*****
I grimaced, moving my bag on the other shoulder. It was heavy, filled with files that I were assigned to me to guard.
A pipe had broken at the office and everyone from the staff had to take as many of the salvaged files home as they could, since they contained sensitive information and the building was not secure until the repairs had been done.
I paused, exhausted. It had been a long day, and the pipe incident had gotten us all running around, doing whatever we could to minimize the damage.
The sunset had lit the sky red and my eyes rested upon it. My mood dropped several notches as I thought about the last few months of my life.
Summer was over now. It had come and gone the same way, hopeless and blue. Spring had given me Daniel and the strength to dream of a time where I would be free of Jack, and had promised me a summer of opportunities to be happy, but Daniel had left just a few days before the first of June, taking with him all my hopes and dreams.
A heavy sigh escaped my lungs as I turned away from the beautiful sun setting over the ocean. I couldn’t bear its magic; it contrasted too much with my misery.
Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t even notice when I arrived home. I would’ve walked past the front door if I hadn’t seen Jack’s car in the driveway.
Why was he home so early?
My hand shook as I pushed the door open.
“Hey, are you home?” I asked, dropping my bag to the floor.
“Give me your phone,” Jack demanded without preamble.
“You just checked my phone last week,” I couldn’t help but remark. He had done his thing this month. What was going on?
“Do you have something to hide, kitten?”
“No,” I said and handed him my phone. He looked calm and composed, but I could see he was up to something. I began to panic and hid my shaking hands behind my back.
“Wanna know what I found out today?” he asked, pointing at me with the phone.
I didn’t reply, too busy trying to contain my fear. This wasn’t ordinary for him.
“Come here, sit down. Now!”
I obeyed, cringing.
“So, I got off early today. I go out with the boys, like any ordinary guy would. Now, you see, I’m an attractive guy so girls hit on me. There was this particular girl — what was her name? Sarah. Real cute. And funny.”
He paused to take a sip of whisky. “We get to talk, you know? I buy her a drink, two, then another one, and what do you think she tells me? Can you guess what she told me?”
I shook my head slightly later than I should have, as I was too focused on figuring out his next move.
“I’ll tell you the story. She says she used to have a neighbor, a hunky sailor or something. Do you see where I’m going with this?”
The knot in my stomach turned to ice as a suspicion started to form in my mind.
“See, this sailor guy left on a fancy mission a few months ago, but that’s not the point. Before he left, he used to see a black bimbo occasionally. You know what the funny thing was? Sarah tells me that this black bitch had a boyfriend, so she was cheating on someone with the sailor fuck. Now, I wouldn’t care about every nigger whore out there, but that’s not all there was to the story. Sarah says that she somehow got sucked into this business when the sailor — I think she has a crush on him — asked her to play a Mexican girl and answer his phone when the black bitch called. Isn’t that a funny story, kitten? Do you think she made it up?”
I stood up instinctively, knowing that Jack would kill me any second.
“Did I tell you that the black bitch was called Melissa?”
I took a step back, planning my escape route, when he launched himself towards me.
I screamed and tried to run, but he had grabbed my wrist already.
“You fucking whore,” he shouted and slapped me hard.
“Get away from me, you monster!” I cried, trying to pull my hand free.
“I will kill you, whore!”
My efforts were useless before his rage. He punched me in the stomach and kept hitting me until I was down on the floor. I managed to roll behind the couch before he could kick me in the head.
“Come here, you useless piece of shit!”
I scrambled to my feet but I was too dizzy already, and Jack almost caught up with me.
His shouting confused me even more as I looked for a way to save myself. I ran around the glass coffee table, making sure to always be on the opposite side from him at all times.
“You bitch!” We both noticed my phone on the table at the same time. “Oh, no!” With his fist, he smashed the glass just as I was reaching for the phone, and managed to grab my hand.
His fingers were bleeding and slippery, so I was able to free my wrist. The force of my effort sent me onto all fours in the shattered glass. The phone was right next to me and I took it and crawled away from Jack.
My first thought was to find a weapon to protect myself and the kitchen was closest. I ran behind the counter and grabbed a knife.
“Stop, Jack!” I cried, pointing the blade at him. He was a few feet away from me and was watching my every move.
“What are you going to do, bitch?” he smirked.
“I’m leaving now. For good. I’m leaving you and you will not be able to stop me,” I said, as I tried to dial 911.
“What did you say?” The quiet in his voice was so unusual that it made me look up from the phone.
What I saw was the scariest thing; his face was pale, sweat running down his temples. His eyes were filled with fury as a bit of saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth. He looked mad. He was mad.
Before I could even comprehend what was happening, he threw himself at me.
“You’re mine, bitch! You’ll be dead before you leave me. You’ll leave me in pieces!”
His words were mangled, unclear. I instinctively raised the knife to protect myself. When the blade touched his skin, I froze. The skin on his neck spit under the pressure and blood came out.
I hadn’t hit an artery, as the blood only ran down his neck and didn’t gush or spurt. It seemed to enrage him even more.
There was a split second of silence, then he growled. He didn’t speak like a human being. He growled like an animal.
The sound coming out of him terrified me and I dropped the knife before my feet started moving of their own accord.
I couldn’t go for the front door. Jack was in the way. So I ran into the bathroom. I locked the door behind me and cowered in the farthest corner.
“911. What is your emergency?” The operator’s voice barely made it over Jack’s growls. The door shook in its hinges as he threw himself against it.
“My boyfriend, he’s mad! He wants to kill me!” I yelled.
“Ma’am, what is your address?”
“I … can’t remember.”
“That’s alright, ma’am. Can you tell me the street you live on?”
“Newton.”
“Good.”
“Number 23. Or 49? I can’t remember, I’m sorry,” I whimpered as the bathroom door bucked and snapped under Jack’s fists.
“Don’t worry, ma’am, the police are already on the way. Stay on the line …”
“Hurry, he’s getting in! He’s breaking the door!” I cried out when a sliver of wood hit me in the leg. I watched the blood dripping from the small puncture in near disbelief.
I was dying.
There was no use. The police would get here too late. I hung up. I needed to make one last call. He needed to know that I had loved him up until my last moments.
I dialed Daniel’s number; it went straight to voicemail.
“I love you,” I said, after the beep. “I will always love you. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. I love you. I love you …” I cried.
“Bitch!” Jack growled again as the door finally started to give in. The phone slipped out of my hand, I was mesmerized by the way the wood broke off, small piece after small piece, and fell bloodied at my feet. Jack’s blood was everywhere, in his madness he didn’t care that he was hurting himself.
I didn’t know how long it had been before his fist went through the door. He grabbed at a side of the hole he had just made and ripped a big chunk of the wood right off.
I stopped breathing when I saw his face through the hole.