Jessica
“YOU KILLED MY son. You murdered him.” I lift my hand and slap him as hard as I can over and over. He stands motionless and still in front of me. I finally stop hitting him and he laughs. His face is red and already swollen, and my hand stings.
“Is that all you have, you stupid, stupid fucking girl? I fucking love you, and what do you do? Disrespect me. You don’t deserve my love. You are nothing more than a cheap whore, running after some equally daft footballer who has more money than sense.”
He reaches out, grabbing my hair so tightly that my neck tilts back and I’m looking into his eyes. Eyes that are dark and that I no longer recognise. I continue to lash out against him because there is nothing else he can take from me.
I kick out at him.
“You bitch!” He punches me in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me, all the time still pulling at my hair. It feels as though my neck might snap at any moment. Tears roll slowly down my face.
He’s a fucking mad man.
He drags me into the middle of the floor. Where is someone when you need them? I draw in a deep breath and scream as loud as I can, hoping and praying that someone, somewhere will hear my cries for help.
He repeatedly punches me in the face. My eyes start to close and I’m fighting a battle to keep them open.
“I hate you!” I scream. “I wish you were dead because I’ll never love you. I’ll never want your hands on me.” I push my hands hard against him, trying to move him. He laughs at me, and his hands grip on, holding me tighter. I try to focus, but the room has already started spinning. My heart beats rapidly within my chest.
“These last few weeks, I’ve known exactly where you’ve been and who you’ve been with.” He sneers in my face, his alcoholic breath hot against my lips, turning my already fragile stomach. I’m going to be sick. He makes me feel sick. “Out on the town with Lee, throwing yourself at fucking Fletcher Adams. How could you fall into another man’s bed so easily?”
My gut wrenches, and I turn my head away from him. I can’t stand to look at him a minute longer.
“So, while you sit home alone, night after night, do you think Fletcher is alone? Or has he already shared his bed with some cheap slut?”
“You bastard! You don’t know a thing about Fletcher.”
He moves one hand to my throat. Tight pressure causes a burning in my chest. I gasp for some much-needed oxygen. I can’t speak. The pressure is so intense; he’s cutting off my air supply.
“So, what do you think? Is Fletcher staying faithful to you? Let’s face it, we both know the answer to that. After all, this is Fletcher Adams. And he does have form for sleeping around.”
I gather all the strength I have, push my hands against his chest, and dig my nails into him in an attempt to loosen his grip on my neck, but it doesn’t work.
“You are such a stupid girl. You can’t hurt me. But me, I can hurt you. We both know what I’m capable of. You know, I watched him that night as he played for Scotland. He scored two goals. The night you came home late.”
He releases my neck and I gasp for air. “You mean the first night you attacked me?” I scream at him.
He quickly grabs my hair and drags me towards Lee’s desk. Turning me around, he smashes my head against the desk, once, twice, three times. Each time harder than the last. Pain soars through my head and wetness drips down my face.
“Yes, that night. And I remember thinking to myself, what is it with him? What makes him so special? What does he have that makes women so fucking turned on? So, Jessica, darling, you can now answer my question. What is it about him that turns you on? What does he have that I don’t have?”
“Me. He has me. Something you won’t have again.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it.” He smashes my head again, and the pain . . . I can’t think straight. I don’t see a way out.
Darkness is looming. It’s waiting.
I try to re-focus, but all I see are his dark, wild eyes. And I’m scared. Scared because I do know what he’s capable of in his present state.
I’m dazed from all the banging, and tired. My body aches from the constant pressure. My head, my throat. Everything.
Clenching my fist, I manage to raise my arm until it connects with his jaw.
“You fucking stupid girl! But I’m up for the challenge if you want to fight me. I’ll tell you this, though. You won’t win against me,” he says, with an evil smile. He is the devil himself.
Why? Why?
Why is he like this? Why did he turn on me all those weeks ago? I need answers to the questions swirling around in my head. But I know, deep down, I’m not going to get them from him. Not today. Not when he’s like this.
He pulls me back up from the desk by my hair. I struggle against his hold and stumble, falling to the ground. He pulls me back upright, takes his free hand, and slaps me hard across my face. Pain explodes across my cheekbone. I try to cry out, but there’s nothing there. I have nothing left. No fight left in me. He hits me again and again, each time hitting a different part of my face. Fire explodes.
My body is weak, and he knows it. He releases his hold of me, and I fall to the floor in a crumpled heap as my body shuts down. There’s no air for me to breathe, and the pain that radiates through my body is crippling me.
“Oh, has poor Jess had enough?” He sneers over me; his voice is laced with venom. My vision is blurred, and all I see is his dark shadow. I don’t know who he is, but he’s nothing like the man I shared my life with. Terrifying.
“That’s a shame, because I’ve only just started having some fun.” He grabs me, pulling me back to my unsteady feet. My entire body is screaming in pain. I can still feel wetness running down my face. It has to be blood.
“Yours was once a beautiful face. It’s a pity it has come to this.” His lips are close to mine.
Fuck!
I try turning my face away, but he grasps my chin, holding me in a vice-like grip. I’m unable to move. He’s holding me above him. I can’t feel my feet on the floor. He rubs his thumb slowly along my lips. I want to be sick.
He lets go of my face, and my body falls to the ground with a thud. I stay there, unable to move. I hear his footsteps moving closer to me. I try to open my eyes, but I can’t.
“Take this.”
The force of his foot connects with my back. Then another punishing kick, this time to my stomach. I’m too weak to protect myself. I give in to the pain with each kick against my body.
Darkness pulls me under, and I welcome it. Then I don’t need to feel the pain anymore.