Overneath the Path of Misinterpretation (Alvis Alendran&Malicious Lullaby)

Esther’s heart was beating rapidly. Even though she made her apology, she worried it wouldn’t be enough. It was one thing for her to do some ‘crime’ here and there. It was another for her to actually do the ‘time.’ She didn’t take the consequences so well and always usually avoided being in trouble. It scared her to do something wrong or be in trouble. Though she’d still say right now that almost doing that with James would have been anything but wrong. It would have been so right, so fair and so delicious, a part of her still resented Principal Grace for walking in on them. But no matter. As long as she didn’t get fired, that’s what mattered.

His idea of a punishment was cute and it made her smile, also putting her at ease. “I’ll try to abide by that, Sir. Thank you.” She nodded. “Enjoy your weekend.” She stepped to move passed him before he patted her shoulder. “And Sir, take it easy on him? It’s not his fault he’s been graced with good looks, a sexy accent and charm that would make any girl drop her panties for him.” With that and a slight shit-eating grin, Esther walked off and went home. She was ready to put her feet up and maybe dabble in some ice cream. Yeah, because she totally going to listen to Principal Grace. He wasn’t her dad…

Once she got home, Esther walked in and was instantly greeted by the scent of delicious Chinese take out. Esther knew Chinese take out well. It was the food she probably splurged in a lot during college, that and there was this great place a walking distance from the campus. It made her think of that. But as she walked in, she saw Mallory unpacking take out containers of food and her eyes widened. Did Mallory actually do something good for once?
“Hey.”
“Hey.” She smiled at her and pulled out two plates, handing her one. “I was craving some Chinese. And I wanted to do something nice for you. As a thanks.”
“A thanks?” Esther was skeptical of course since Mallory never did anything like this. Then it occurred to her. Mallory and Harrison.
“He got into your pants again, didn’t he?”
“Yes…and he was amazing! As always!” There was a bit of jealousy. Just because Mallory was able to get laid and Esther had been so close and she was now frustrated more than ever.
“So what does that mean for you two?”
“I don’t know. But a girl can dream and hope, right?”

Esther made grabs for the orange chicken but Mallory swiped it away without noticing and she sighed softly. “Can I have some?” She asked, watching as Mallory dumped half the contents onto her plate. She looked up at her roommate and then at the chicken.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. Of course, dear.” Handing it over, Esther took it and she started filling her plate up. Honestly, it was a bit—or a lot—annoying to have a roommate these days. Maybe it was because she didn’t speak up more than she should. Esther knew she should speak up but some things were better left unsaid. Besides, she and Mallory were really good friends. She had her golden moments more than her annoying moments. It went a long way. And that’s what Esther chose to stay focused on, not the bad.

The building didn't look too bad overall. It was in good repair, but he'd expected a little better. But he was here. And that meant Esther was onyl a little ways away. He got out of his car, adn slowly approached the building. He looked at the wall, looking for a buzzer. Seeing it, he reached for it, hand hesitating over the button, when he felt a hand on his shoulder, adn he turned, a retort on his lips until he saw that it was a police officer.
"Sir, do you live here?" he asked. Hesitating a moment was all the officer needed. "I didn't think so. What's your business here?"
"Looking up an old friend?" Came the reply.
"Is that a question or a statment?"
"Yes?"
"Get out of here, or I'll have you brought in."
"No no! I'll go!" He half scurried away from the building, getting into his car, and driving away. The officer pressed the button that had been almost pressed, and waited for a response.

Harrison sat in his chair, toying with a glass of scotch. Well, this was the end for his latest dalliance. It was just that simple. It would cost her far too much, and if he was honest with himself, Mallory just wasn't the kind of woman that he could see himself with in any kind of long term. And he'd never made any allusions to there being anything beyond what they did. Dinner now and then, and a lot of sex. He'd miss that last part. But he'd get over it. He always did. He sighed, and finished the glass. He'd call her in the morning, set up a meeting, break things off. Give her the night. Anything less would be crass. And avoiding having sex with her again. Lloyd was right that it would cause only more complications.

