Simon's head snapped quickly to see Mark at the other end of the door, knocking impatiently for Sarah to open the door. He looked back at his friend and nodded to her, standing up quickly and walking through the house to the back door. He knew her house like his own, and he could probably navigate through the house blindfolded if he wanted to. He stopped just as he reached the back door and opened it quickly. He stepped outside and close the door only partially, just so that he could still get in if needed or so that he could still be able to hear them if they talked loud enough. His eyes peaked through the small crack in the door frame as he stood and waited for their conversation to end

((Smino omg.))
Sarah tentatively opened the door, and Mark strode in with an annoyed expression on his face. "Care to explain why you were all over fucking Simon?" She winced at his cursing, voice quiet as she shrunk back slightly. She was starting to cry again. "M-my sister died." He scoffed, pushing her against the wall. "Oh, bullshit. You're fucking lying to me." She was shocked into silence for a moment, before she managed to choke out a response. "I'm n-not lying! She was in a ca-car crash-sh." Water dripped dripped down her face in the form of tears yet again, and she let out a small gasp as he slapped her. "I don't fucking care what happened to your sister, you worthless fuck. You need to stay the fuck away from him." She shrunk against the wall, holding her cheek and nodding. "Okay, okay, okay, I'm sorry, I love you." He sneered, slapping her again with enough force to knock her to the ground. "Fucking right you're sorry."

So this was why Sarah didn't want Mark over. He could hear his voice and repetitive cursing, as well as the slap that echoed throughout the house. Why was she still with him? Maybe it was because she wasn't strong enough to stay away from him. Simon wanted to jump in there and beat Mark to a pulp, but Simon couldn't do that. He wasn't strong in any sense of the word. Fast he might be, but it wouldn't help in this. Rage and hate filled up Simon as he listened, and he wanted to hurt him so badly, but he just couldn't. It he were to act, then Sarah might get treated even worse that she is now, so he did his best to stay calm. Slowly and quietly, Simon snuck around to the frond of the house and made sure to stay away from windows. He undid the zipper on his jacket and took it off. He was currently waiting at the front door for Mark to walk out, so that he could strangle the man for what he did to Sara.

Sarah saw Simon move from the back door out of the corner of her eye, and hoped he was leaving. She didn't want him getting hurt. She looked up at him, speaking softly with pain in her voice. "I don't love you. I will never love you. Just like you've never loved me. I don't even want to be with you! I want to be with him! I love Simon, not you!" Mark made a low growling noise, clutching her by the throat and pushing her against the wall. "Say that again, you fucking slut." She made a noise of distress, clutching her throat and trying to push him off. He continued to grip her neck until she started sliding down the wall, at which point he let her fall to the floor while she gasped and wheezed.

Mark laughed sourly, kicking Sarah in the stomach so that she doubled over, clutching it. He rolled his eyes, opening the door and starting to walk out. "You're so fucking lucky I didn't kill you, you whiny little bitch. You'll love me, and never see him again. You'd honestly be better off joining your sister."

Simon's eyes widened as Sarah stated that she loved him instead of Mark. He wasn't sure if she had meant for him to hear it or not, but she had said it, and it sounded like she meant it. He was snapped out of his thoughts by the noise that Sarah made before he clutched her neck and made her fight for air. He saw that Mark was finally leaving the house, and smirked at the opportunity that he wouldn't miss. Quickly, Simon grabbed the ends of his jacket and swung them over Mark's head, pulling the jacket back as soon as the jacket reached past his chin. He pulled on the jacket tightly and dug a knee into his back as he strangled the man with his jacket. "You piece to SHIT!" Simon yelled at Mark. "You aren't going to her her any more and I'm going to make sure of it!" He pulled tighter on the jacket and dug his knee further into his back. After a moment or two, Simon finally let up on the jacket and allowed for him to breathe, but only barely. "Leave her, or I'll make sure that you'll end up in hell." His voice was dripping venom as he said it. He hated Mark so much for what he had done to Sarah, and knew that he would be the one to protect her.

