The motel room was dark, as Rachel lay awake. She lay watching Adam sleep peacefully, wishing she could do the same. She always had a hard time sleeping in motel rooms, especially when they were in such a beautiful place as Pensacola Beach Florida. They had gotten into town early enough to watch the sunset. It had been so beautiful, she couldn't describe it to anyone that hadn't seen it.
She looked at the clock, hoping it was almost time to wake, but it was only 3 in the morning. She rolled out of bed, careful not to wake Adam and walked over to the window. She could see the waves of the Gulf of Mexico lapping onto the sandy shore. She decided to take a closer look, wondering if the view would be any different from at home.
She walked out with a robe tide tightly around her waste, down to the water. The phosphorus glowed in the sand and in the sand that covered her feet. She walked a few yard down the beach, and realized she wasn't alone. Someone was fishing not twenty feet ahead of her.
"Rach, is that you?" Albert says over the sounds of the gulf.
"I couldn't sleep." Rachel says, as she looks into his bucket and sees a few crab and fish. "What are you going to do with these?" She asks.
"My cousin invited me and some of the other guys over for a fish fry." He says, as his line becomes taunt as he hooks another fish. "I'm supplying the fish."
"When was I supposed to do that little promo thing?" Rachel asks, backing away from a swinging fish.
"You could come tomorrow. I am sure he wouldn't mind." He says, as he throws the fish into his bucket. "There will be plenty of food. Say, have you thought about piercing that tongue of your anymore? I am sure Adam would love it if you did. " HE says, and winks at Rachel.
She starts to laugh, and grabs another pole to help him fish.
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Adam lays in bed awake as he realizes he is alone. He looks around the room, and then decides to go see if Rachel went for a walk. He knew she hated motel rooms, but this was a bad time to go for a walk. He stood on top of one of the dunes and looked out towards the Gulf. Sounds of Rachel's laughter reached him in the dark night. He looked towards where he heard her, and saw her with another person. Albert, he thought with a frown. He watched until he had had enough, and then went back to his room to await her return.
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Michelle volunteered to feed Rachel and Adams cats while both of them were gone. She drove slowly through the neighborhood, not noticing the blue Nova following not to far behind. She had no idea why she volunteered, she hated cats.
She shook the bag of cat food, hoping that the cats would come out of hiding. Rachel had just recently gotten two knew cats, and they weren't used to anyone yet. Cleo and Thomas , two Siamese cats with attitudes. She left some food on the back screened in porch and watered the plants.
The next thing on her list was grocery shopping. She couldn't live off noodles forever. She locked up, and put the key back in the hiding place. As she drove away, she never noticed the blue Nova keeping its distance.
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"Rach, I woke up last night and you were gone. Where did you go?" Adam asked Rachel, as he put on a shirt.
She laid on the bed and watched him dress." I went out on the beach, I couldn't sleep." She said, as she too got out of bed. " I have all that promo stuff to deal with today, so I probably won't see you until later. Unless, you want to go with me." Rachel says, and kisses him on the cheek. "You don't have to be at the arena until 5 right?"
"Jay and I are headed to the mall. Maybe a movie. It doesn't look like there is much else to do here." Adam says, as he brushes he hair.
"Well, we are going to be at a fish fry." She looks at her watch. "I have to meet Trish in a few minutes. I have to get going." She said, as she put on her flip flops. She stood at the door about to go out and looked back in.
"Did you forget something?" Adam asked her.
"OH, my camera!!" Rachel said laughing. She kissed him quickly and ran out the door.
"You forgot to say I Love You." Adam said as he fell onto the bed and laid down. He lie there thinking to himself. All those time it was Albert on the phone. She was out there with Albert last night. The Fish Fry is with Albert. She's beginning to spend more time with Albert than she was with her own boyfriend. His temper started to flare. He picks up a pillow and punches it, pretending it is Alberts face.
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Michelle makes it back to her house with a few bags of groceries. She enters to an odd silence. She thought the alarm would go off, she still didn't remember the code without a piece of paper. She put her bags down as she entered the house, and walked into the dining area. The dog must be asleep she thought, he hadn't come to greet her.
"Michelle?" a male voice said from near the fireplace.
"Shawn! What are you doing here?" She says, as she sees him and Fear. He has Fear by the collar, almost choking him. "Let go of my dog!"
"Hell no!" Shawn says laughing. "I told you I would come looking. You were way to easy to find. You need to thank you friend Beth for that. I am such a nosy nosy neighbor." He says smiling.
The dog started growling and trying to nip at Shawn. Shawn only swatted at it, making him angrier.
