Page 5 of Marlin's Faith

She roused a bit when I put her in the bath and she reached for me, scrabbling at me to keep her out of the water.

“Faith, Faith! Easy, Darlin’, I got you. Just take it easy,” she focused on me for a moment and whatever it was, this thin and tenuous bond we had going on, it was there and she settled, whimpering, into the warm bathwater.

“You good, Brother?” Nothing called from out in the bedroom.

“Yeah! I got this.” I held Faith against me, so she wouldn’t slip under and I took care of her.

4

Faith…

I felt like I was dying. If there was ever any mystery surrounding what dying felt like, it was certainly dispelled… this had to be what death felt like. I was suddenly afraid that maybe I was already dead. That maybe I had already passed through the gates of Hell and I was burning. Maybe this would never end. Maybe this was what it was going to be for all of eternity. This fiery burning ache. This feeling like fire ants had gotten beneath my skin and were eating me alive, one nerve ending at a time.

I whimpered and hot tears leaked across my skin at the corners of my eyes and eventhathurt. I opened my eyes and he was there. I blinked and tried to focus and when I did, he was still there. He was good. So very good to me. He took care of me, and was so careful with me; like the boy had been my last working night. My last night as one of their whores. I felt for the wrist band and cried out. It was gone.

“Oh hey, hey, it’s okay!”

Leather and metal were pressed into my fingertips, beneath the wristband his hand felt warm and alive. I grasped it and blinked and tried to focus on him again. Summer skies smiled out from his blue eyes and his other hand wrapped around my one. He cradled my hand and the wristband between the both of his own, as he squatted down beside the bed.

“Am… am I dying?” I asked, and fresh hot tears slipped free.

“No. No, Darlin’, it just feels that way…”

“Promise.”

“Promise you what, Baby Girl?”

“Promise me I’m not dying, I don’t want to die.” I sobbed. It was true. I didn’t want to die. I wanted to see my sisters again. I wanted to live and do so many things, something;anything, with the rest of my life. I wanted so badly to know this man who selflessly took care of me and made me feel safe again.

“Shh, you’re not dying. You’re not gonna die. You’re okay, Baby Girl. This is normal for day three.”

I closed my eyes…what had happened to days one and two?

5

Marlin…

“What’s your name?” she asked softly and I reached back and pushed her hair off her face so I could see her better.

“My name?” I asked, surprised, “Didn’t I ever tell you?” I immediately internally chastised myself for the casual touching. It was tough to remember not to do it when all I wanted to do was comfort her.

“If you did, I don’t remember…” She looked up at me, huddled small and in on herself. She’d tucked herself into the corner of the large, triangular bath, next to the wall closest to the outside edge. I was sitting on the outside, back against the side of the step and short tiled wall leading up into the large bath that was big enough for three. I twisted so I could see her. My fatigued body didn’t like the position so I adjusted so I was sitting alongside the tub, leaning against it. I propped my chin in my hand and kept my eyes on her face.

“Boys call me Marlin,” I said finally when she kept staring, waiting for an answer. She frowned slightly.

“Like the fish?” she asked and I smiled. She was finally lucid again. Looked like Faith had pulled through and was one with the rest of the world, for the most part.

“Yeah, exactly like the fish. It’s what I do. I run a sport fishing operation with my other brother, caught one of the biggest Marlin’s on record about six years back. When I patched into the club, it stuck, been Marlin ever since.”

“Club?” she asked hollowly.

“Yeah, the motorcycle club. Your sister, Hope, she’s with our president, Cutter. We all came to get you.”

“I know, Hope was there…” she scrubbed her face with her hands, “And another man, I remember him yelling and then there was you. You picked me up and then I was back in the van they took me in, and everything was awful and confusing…”

Her terror back in the van when we’d got her out of there made some sense now. Being all fucked up on the opiates, she’d probably had a flashback. Past and present melding into one awful big tangle of line that was so snarled there wasn’t nothing for it but to cut it and start fresh. I sighed inwardly. Nothing could be done except explaining things some so they made sense for her now. Couldn’t take the fear or the pain away, the unpleasant memories, but maybe giving her the tools to properly process the truth of things now, would help the raw fear of a week ago and more scab over and heal quicker.

“Think that was the drugs messin’ with your mind, Baby Girl. Can I tell you what happened? Maybe it’ll help some?” She stared me in the eye and finally nodded slowly, so I told her. About how her sister had gotten the call and how we’d gone looking. I skipped some of the gory details, leaving it at we’d found out about the house. Not how or why or what’d been done to get that information… She stared into the mound of bubbles around her, providing her the illusion of modesty as I spoke. She didn’t interrupt but I could justseeher wheels turning. She was soaking up the story like a sponge.

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