Blind Faith

“
Hold her down.”

“You take her arms and I’ll
grab
her legs.”

“Whoever lasts the longest gets to take her to the prom.”

Drunken laughter
echoed off the cave walls
.
 
She wanted to scream, to beg them to stop, but the
overpowering stench of beer and sweat clogged her nose and made her gag…

A
n icy thread of fear
shimmied up Serena’s spine.
 
It
is
not real
, she told herself.
 
Any memories she had of that night were safely locked away behind a door that would never be opened again.
 
But the nightmares came even when she was awake; unwanted, uninvited, terrifying.
 
Most of the time they faded into oblivion the moment she woke up, but this one
lingered,
hovering in the recesses of her mind
.  S
he was powerless to stop it.
 
To stop the fear that came with it.
 

Rufus nudged her leg and Serena leaned down, absently patting his head.
 
“It’s okay, boy.
 
I’m fine.”

The Golden Retriever had been a gift from her father the day after she was released from the hospital.
 
A guilt gift for not being th
ere to protect her.
She supposed giving her the dog she’d begged him for since she was six
 
was a way of alleviating a small portion
of
that guilt.
 
But her father hadn’t been the only one giving her gifts and treating her as if she was the crowned queen of England.
 
They all harbored feelings of guilt; her mother, her two brothers, even some of her friends.
 
But no one carried the burden of self-recrimination or tried harder to make up for it than her big sister, McKinley.

Vibrations from the cell phone in her pocket jerked Serena back into the present.
 
Pulling it out, she skimmed her finger along the top and pressed the button, not entirely surprised to hear the automated voice announce it was her mother calling.
 
After six months of living on her own, she’d hoped her family would back off a little and stop their incessant worrying
,
but apparently that wasn’t going to happen any time soon.
 
Drawing in a deep breath, Serena did her level best to keep the irritation from her voice when she answered.

“I hope this is important, Mom, I was just getting ready to take a shower.”
 

A white lie wouldn’t condemn her to purgatory
but
it
would
save her from listening to her mother recount all the safety precautions she should be taking.
 
Or not
, Serena thought dismally when her mother immediately launched into an all too familiar spiel.
 
She maneuvered around Rufus and dropped down onto the cushy sofa while her mother rambled on about checking the locks on the windows and remembering to set the security alarm.
 
Serena mumbled an obligatory ‘
I will’
after each set of instructions and tossed in an occasional ‘
I already have’
just to break up the monotony.
 
 

“If it makes you feel any better,” she interjected when her mother paused to take a breath, “Aunt Rose just rented out the upper half of the house to a young college student.”

“Male or female, and how young?”
 
Leslie Cross asked her daughter.

“His name is Will and he’s three years older than me…”

“A twenty-five year old man we’ve never even met before living in the same house with you?
 
I don’t like it, Serena, and I intend to talk to my sister about it the minute I hang up.”

“Mother please, I’m fine with it.
 
And you
do
know him.
 
It’s Will Duncan.
 
He used to play football with Anthony and Sawyer in high school, remember?”

“Of course I remember him.
 
But are you sure…”

“I’m sure,” Serena replied with much more conviction than she felt.
 
“Will was always very nice to me and I…I’ve talked to Anthony and Sawyer and they both said they
would
feel better knowing Will was here.
 
Besides, he knows all about me, and Rose said he was extremely agreeable about helping out if I needed it
,
so you can stop worrying.
 
I would have thought you’d be happy to know I have a big, strong man around to protect me
,
or at least to make sure all the windows are locked up tight.”

“I’d be happier if you moved back home.”

“You
do
recall that you’re the one who said I was so self-sufficient I could manage just fine on my own, right?”

“Yes, but I didn’t expect you to move out two weeks later!
 
I’m so mad at Rose for offering you one of her rental houses
,
I could spit nails
.  A
nd don’t think I’m not going to light into her as soon as the little coward stops avoiding me.”

Serena bit back a giggle.
 
“She
is
not
avoiding you, Mom.
 
We came to see you just last week and had a great chat over lunch.”

“Oh, she doesn’t have a problem seeing me as long as someone else is along or we meet in a public place because she knows I’ll hold my tongue.”

“Go easy on her, Mom, as a favor to me.
 
I know you don’t like me living here all alone but you can’t watch over me forever and I really am very grateful to Rose for letting me stay here.
 