Thankfully, Mallory had the good decency to put on a movie, which meant any possible conversation between the two would be eliminated. Thank goodness because honestly, things just seemed…odd. She didn’t know why. Maybe it was something she got from Mallory or something Mallory got from Esther, but both girls seemed to drift away a little bit in this past week. Maybe she was reading too much into it. For now, she was going to enjoy her Chinese take out while they watched some sappy but adorable—Esther’s favorite—chick flick.

Through it, she heard the intercom buzz. “Who is that?” Mallory asked, pausing the movie.
“I’ll check.” Putting her plate down, Esther got up and went to the intercom, pressing the button to give a response. “Hello?” She released it to await the response.

The buzz answered pretty easily, and the officer sighed. At least he could get this much done.
"Miss...Martin? This is officer Mason of the NYPD. Could you please come down to speak with me a moment?" He asked. Mason wanted to make sure she was aware of things, and to make sure that nothing went wrong. He had thigns to do, and couldn't hover around this building on a just in case basis. But if he let her know about things, then perhaps she could take some steps of her own, to make sure she stayed safe. It was the best he could do right now.

"Uh..." Her eyes widened and she nodded. Was she in trouble now? She tried to think what she could be in trouble for that a police officer would be contacting her. How did they even know where she lived?
"Yeah sure, I'll be right down." She put on some slippers and then went over to Mallory. "I'll be right back."
"Where are you going? The movie isn't over yet."
"I know, but there's a police officer--"
"A police officer? What did you now?"
"If I knew I'd tell you!" Her voice raised a little bit and she just turned and walked out of the apartment. The nerve.
Shaking her head, she went downstairs and came out of the building. She saw the police officer and cleared her throat. "Hi, I'm Esther Martin."

Officer Mason waited until Esther appeared. he smiled at her, hoping to put her at a bit mroe ease.
"Miss martin, you're not in trouble, I want you to know that up front. There's been a suspicious looking man hanging around this building for a few hours. It looked like he was getting an idea of what apartment you were in. I've chased him off for now. But I felt you should be aware of this. Has anything like this happened elsewhere lately?" He asked her. He cast a quick glance around, seeing if the vcar had come back. It was nowhere to be seen.

She let out a soft breath of relief. For the life of her, she wouldn't have been able to imagine what she would be in trouble for unless Principal Grace decided not to be so lenient and reported in that she and James almost--
Her attention was back on the officer when he too told her of a suspicious man lurking around. Could it be he was the same one from earlier today that Anne told her about? "U-Um...The secretary from the school I teach at said that a strange man came looking for me. I don't think he left a name. Did this one leave a name with you?" Okay, that was weird. It couldn't be related, right?

"No, he didn't. He didn't really seem to know much. He claimed he was looking up an old firend, but said it in a way that made it sound like he was asking if that would be anough to gte me to go away. He wasn't too tall, kind of wiry. Do you have any enemies ma'am? Someone who might want to hurt you at all? If you can give me a name, I can run a check, see about finding out if it might be the same man." Officer mason inwardly cursed. If this was the same man, she had a potential stalker. And that never ended well.

Her eyes widened. An old friend? She knew only one person and she bit her lower lip hard, worrying it. Why would he want to come back? For what reason did he have? "U-Um, no, I don't think I have enemies." She thought back to Donnie but he wouldn't do anything. He seemed vengeful but it seemed pretty clear that his mother wouldn't let him do anything stupid. Besides, she hadn't seen or heard from the kid or anything about him since the case was dropped.
"There's a..." She didn't want to say it but if it was him, and she desperately hoped it wasn't, then this had to be resolved. She didn't want to see him ever again. "Chad Dougherty. He's the only one I can think of. Not an enemy. He's my ex-boyfriend."

Officer Mason nodded.
"Well ma'am, I'll look into this guy, see if it's the same one. I should be able to get back to you soon about it. Until I do, on the chance it isn't as simple as an ex-boyfriend, do you have someone to stay with? That might be able to help keep you safe?" He asked. It was one thing to not be able to stay around to protect her on the chance it wasn't as safe as he hoped. But it was quite another to leave her without any real suggestion for protection.