"I have company coming here any minute." She said, as she looked out the window, hoping Rich would get there with some pictures she was supposed to look at. "How did you get in? The security didn't go off??"
"You forget, I used to install this stuff. And your dog here, he was hungry." He says, as he stands up, not letting the dog go yet. " So, who do you think the dog likes more now... me, or you?"
Michelle looks around for the heaviest object she can find. If either man or dog came after her, she would have the first hit.
Shawn walks over to her and tries to kiss her. "What no kisses for your old man?" He grabs her by the hair and starts to kiss her. She bites his lip, and it starts to bleed. He slaps her hard enough to knock her to the floor. He spits blood onto her and laughs.
"What do you want??" Michelle yells at him. "You found me, now what." She throws a vase at him, but he blocks it. Fears growls grow more threatening, and yet Shawn still holds onto the collar.
Shawn kicks her in the stomach knocking the wind out of her. "You don't leave me!! No one leaves me!" He says, as he kicks her in the back, while she is in the fetal position. He lifts her to her feet by the hair, as she groans in agony.
She starts to pass out, but he slaps her awake. "You can't pass out on me now girl." He says laughing.
Fear finally breaks free of Shawn and starts to bark.
"Is that all he can do, bark?" Shawn says laughing.
Michelle stares, unable to speak, as Fear turns on Shawn and jumps on him. Shawn screams as the dog starts to maul him. Fear takes hold of Shawns neck, and the last thing Michelle hears as she passes out is a loud popping noise.
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"Where is Adam?" Andrew asks, as he pile his plate with crab and fish.
"Off with Jay.. Adam said they were going to a movie." Rachel says with a shrug. "I told him he could come."
"Are you going swimming?" Trish asks Rachel. "Andrew!! how could you be eating Fourths!!"Trish says laughing.
He just smiles at her.
Rachel decides to do work later, the pool was calling her... All work and no play, well that really just sucked she thought.
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"She gave you directions to the Fish Fry right?" Jay said as they left the mall parking lot.
"That movie sucked, the only thing good was the popcorn."Adam said, as he finished off his second bag. " Well, yeah. But I don't want to get in her way while she is working." Adam replied to Jay.
"Have you asked her yet?" Jay asked as they walked to their rental car.
"Dude, everything I start to, something comes up. I've tried like four times in the past month alone. If its not one thing, its another. Phone calls, break ups, work. You name it." Adam says, throwing his hands in the air in frustration.
"Do it tonight." Jay says, as they reach the car.
"Tonight." Adam repeats with a smile.
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Rich pulls into Michelle's driveway to see Fear standing in the doorway. Michelle must not have pulled the door to good, he thought. He was afraid of that dog, he sat in his contemplating on what to do. When he exited his car finally, Fear turned around and walked back into the house.
"Nice puppy." Rich said, as he we walked up to the house. He walks in to see Rachel passed out in a heap with a pool of blood around here. "OH MY GOD!" He screams.
Fear sits next to Michelle, as if guarding her. Then walks over to the lifeless body of Shawn. He growls at it and then sits down next to Michelle again.
Rich dials 911, hoping he made it there in time, for Michelle's sake.
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The swimming pool gets cleared out for a two out of three game of chicken. Rachel on Albert's shoulders, and Trish on Andrews shoulders. Rachel knocks Trish off the first time, and she hits the water laughing. On the third try, Rachel falls backwards and brings Albert along for the ride.
She had never had so much fun in the pool in her life. She splashed Albert, as he came towards her. She ran out of the pool, hoping to get away, but he only followed her. To Rachel's surprise, Jay and Adam come into the backyard. Adam waved at her, as Albert grabbed her by the waist and threw her back in the pool.
"Hey, jump on in! "Albert said, and then continued to do a cannonball.
Jason starts to laugh, as Adams frustration continues to mount.
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The police took no time in arriving to Michelle's house. Rich told them everything he saw upon arriving and entering the house. Fear stood next to him the entire time as if guarding him. MIchelle went to the hospital, and Shawn went to the morgue.
"How well did you know these people?" An officer asks Rich.
"I know Michelle from work. I was supposed to bring her these pictures. I was running late." He said, as he showed him the pictures in the package he had. "I think that is her exboyfriend Shawn. He was stalking her, he used to beat her."
"Looks like her dog did a number on him." The officer said, as he looked at the dog.
"It was in self defense though, look at the poor dog." Rich said, as he showed the officer some scratches around the neck.
"It looks as though Shawn was trying to ring its neck. Maybe you should take him to the vet." The officer says, as he closes his report book. "A good case of self defense is what i see here. I am sure you want to see how your friends doing. I would clean it all up later, and get to her. She didn't look too good." The officer said, and walked away.
