Scaring A Friend

Sequel of sorts to my other story, Seeking A Friend. Matt feels real fear for the first time in his life.

Matt was fairly sure he knew what fear was. Sitting on that bridge with the girl who was now his wife had made him more scared than he had even felt before. He remembered that day with clarity, the conversation between he and Marie when he explained that her best friend was about to kill herself. Matt thanked his lucky stars every day that she loved him back and that he convinced her off of that ledge.

Matt Jordan may have known what fear was, but he’d never truly felt it until today.

~*~

Holly was ecstatic, she really was. She couldn’t remember feeling this happy, not even when she’d married Matt. That day seemed to pale in comparison to this day. She drove happily along the streets until she reached their small home. Tonight she’d prepare Matt’s favorite dinner and tell him this wonderful, fantastic news.

Smiling and laughing to herself, she almost skipped up the walkway. Holly knew it was irrational to feel this way, but she couldn’t help it. The two of them had come so far since that day on the bridge. Holly had been ready to end her life then, and if it hadn’t been for those three little words, she probably would have.

Since then, Matt and Holly had gone through a lot in their life together. Marie had fallen pregnant a few months later and begged Holly to be friends again. Reluctantly she’d agreed, and that had turned out disastrous too. But all of this was in the past now.

Reality finally poked through Holly’s happy bubble as she took notice of the lock on her door. It was scratched and a bit banged up. She wasn’t nearly as cautious as she should have been, opening the door and peeking around.

It must have been her gasp that alerted the thief. He’d been busy looking through one of the drawers in the living room, where she’d entered. Debris littered the floor, along with meaningless things that had been tossed aside. Like a picture of Matt and Holly that his best friend had taken. They were kissing, neither of them noticing the camera.

Holly made to scream and went to pull out her phone, backing away. She backed into something warm and hard; another thief. The man grabbed her arms and she did scream this time. “Help!”

A gloved hand clamped down over her mouth as she struggled. Please help me, Matt, please!

~*~

It was only when Matt had seen the ambulance parked in front of his house along with the police did his worry spiral out of control. On his way home from work he’d called Holly and she hadn’t answered. Matt told himself he was being silly, that she probably had her phone on silent. But the foreign vehicles proved otherwise.

Matt accidentally slammed his door in the haste to find out what happened. A burly man in a blue uniform put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. Matt couldn’t stop glancing at the house. The front door was open and he could see people moving around. “My wife,” he said dumbly, “Where’s my wife?”

“Excuse me sir, but I’m going to have to ask you for identification.” Matt glared at the man, angry that he still didn’t know where Holly was.

“Where is my wife? Where’s Holly?” His voice was gruff from the fear inside of him. At that moment, two men wheeled a stretcher down his front steps and toward the ambulance. He recognized that blonde hair anywhere. It was an unconscious Holly on the stretcher.

All of the air left his lungs and he felt a weight drop inside of him. “Holly!” The officer tried to stop Matt, but nothing in the world could have stopped him from getting to Holly at that moment.

She was so pale and he was so afraid, so so afraid. “What happened to her? What’s wrong?” His words were jumbled in his haste to get them out.

“Sir, you need to step back. This woman needs medical attention…” One of the paramedics said a bit forcefully. Matt felt his eyes burn with tears. She has to be okay.

“She’s going to be okay, right?” That was all Matt cared about. He felt the fear pounding around in his stomach, making him twice as aware that she wasn’t moving. Please be alright, dear god, I need you to be alright.

~*~

Holly felt lost. She didn’t recognize the white walls, or the strange beeping sound or the soft patter of feet. Finally her blue-almost-purple eyes set on something familiar. “Matt!”

He looked up at her, his hazel eyes shining. Under his eyes was smudged with sleepiness and his white face made his dark hair stick out even more. “Holly!” The relief was overwhelming.

“Matt…what’s going on? Where are we?”

“We’re at the hospital…you were assaulted…” Holly took notice of the way his fists clenched. “But you’re okay now, and that’s all that matters. They needed to take some tests and then we can go home. Kyle’s cleaning it up.”

She remembered  now and she looked at her husband. Her pale and slightly shakey hand rose to caress his face. She was met with the prickly facial hair as Matt held her hand against his cheek. “Matt…I’m pregnant.”

Matt was speechless for a second. “What?”

Holly repeated what she had said and next thing she knew Matt was kissing her. “I love you, I love you, I love you…” he murmured against her soft lips. She grinned at his next words.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again.”

Author's Note

(Second story in this mini-series)
Not my best, but then again, I do have writer's block. Review please :)

Reviews

[Sophie]

I love it! Not what I was expecting when I said 'fear.' as your prompt, but I'm in a very philosophical sort of mood, and I may have ti write about fear now.
I loved it, I can't wait for part 3

[Amanda]

haha thanks. i've been experiencing fear way too much lately, so i decided to do a lighter take on fear

[Sophie]

ooh