Sarah gasped when she saw Simon choking Mark, and she fought to get up. In the back of her mind, a nagging thought said that he must have heard her declare her love for him but she pushed it to the back of her mind. Bigger battles, Sarah. She finally got up, leaning heavily on the doorway and wrapping one of her hands over Simon's. She shook her head, voice raspy. "Don't k-kill him. You can't h-help me in jail."

Mark struggled out of Simon's grasp, panting and cursing. "Fuck, you're both fucked up! Have her! I don't want that worthless piece of shit!" He ran off, leaving Simon and Sarah. She whimpered quietly, falling to her knees while her hands clutched her head. She let out a loud cry of agony, more mental than physical as her head bowed and her body shook violently. She started hyperventilating, and her heart pounded violently as her head swam. Too much. This was all too much.

With Sarah wrapping a hand over his and asking to let him go, Simon nodded to her slowly and let of of him fully, watching as Mark panted and cursed at the two of them. Before he could react, Sarah fell to her knees and whimpered quietly before crying out in agony. He quickly dropped down to her level and wrapped his arms around her, speaking soothing words in an attempt to calm her down even a little. He held her tightly to his body as he continued to speak softly and quietly, hoping that things would start getting better soon.

She shook, leaning into him and trying to calm herself down. Dammit, you blubbering idiot. Get a hold of yourself.
"Th-thank you. For helping me." Her voice shook, and she grabbed a hold of his hand. She gripped it tightly, closing her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she seemed relatively calmer. "I'm sorry I got you mixed up in all of this."

As Sarah seemed to have become calmer than the was, Simon loosened his grip on her and move his hand inside of hers with a small smile. She didn't need to apologize to him for anything, and he was glad that he had actually gotten involved. Now, Mark wouldn't hurt Sarah, and Simon would be able to help her a bit more without having to be wary of Mark. He shook his head softly and smiled just barely. "It's fine. I'm here to help you, no matter what. It's what a friend does." He didn't want to bring up the fact that he heard her confessing her love to him, since that would probably give her one more thing to worry about. He wouldn't speed up their relationship, and would wait until she was ready to actually say it in front of him. "You should get some rest, Sara. I'll stay out here in the living room for when you wake up. It's been pretty stressful, and I think that rest would be best."

Sarah smiled weakly, nodding and stopping when he suggested she get some rest. Fear flashed across Sarah's face, and she gripped his hand a little tighter. "I don't want to sleep alone, Simon." She hated having to ask, it embarrassed her, but she knew that if she tried to fall asleep in her room alone it wouldn't end well. "Please, could y-you lay down with me? It's fine if you don't, but I need to ask." She didn't want him to take it the wrong way, that was the last thing she wanted. She was also afraid that he had heard her say she loved him, and that this would stop him from agreeing. She doubted he felt the same way.

Simon's eyes widened a little at the question, but he managed to stay calm as she asked it. He assumed that it must have been odd for her to ask that question, but if she was willing to ask it, without trying to sleep on her own first, then he knew that he couldn't say no to her. He nodded slightly to her and smiled just barely. "Sure." Was all he said to her as he let go of her fully, but still made sure that his hand was in hers. He stood up slowly and kept his eyes on her as he did so. He loved her more than anything else in the world, and he knew that he couldn't say no to her if she needed him. He took a small step forward and lightly tugged Sarah's hand that was covering his.

Relief flowed through her body at his confirmation, and her whole body relaxed noticeably. She followed him easily, slowly climbing into bed and under the covers. When he joined her, she immediately conformed her body fit to his. She didn't want to scare him, but she was in need of human contact. She kept her hand entwined with his, breathing deeply for a moment. "Please tell me if I make you uncomfortable."