"Great, thanks. She didn't look to good. That's just what I needed to hear." He said, as he pulled out his cell phone. HE had to call the one that made him late in the first place, Merigold.
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Rachel watches the wrestling that night from backstage through the curtains. Albert and Scotty finish their match and make their way backstage. Rachel follows them to finish off her project.
"My barbell fell out, I got thrown for a loop when Bradshaw gave me the closeline from hell." Albert said, as he played with the barbell. " I can't get it back in.. Scotty, can you help me?"
"No." Scotty says laughing.
Rachel sighs, and walks over to help him. "It looks painful." She says as she starts to work on his tongue. She hears a door open, and a loud commotion behind her. She turns to see a fuming Adam.
"What's wrong?" Rachel asks, as he turns around and storms off. "Did I do something?" She jumps off the chair she was using, and goes in search of Adam. She finds him outside on the railroad tracks.
"What's wrong?" She asks, as she touches his arm.
He jerks away from her and stares at her for a minute before saying anything. "What's wrong? Is there something I need to know about you and Albert? The phone calls, the secrets. I saw you last night with him. Out by the water, yes I did." He said, and started to kick rocks.
"You saw us talking. I told you I couldn't sleep. And if you are saying that I am cheating, you're totally wrong. Adam, I thought you knew me better!" Rachel said, as she sat on the tracks.
"You went to that fish fry today, you have been spending more time with me than him. And what was that in there a few minutes ago?? How long has all this been going on?" Adam asks through gritted teeth. "You even walked out this morning without tell me you loved me, you never leave without saying it."
"We're just friends!! Aren't we being a bit paranoid Adam??"Rachel said, starting to cry. It hurt her to think he would think she would cheat on him. "Why are you accusing me, when you have no proof of anything. "
"Its just what I see!!" Adam yelled into the air.
Jeff, Matt and Albert make their way outside and watch, keeping their distance.
Rachel stands up, and starts to walk down the tracks. "I can't take this. I am not going to sit here and get accused of something I haven't done, and will never do." She says and then runs down the track.
Adam turns away from her and walks past the three men that had been watching.
"Aren't you going after her?" Jeff asks Adam.
Adam looks at him and shakes his head.
Albert watches him walk away, and takes off after Rachel himself.
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Michelle lay in bed with a few broken ribs, a broken nose, a black eye and a broken wrist. She lay wondering what could she have done to prevent him from hurting her one more time. A tear rolled down her cheek, as Rich sat beside her.
"Beth is coming back." Rich said, noticing she was awake. "I called her, and she said she would book the first flight out."
"Is he dead?" Michelle asked hoarsely.
Rich only nodded, and Michelle gave a weak smile.
" I tried to call Rachel, but her phone was off, which is odd." Rich said, as Meri entered the room.
"Try Chris." Michelle said, as she repeated the numbers to Rich.
Michelle's medication took its course and she was out again in a few seconds.
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Rachel sat on the beach with a half a bottle of Jack Daniels. Everything started to spin, as she lay down in the sand. She started to laugh, as everything looked like it had tracers.
"Rachel?? Is that you?" Albert asked, as he came upon her.
"NO, its not me, go away." Rachel said drunkenly. She screamed, and then started to laugh. "Did you know you had a lot hair??"
"Let me take you back to the motel." Albert said to her, as he tried to lift her.
"NO.. no, i can walk." She said, as she stood up. " I wanna swim." She said, as she started to walk towards the water.
"Bad idea." He said, as he grabbed her and lifted her onto his shoulder.
"OH look, i am flying." She says, as she starts to flap her arms like a bird. She laughed and then started to cry.."OH, I am so drunk."
"Yes, and you are a bad drunk." Albert said, as he sat her on the back of his truck.
"Do you think he knows I love him?" Rachel said, as she took another swig of Jack Daniels and play with the piercing in his chin. "Dude, dude...pierce my tongue.. Just do it..do it." Rachel says, as she sticks out her tongue.
"No.." Albert says and takes the bottle of JD away from her.
"Pussy wussy. You're afraid to do it!" Rachel says laughing.
"You might regret it later." Albert said, as he pulls out his piercing kit. "I carry this everywhere."
"Regret? It's not my favorite four letter word." Rachel laughs. "Just pierce it damn it." She says and sticks out her tongue again.
"Are you sure?" He asks one last time.
"The only thing I am sure about is that I want to go home." Rachel says, trying to act sober.
"Tampa." He says.
"Cameron." Rachel replies.
With that, he pierces her tongue, and she passes out.