could.
“Okay, okay!” he screeched and I released him. “We were just dancing. Then Maroon 5 came on and she started humming ‘she will be loved’ and then she was crying. She told me that she didn’t want to dance anymore.”
“You fat bastard!” I swore under my breath as I walked back out into the club. I found Annie crying to herself at the bar.
I touched her shoulder. “Annie.” She looked at me in sadness, tears streaked her cheeks. I took her hand and lead her to the neon lit dance floor.
“I know where you hide
Alone in your car
Know all of the things that make you who you are
I know that goodbye means nothing at all
Comes back and begs me to catch her every time she falls.” She sang quietly.
I wrapped my arms around her waist while her hand rested on my chest. She leaned her head and sat it on my chest.
I suddenly realized why she was so upset, this was the song her brother played at the end of every gig he and his band had.
When she was younger, she giggled and danced with her mom to the music, but as she got older and her mother was murdered, she realized the beauty of the song, she swayed to it at prom in her sad informal dress.
I kissed the top of her head, I wished that I could tell her that I could take care of her, I could love her. But realized how my sudden confession would scare her.
Her wet eyes glanced over my face as she placed her hand on my jaw. I reached down do her face, but she quickly angled her lips away from mine, so I kissed her cheek. I could smell my shampoo in her hair. And it felt comforting that I had left a print of myself on her. Even if it was through shampoo.
I had to conquer the urge to touch her, to hold her, to kiss her.
She put her hands in my hair and twisted the strands together.
“Tap on my window knock on my door.
I want to make you feel beautiful.” She hummed.
“I don't mind spending everyday
Out on your corner in the pouring rain.
Look for the girl with the broken smile.
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile.
And she will be loved.” Her voice quivered nervously as she stared at my lips.
I place my lips on hers, waiting for permission. As the song came to an end she gripped my shoulders, leaned her head down and puked.
“Well, that was romantic.” I sighed.
Spoiler
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