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When Brian was sure the man was gone, he ran over to the girl and knelt beside her.
"Are you all right?" he asked her for the second time that night.
"Yeah… I'm fine," she said, rubbing her ankle.
"Let's get out of here before they come back," Brian said and helped her to her feet.
"But my parents-" she argued.
"No time…" Brian choked out. "We have to get out of here." They ran down the road to a house the girl pointed out.
"We can go here," she said. "Mrs. Mason will be home." Brian followed her silently. The girl rapped on the door violently until an old woman dressed in a long pink nightgown appeared in the doorway.
"Goodness, Holly! What are you doing out and about at this hour?" the old woman asked. Brian felt his heart leap when he heard her name.
He looked at her. "You-your name's Holly?"
"Yeah, why?" she asked.
"Umm, nothing," he said. After explaining their situation to Mrs. Mason, they called the police. While they waited to get further information, they sat down to have a drink.
"Now why was it that you made a big deal over my name?" she asked.
"It was-it was nothing," he stammered.
"Uhh… wait a second!" she screamed in realization. "Look up!" He obeyed. "Umm… this is gonna sound really stupid, but uh, is your name… Brian?" she asked.
"Oh man!" he muttered under his breath. "Yeah. That's me."
"Littrell, right?" she asked.
"Yup," he confessed. She got up from her chair at the kitchen table and hugged him. The motion startled him, but he smiled.
"I can't believe this! I know this sounds stupid, but last night I had a dream that this weird girl dressed in black told me I'd meet you today. Crazy, huh?" she said, resting her hand on her chin. She walked around the table to return to her chair.
"No-no, not really," Brian said, still amazed that he had run into Holly so fast.
"Hmmm… I don't want to bore you with questions, but I just have to ask you one thing," she said, looking at him from across the table.
"Ok… what do you want to know?" Brian asked, trying to make the best of the situation. After all, she was supposedly his soul mate, although he still didn't fully believe it. He swore right then and there that he would fight to maintain his love for Leighanne.
"Well…" she hesitated, unsure of whether or not her question was appropriate. "If you and Leighanne got married last night, why are you here now?" she asked. "I mean, isn't it a little odd to have a one-day honeymoon? I thought you were going to Nassau!"
"Yeah, we did, but uh… we got married a couple of weeks ago. We lied about the date to avoid publicity," he lied.
"Oh, I understand. So was your wedding nice?" she asked, gazing at him intently.
"Yeah, it was really nice, actually," he said, reminiscing about the event. "Lots of flowers-Leighanne loves them. It looked really pretty."
"I can imagine," Holly said. "So what brings you here?"
"Well… there's going to be a lot of attention drawn to me soon, so I figured this is a good place to sort of 'hide out' until it dies down," he said, managing what he thought was a perfectly viable excuse.
"Well no offense, but a small town isn't exactly the kind of place where you won't be noticed," Holly argued. "I can see it now-'Backstreet Boy spotted in Carlson haven,'" she read out loud from an imaginary newspaper headline.
"Carlson?" Brian asked, ignoring her comment.
"Yeah… that's the name of the town," she answered, not bothering to mock his confusion. She knew he traveled a lot, and couldn't always keep track of where he was.
"Oh… right," Brian said. They sat in silence, sipping their hot chocolate until Holly spoke.
"So is Leighanne with you?" she asked, blowing on the liquid in her mug in an attempt to cool it.
"She's in Georgia, visiting her folks. We spent a week together on our honeymoon, and we'll probably see each other again in a couple of weeks. That is, when I go back to Orlando," he said, cleverly masking his steadily growing list of lies.
"Wow! You're going to be here for 2 weeks then?" she asked, excitedly. She set down her drink and walked around the room. "This is going to be great! I've gotta tell-" she began. "Oh, wait a minute. You probably don't want me to tell, anyone, right?"
The disappointed look on her face crushed him, but he had to oblige. "It would be nice," he said. "I don't get to be left alone very often."
She stopped for a moment, then continued pacing the floor. "So where are you staying?" she asked. "I promise I won't tell anyone," she bargained.
"Well, nowhere, actually. I just got here tonight," he admitted. "It was kind of unexpected. I didn't have time to reserve anything."
"Well I don't think I'm going to get to go home tonight either," Holly said, remembering the robbery of her house that had been all but forgotten in the light of meeting Brian.
"You're welcome to stay here, if you like," Mrs. Mason said, returning to the kitchen from the guestroom she had disappeared into earlier. "I've got an extra room for you if you need it."
"Oh, thank you, Mrs. Mason!" Holly exclaimed, hugging the old woman. She let go of her and looked back at Brian. "So you really don't have a place to stay?"
"Well no, unless I can find a hotel at this time of day…" Brian trailed off, glancing at his watch. It was 2:30 am.
"Goodness, no!" the old woman said, placing her hands firmly on her hips. "I wouldn't hear of it! God knows what's out there at this hour!"
"So he can stay here too?" Holly asked, turning back to the old woman.
"Of course!" she said. "And remember Holly, you're always welcome in my home." She smiled. "By the way, you can call me Martha, if you'd like. 'Mrs. Mason' makes me sound old!" She laughed softly at her own joke. Sagging folds of skin hung from her face, and her skin had long ago turned white. Brian guessed that she was at least in her 70's, probably 80's.
"Thank you, ma'am… umm… Martha," he smiled and shook her hand; a comforting warmth emanating from it, filling Brian with hope. Both Holly and Martha sounded like genuinely kind-hearted people. Maybe being here wouldn't be so bad after all.
Welcome The Darkness