Really? It would be that serious? So much for being put at ease. She was anything but now. "I mean I live with my roommate, so I'm not living alone. But otherwise I don't have any other place to stay really." She shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest. "Is it that serious? I mean for all we know it isn't even him. It's probably just a homeless guy who happened to know an Esther Martin. I mean it's a pretty common name." She told him. Okay, now she was making up any kind of lie possible. But she didn't like the idea of someone possibly following her, as much as she didn't want to deal with it.

Officer Mason smiled.
"That's good. I'm not saying abandon your apartment ma'am. If you feel safe with the two of you, so much the better. I may be overreacting, but I believe in being cautious. Talk it over with your roommate, see if either of you think it's needed to have an extra body around your house. Here's my card." He handed her a small rectangle of cardboard. "If you think of anyone else who might be a potential probelm in this, then you call me and let me know. I should be able to get back to you within the next forty-eight hours. Until then...stay safe ma'am." He tipped his hat, and walked away from the building.

Oh goody, exactly what she needed. To talk this through with her roommate. Couldn’t she just pretend it wasn’t happening? It honestly probably was nothing. With a small sigh, she nodded her head slowly and smiled a thanks of gratitude. “Thank you officer.” She took his card and nodded goodbye before going back inside. Once back inside the apartment, Mallory was hovering.
“Who was that? Are you in trouble?”
“No, but apparently someone’s been looking for me.”
“What?”

Esther sat Mallory down and explained the whole enchilada to her. Unfortunately, she suggested an idea that Esther wasn’t too down with. “We don’t need to call him every time there’s a scuffle. He’s a lawyer. Not a super hero.”
“He’s a fabulous lawyer, one of the most powerful ones and I think he’d come if I made the call. We both live here Esther, not just you.” Esther almost wanted to snort and ask where her rent was but she didn’t.
“And if Chad’s following you around or some freakazoid is, then that means I’m in danger too.” Just saying his name was like uttering a sin because she never told her best friend. And if calling Harrison was a way to push Chad away further then so be it because no one would ever know, especially Esther.

Esther gave in. Mallory was right, it wasn’t just her life at stake if this turned dangerous, it was Mallory’s too. She went on to finish her dinner while Mallory grabbed her phone and she called Harrison. After all, she figured if they were screwing each other, she could contact him for stuff. For help.

The phone was ringing. Harrison sighed, and reached for it. It was mallory. Gods, he hoped this wasn't her calling for a hook up. It was just really not what needed to happen. But he couldn very well ignore her either. He answered.
"Mallory. What do I owe the pleasure?" He asked. He inwardly cursed himself. Yes, this was all such a terrific way to answer the phonecall of a woman you planned to break off...whatever it was that they had. Stellar work ther Harrison, stellar. He thought to himself. Just another day of his life.

Mallory's heart seemed to beat faster just from when he picked up the phone. That voice. She had to remember a moment why she was even calling him in the first place. Oh, that's right. Not to have sex. Right! "Hi Harrison. Um, there's a sort of a problem. You remember my friend Esther, right?" How could he not? He was responsible for getting the girl's job back. "Well um, apparently someone at school was asking about her. Not a teacher or a student. Then just now, she was talking a police officer because someone again had come there wanting to talk to her. But the officer intervened. And well, I was just wondering if you could maybe do something? Come over, or send someone over or something? She's perfectly fine in it just being the two of us but I worry about it just being the two of us." Not because they were women, because if it was Chad, then well, it was Chad.

Harrison nodded as she spoke. Business. In a way, it was all business. And he could do that.
"Done. I know someone who handles this sort of thing. I'll bring him by, introduce the two of you to him. I'll be over as soon as I can." He explained. He said a quick goodbye, and stood, dialing again. The phone only rang once.