You and I both know she could be getting twice the rent she charg
es
me, not to mention all the remodeling she had done just to accommodate me and Rufus.”

“I know,” Leslie said with a sigh of resignation.
 
“You always were Rose’s favorite niece
.  I
guess I shouldn’t be surprised she jumped on the chance to offer one of her rentals once she discovered you wanted a place of your own.”

“Now that we’ve established Rose is not to blame and that having Will move in is a good idea, I really have to go.
 
I
would
hate for him to show up and find me wearing nothing but a towel.”

She supposed
she should have been ashamed of herself for making her mother believe she was sitting here half naked when Will was due to arrive any minute but she still had several papers to grade and her students would be expecting their essay scores tomorrow.
 
If she hadn’t cut her mother off, she would have been stuck on the phone for at least another hour and she was already going to lose valuable time once Will
got h
ere.
 
Not that she intended to spend any more time with him than necessary
,
but she wanted to set down the ground rules right up front so there were no misunderstandings later.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                       
***

Serena had
finished nearly
half the essays when the doorbell rang.
 
Rufus padded to the door and waited for her
to
hit the intercom button and ask who it was before
moving
out of the way and allow
ing
her to open it.
 
He’d been trained well
,
and part of that training included protecting his owner
, but she
knew for a fact that keeping her from opening the door until she checked to see who it was first hadn’t been anything he’d learned.
 
Instinctively, he always seemed to know when a situation required caution.
 
She trusted Rufus whole heartedly
,
so when he stood at her side instead of placing himself between her and
Will
, it told Serena a lot about Will Duncan’s character.

“I wasn’t sure if I should come in the front or just start moving my things in through the back entrance,” Will told her as he stepped inside.

A nervous flutter took up residence in the pit of Serena’s stomach.
 
His voice was
much
deeper than it had been in high school, as unfamiliar to her now as a stranger’s.
 
She hadn’t realized how much of her courage in letting Will move in had been based on the memories of a young girl who used to feel all warm and melty inside when he spoke.
 
It made her wonder what else the years had changed about Will Duncan.
 
He’d been so handsome back then, with thick, dark hair and eyes that were nearly the same color.
 
He’d played center guard on the same team as her brothers and she’d fallen in love with the sport after watching Will play because his strength and athletic ability had simply mesmerized her.
 

S
erena
had a mad crush on him, as did most of the girls at school, but to Will Duncan she
had
always been Anthony and Sawyer’s kid sister so she doubted he even realized just how much she’d idolized him.
 
What she’d liked most about him was that he didn’t treat her like an inanimate object as most of her brother’s friends did.
 
He was kind and sweet and always took the time to say hi or tell her how pretty she looked.
 
It was because of her fond memories of Will that she’d let Rose talk her into letting him move in.
 
 
 

“It will probably be easier to use the front door until you have everything moved in.
 
And don’t worry about Rufus,” she added when he seemed to hesitate to come in any further.
 
“He’s already decided you’re trustworthy, otherwise you
would
be flat on your back with a hundred and thirty pound dog on your chest.”

“You’re joking, right?
 
He wouldn’t really attack me.”

Serena’s lip quirked.
 
“Would you care to make a threatening gesture and find out?"

“Uh…thanks, but if it’s all the same to you
,
I think I’ll just take your word for it.”

“Smart man.
 
Would you like me to show you around or would you rather start hauling your things in?”

“As you can see, I’m traveling light at the moment.
 
I just thought I’d drop this off and give you the heads up that I
would
be back later with all my things
.  I would
appreciate it if you showed me around now so I won’t have to disturb you later.”

“If that’s a suitcase you’re holding, you can leave it here or run it upstairs first.”

There was a long pause before Will replied.
 
“God, I’m such an idiot.
 
It’s just that you look so…
so…
”

“Normal?”
 
Serena supplied.

“Yes…no!
 
I mean, yes you look normal
,
but you don’t fit the image of…uh…what I’m try to say is no one would guess you were…”
 
He stopped and drew in a deep breath.
 
“Holy hell, I’m screwing this up big time, aren’t I?”

Serena angled a sympathetic smile in his direction.
 
“Would you like to start again?”

“I don’t know if I should,” he said miserably.

“Does it make you uncomfortable that I’m blind, Will?
 
Because this really isn’t going to work if it does.”