19

                                    

                                          
AN: Happy Friday! I hope you are enjoying 'Safe' so far! Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think of the story, and tell me anything you want to see happen! 

                          
Mariah
                          
    The sound of my phone going off woke me from my blissful sleep, and brought me into the reality of my hungover morning. As soon as I looked at my phone and saw it was Ellie calling, I answered it, whispering to not wake Heath.
                          
    "Hey, Ellie. What's up?" I ask, concerned to have her calling this early in the morning.
                          
    "Hey. I need help." her voice sounded raw and strained.
                          
    I sit up in bed, all concerns for keeping quiet drifting out of my mind, "What happened."
                          
    "Don't freak out, but I think I need stitches." 
                          
    My mouth drops open, "What happened? Did someone hurt you?"
                          
    "No," her voice cracks, "I just got really mad at myself and put my foot through a door. I don't think I can walk on it to get myself to urgent care."
                          
    "Shit, I'll be there with Heath in a few minutes. Just stay put until we get there," I direct, moving to shake Heath awake. Luckily, he isn't hard to wake up.
                          
    When he opens his eyes and sees the look on my face, his face drops in concern, "What's wrong?" he asks me.
                          
    "We gotta take Ellie to urgent care, just get ready and I'll explain on the way."
                          
    We already live a good drive away from Ellie, so the nerves were building between the two of us as we neared her apartment.
                          
    Everything felt wrong when we got there, the usually bustling area was all but silent as I pulled the jeep into a parking space. 
                          
    We both got out, rushing up the stairs to her third floor apartment. When I got to the door, I was rather unsettled to find it unlocked.
                          
    The truly unsettling thing, though, was behind the door. Ellie was laying on the floor, phone in hand, playing a game like nothing happened, but there was blood all over her floors, all over her, and all over her shattered bedroom door. 
                          
    I bring my hand to my mouth to stifle my gasp as Rex comes over to greet us.
                          
    "Hey, Dollie," Heath begins, approaching her slowly. "Can I come see what you got going there?"
                          
    "Sure," she says, looking at us briefly before looking back at her phone. 
                          
    "Go grab her something to change into, and maybe get a wet rag to try and clean her up some," Heath tells me, as he gently grabs her ankle in his hand, turning her foot to see the cuts.
                          
    I open the shattered door and walk into her room. It's rather bare, not exactly what I expected out of her. I open her dresser and pull out a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt before walking into her attached bathroom to get a rag.
                          
    When I come back into her living room, Heath has moved her to sit on the couch, and is sitting with her. 
                          
    I move to kneel in front of her, and begin wiping the blood off of her hands.
                          
    "I know," she says, looking at me, "I know I look like a crazy person."
                          
    "No," I answer back, moving to her legs, "You just need some help, that's all."
                          
    We end up helping her to get dressed. Heath and I both take notice of some nasty scars on her body, but we don't point anything out.
                          
    "Okay," Heath says, "We're going to leave Rex here, and I'm going to carry you out to the jeep.  Do you have everything you need in your backpack?"
                          
She nods, and Heath gets up and walks into her room, he comes back with a white towel that he ties around her foot.  
                          
Heath picks her up, and nods his head in the direction of her bag, so I grab it and follow him out the door, locking it behind me.
                          
I drive the Jeep while Heath sits in the backseat with her. She still seems quite withdrawn and quiet, but she is talking to us more than she was when we first got to her. It's a quick drive to urgent care.
                          
"Mariah, you stay in the car. I don't want you to get sick. I'm going to take her in and get her set up, then I'll come out here and sit with you," Heath says, opening the door and hopping out. He comes around to the other side, and scoops Ellie up once more to take her into the building.
                          
I sit alone in the Jeep for a few minutes, trying to figure out what must have happened to cause this. The party was a lot for her, but she seemed fine when she left, so I doubt it was that.
                          
The passenger door cracks open, and Heath hops in. He lets out a deep sigh as I reach over to grab his hand. "I didn't know it was that bad."
                          
I nod in agreement, "I didn't either. Something really awful happened to her, she was covered in scars."
                          
We sit together and discuss possible reasons for this issue, and debate telling the others. We eventually decide against telling anyone anything until we can talk to her and really find out what's going on.
                          
Not too long after that, Ellie emerges from the doors of urgent care on a pair of crutches. 
                          
She comes over to the car, and Heath jumps out to help her into the backseat. 
                          
As I start driving, her voice floats up to the front seat, "So we're not just letting this one slide, are we?"
                          
"Nope," Heath and I answer, simultaneously.
                          
"Do you want to talk about it now or..." She trailed off, clearly unsure.
                          
"Whenever you're ready," I answer.
                          
"Okay, well, Scotty and I had a sort-of argument last night, and I was incredibly upset with myself at how I handled the situation, so I kinda lost it and kicked the door. I didn't think it was gonna bust like that, I swear." she answered. I was a little shocked at how forthcoming she was.
                          
"So what can we do?" Heath asks, turning in his seat to look at her.
                          
"Can I just hang with you guys for the day? I can't work because of my foot, so I won't  have anything to keep my mind off of all this." She asks adding, "It's totally fine if you're busy. I get it."
                          
I feel a little bad that she feels uncertain about her status with us, "Of course, you can stay with me as long as you want. I'm hanging at Heath's for the day, editing."
                          
AN: So she called Mariah! Did anyone predict that?