"Baodell Securities." A gruff voice said from the other side.
"Hrothgar, my old friend." Harrison said warmly.
"Harrison! Good to hear from you! What I can I do for you?"
"I'm calling in a marker. I need one of your people for a spell."
"Can't do it. All my people are on assignment." Harrison was quiet. This...was not something he'd planned, or anticipated. No matter, he had other people he could call in. As he opened his mouth to speak, Hrothgar spoke again. "But I'm free for a few days, until one of my people can be pried loose. Will that do?" Harrison grinned. "More than enough old friend. When can you be at my place? I'll take you to where you'll be working."
"Give me an hour. And then I'll be ready to go." They disconnected. He sent mallory a text, letting her know that he'd be by in a little more than an hour.

Twenty minutes after mallory had made the call, a van pulled up to the curb. A few moment passed, and the caltter of bottles came from within.
"We doing this?" Someone asked from within. Another nodded.
"Yeah. Bitch is in there. Let's do this shit." One rplied. The van emptied out. Six young men, the oldest looking to be about twenty one, appraoched the entrance. Luck favoured them, as someone was leaving, and graciously held the door open for them. They all piled into the building. One man stopped, looking at the buzz sheet, finding the right apartment, and then waved the rest up the stairs.

They found the door, all of them quiet. The one in charge knocked loudly on it. He waited until he could hear someone on the other side, eithrer touching the doorknob, or looking through the peephole, beofre drawing back, and driving his foot into the door hard enough to send it flying open. Six young men piled in after the kick.

“Thank you so much Harrison. I promise I’ll owe you even bigger.” Which in her way was promising sex in return for this because she knew he liked it and that was the best way she knew to make it up to him. Not just anyone. But him. That’s why she wasn’t a whore.
Turning to Esther, she smiled. “He’ll help.”
She nodded her head slowly and stood. “I need a drink.” She went to the kitchen and found a bottle of wine, her favorite. Chardonnay. She opened the bottle and poured herself a big glass.
”Pour me one too?”
Esther grabbed another glass and poured the other half of the bottle into it and handed it to Mallory. Both ladies sipped their wine and Esther let out a deep sigh. After what ended up being a really rough night, a drink was needed.

Mallory’s phone buzzed and she smiled. “He’ll be here in an hour or so.” She said softly.
Esther nodded and she went to go sit down to enjoy the rest of her wine. That was short lived when she heard a knock on the door. “That was fast.” She mumbled, assuming it was Harrison as she put her glass of wine down on the coffee table to go answer. Talk about some obnoxious knocking. Before she got to the door, it swung right open and people filed in.

“Esther!” Mallory called out and Esther ran to the kitchen and grabbed her friend, standing behind a counter. She grabbed the biggest knife out of the knife block and held it out in defense. Uh oh.

The men spread out in the apartment, pushing the door closed, and setting a chair against it to keep it closed. The one in charge grinned.
"Well, lookee what we got here. We got us a miserable cunt of a teacher, and some bitch she's livin' with!" Donnie announced, spreading his arms wide. His cronies all cheered him on. Four of them carried large, heavy items, crowbars, baseball bats, and a pipe, while one fingered a long bladed knife. Donnie focused in on mallory with her own knife. "Here's how it works bitch." He said coldly, and slowly, dramatically, drew out a pistol, aiming the gun at her. "You put the knife down. Or I will make this real fucking unpleasant for you, and the cunt." he promised coldly, aiming with a bit of care. he wanted to see what she did. If she'd be smart, and listen to him. He took the time to look at her. She wasn't too bad! He'd take that as an extra little perk to this whole thing. The rest of them stepped forward, all grinning viciously, as though just asking for a reason to unleash violence.

It shocked her to see that it was Donnie behind all this. And maybe it had been him behind the other stuff too? But he seemed to angry and hateful to be able to contain it and certainly wouldn’t call her an old friend. So she knew it wasn’t Donnie. But right now, here he was and while Mallory did shockingly well to wield a knife, it would do them no good. They brought a knife to a gun fight, as made clear by what Donnie held out.