Slowly and hesitantly, Simon climbed under the covers as well, right behind her. He could feel her body conforming to his own, and it felt nice and warm to have her right there. He nodded at her slowly when she asked for him to tell her if he was uncomfortable or not. He squeezed their intertwined hands and smiled at her a little. "I'm fine. Please get some rest." He spoke quietly as he closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of external warmth as he slowly fell asleep.

She was unable to fall asleep for awhile, so she merely laid still and listened to him breath. After awhile, this lulled her to sleep. Of course, it wouldn't be peaceful. She didn't expect that.
After being in peaceful sleep for 3 hours, she had a nightmare. She was outside, walking on the side of the street and looking for her sister. She saw her, driving the car and about to crash. She tried to yell out, to stop her, but a hand clamped around her mouth. It was Mark, and he was whispering venomously. "Look at that. Look at your big sissy die. And you didn't stop her. You didn't stop her from going to the party, like your mother told you to if she tried to sneak out again. And you killed her. She's dead, and it's because of you." At this rate, Sarah was thrashing around both in her dream and in the bed. She let out a few yells, though they were unintelligible. However, she remained asleep and struggling in her dream.

Simon was in a dreamless state when he was forced out of his sleep by Sarah. She was thrashing around and let out a yell every once and a while. Their hands were still locked, and he gripped her hand tightly within hers. He tried to stay as close as he could to her without getting hurt too much from her thrashing, and attempted to calm her with soothing words, telling her to wake up and that it was only a dream. He moved a little closer to her and snaked his hand around her, continuing the calming words to help with easing the nightmare or pulling her out of it.

Sarah awoke with a start, instantly locking eyes with Simon. She was panting, and though she was unaware of it was crying again. It was a dream. He's not here. It wasn't your fault, it was just a dream. But that's the thing, half of it was real. Her sister did die, and it was basically her fault. "Simon." So much emotion, in one word. "It was about her. I was there, and Mark was there. He told me it was my fault. That I killed her. It was my fault."

Simon shook his head at her and refused to believe that it was her fault that Mariah had died. "It isn't your fault, Sarah. It was an accident, and that's all that can be said about it." He looked at her calmly and squeezed her hand. "If you don't want to sleep, we can cook something up and eat." He suggested with a light tone, hoping to lighten up the atmosphere, even a little. He could feel the emotion dripping off of her words as she spoke, and he wanted to help her calm down some more.

Sarah looked at him, before casting her eyes down. "I think we need to talk first." Her tone was serious, and a light smile graced her lips. "I'm guessing you heard me earlier, when I said I loved you." She shook her head, chuckling. "Man, that was a thing I didn't expect to come out of my mouth, especially aimed at Mark. But I'm not going to deny it. So I figured we'd just get this over with, you politely telling me that you only think of me as your friend. We can get it out of the way, and I can try to get over it." Her voice got more quiet as she went on, as well as more grim.

A look of confusion spread across his face when she had decided that they had to talk? He didn't have time to think about it when she answered his silent question. He then nodded at her for assuming that he had heard her ealier, but kept a blank face overall. He could hear her voice getting more and more quiet with each word, and he felt sad that she assumed that he didn't have feelings for her. They had been friends for years, and in that time, friendships usually become more than what people expect. He shook his head and looked at her with a calm smile. "I'm not going to 'politely tell you that I only think of you as a friend.' I love you too much to say something like that to you. For some time, I kept quiet because of the same reason, but also because you had Mark, and I didn't want to risk that relationship I thought you two had for my own enjoyment." His smile grew slightly as he continued to look at her calmly. "I love you Sarah, and I'm glad that you feel the same about me."

Sarah's eyes widened in disbelief as he spoke. At first, his words passed right through her. She then attempted to process them again, feeling her heart swell. She smiled, and she threw her arms around him with a choked noise. She pressed herself tightly to him, her smile large despite the other circumstances. "At least there's this. Everything else is bearable, as long as I have this."