“Mallory…” She whispered. Both women would have focused on the names thrown at them but there was a bigger picture here. “Mallory lower the knife.” Esther whispered, her hand coming over her friend’s hand and forcibly lowering it until it clattered on the counter. Esther stepped forward, keeping Mallory behind her. “Why are you doing this Donnie? Are you that lame that you have to make a point of everything? I refused you, you try to screw me over, so I screwed you over and now this? You think you’re some big tough guy by bringing a bunch of armed guys with you? No, you’re a coward who wouldn’t own up to anything and frankly, I am ashamed to even know you. I wonder how your mother isn’t ashamed of having given birth to such a low life like you.”

Probably not wise to say it, especially when she felt Mallory grip her arm but Esther was kind of reaching a tipping point. This was obvious proof of that.

Donnie cocked his head, listening to Esther speak. Damn, but she had a mouth on her! He looked forward to putting it to better use. He stepped up to her, and slammed the but of his pistol into the middle of her forehead. it was a harder hit than one might expect from someone the size of Donnie. It seemed that all the talk he had about running with gangs wasn't just talk after all.
"Oh, that'll cost you. It'll cost you right good." Donnie promised, reaching sdonw, and grabbing Esther by the hair, forcibly dragging her back a few feet, before a few of his cronies stepped up, grabbing her arms, and dragging her into the middle of the room. He pointed the gun back at Mallory. "And you, come the fuck right over here." He pointed to the spot of floor in front of him.

As she was moving, he took the chance to look Mallory over closer. The dress did wonders for him. He'd never really gotten the chance to fuck a woman with a dress like that. And besides, if these two were friends, it might be a bigger round of fucking with Esther if they tortured her frined here first. When she got close, he pointed down.
"Get on your knees. Now." he ordered.

The amount of dread that filled her at the realization of what she said. Shit, probably not the right time. But it wasn’t her fault. People can’t keep expecting to push a person and not get a reaction out of her and while all week since she got her job back had been great, it still felt like she had been pushed and prodded for no apparent reason. It was taking a toll and she was teetering on the edge, about to snap.

She grunted and fell down as the hit to her forehead took her off of her feet. Mallory jumped back and was just about to kneel down beside her before Esther was being dragged away. Being hit in the head like that and then having her hair pulled? It was excruciating. And she still wasn’t in the right of mind even as people dragged her away elsewhere. She wasn’t exactly there. Just sort of out of it, really out of it, her head pounding. Her eyes were closed but she was still conscious and she was trying to push through the pounding in her head. When she did, her eyes opened to half lids and her vision was a little disoriented. What the hell?

Mallory didn’t hesitate to walk over to where he pointed but in the process, she had taken her phone out and pressed the redial button on her phone. There was a bit of a shelf in the middle island counter and she placed it there. She didn’t think he’d be up to something terrible, even if he did have a gun, but just in case. He was though and she got this with the way he looked at her. She swallowed hard under his gaze and looked away, refusing to look at him. “You’re like what? Twelve and ordering me to get down on my knees?” She had more of a backbone than Esther and she wouldn’t go willingly. “Try again, small fry.”

Donnie narrowed his eyes. Apparently thigns just weren't going his way. He looked back at some of his people, and two of them stepped close. He backhanded Mallory, hard, wrenching her head around.
"Bitches just don't fuckin' listen to what we're saying, do they?" He asked. He got a course of agreements from his people, as one latched onto each of Mallory's arms. "See, at first, I was going to make this easy on you bitch, make you just a little bit of an example, but now that you gone and just pissed me off? It's personal, and I'll be taking my time with you." He promised. he stepped forward, and accepted the knife from his friend, and placed it at the hollow of her throat. He left it there a moment, taking in the feeling he got from it. It was...powerful. He drew teh blade down, slicing through the blouse she wore, down until the blade caught on something metallic. he took the knife away, and grabbed the now severed cloth, and wrenched, tearing it, exposing the front break bra. With a grin, Donnie made sure attention was called to it, before stepped in. he needed a second to get it open, not as adept as some other men might be, but it opened wide. The man who'd formerly used the knife walked to the counter, grabbing Mallory's wine glass, and taking a drink. he noted her phone was lit up, making a call. he took the phone, and very calmly dropped it into onto the floor, and brought his heel down on it.

harrison looked at his phone. Mallory again. He moved to answer it, when the call stopped. He frowned, looking at it. That was odd. He checked the time. horthgar was going to be here soon enough. He got himself ready. He'd meet the men in the lobby, and get them going sooner.

Mallory cried out a little bit, her hand coming up to touch where she had been struck. It hurt. Man, did it hurt! Her hand, shaking held her cheek and she turned her face back and glared at him. He was such an asshole! It wasn’t even funny. Before she could say anything though, the cool metal blade of a knife touched her skin and her hand dropped to her side, sort of. Not really. More like suspended in the air, both of her hands were. There was a sharp something that could easily end her life on her skin. That was a lot more threatening than a gun being pointed at her, for obvious reasons.

She breathed faster, nervous, scared, as he ripped open her blouse, her bra and then she heard the telltale tear of her dress. She looked down and there it was. Sure, her blouse was ripped and not fixable, same with her bra but her dress had a single tear where one strap was ripped and she narrowed her eyes. “You asshole! This was my favorite dress!” Of all things.

But then again, she was pretty confident about her body. Anyone could look, just not touch. But he ripped her dress. Now it was personal!

Donnie laughed as Mallory shouted about her dress of all things! Man, this bich had her priorities in a knot! He nodded to the man coming up behind her, who snaked an arm around her neck, pulling her back, making her have to arch her back to keep on her feet. With enough pressure, he could start to choke her, but he made sure to keep it just short of that. Donnie walked over to Esther, adn leaned down, lightly slapping the side of her face to bring her attention around to him.
"Hey bitch! Earth to Miss Martin! You should know! I'm going to go back over there, and I'm going to fuck your friend there bloody! And then I'm going to come back over here for you! How's that grab you?" He cocked his head as he fnished, and then walked back to Mallory. He brought his hand up, tagging the hem of her skirt, riding it all up, until his hand came into contact with...her bare sex.
"Well fuck me, this bitch didn't even think panties were something to wear!" He crowed. He heard hoots of approval from teh rest of his guys as he aggressively rubbed her sex. "Guess she wants it, eh guys?"

Hrothgar stepped to teh curb, and saw harrison emerging from the building.
"Didn't expect you to meet me down here." He observed. Hrothgar was monster of a man, seven and half feet tall, and nearly six across at the shoulders. Nearly four hundred pounds of muscle mass made him a massive person, and it had been little wonder he'd started into private security. He kept his hair short, and, and his blue eyes took in everything infront of him. His face looked...rough. he'd been in more fights than he could count, and he wore the scars and signs of that life choice like a badge of honour. He'd never been handsome, and time had not improved him, but he was a good man, who knew his job extremely well.
"I'm a little concerned something is going on. Come on, the car is ovre here." Harrison admitted, leadnig the man to the towncar. Hrothgar managed to cram himself into it, and harriosn dropped in. He looked to the driver, and handed him the address. "Step on it. I'll take care of any fines incurred." The driver didn't argue, adn they were off.

He was laughing about ruining her dress! What an outrage! But then it crossed her mind that they didn’t care and for a moment she felt a fool to think that they would. That they’d have mercy on her dress and by extension, her. Nope, they did and soon she was in a chokehold. Not too strong but enough to make her grab onto the arm around her neck and therefore no longer providing much resistance.

Esther groaned and she blinked her eyes, looking at him but there multiple of him or so it felt like that from where she was looking “Donnie s-stop…” She said with as much force as she could but failing miserably. Her eyes fluttered closed. It felt better to keep her eyes closed since she couldn’t push past the pounding in her head. “Please.” She murmured, not realizing he had already walked away by then. Some pain she could handle. But when it was nagging, annoying and constantly there, it was hard to ignore.

Dread. Absolute dread. Why hadn’t she gone to put on some panties at least. Because then she wouldn’t be facing this embarrassment. Her eyes squeezed shut and her body squirmed. No, she didn’t like it like this one bit. Not at all. “Stop!” Mallory screamed, kicking, thrashing and trying to make him give up or stop or get so annoyed he’d just stop for a moment. No, this went bad real quick. And her strength diminished. Six against two. So not fair.