November Rain

“Get up.” He shouts in the living room of our small apartment as I attempt to lift my body off the blood-stained carpet. “You want to act like a whore then I’m going to treat you like one.” His weight crashes down on my body before I make my feeble attempt; my airway begins to feel constricted as his hands wrap around my throat.

“Please don’t do this.” I gasp for breath, pleading for my life. He ignores my pleas and instead a sinister smile paints onto his face before the grey in his eyes turn to black, lust has taken him over. I’ve seen that look before. It has never led to anything good.

“You’ve been a bad girl Sophie.” He rakes his eyes over my body, releasing his grasp on my throat and instead reaching down to the button of my jeans. “I think I need to teach you a lesson.”

His uses his hand to undo the button and zipper on my jeans, he breathes out a moan, turning my stomach completely. I take the moment free during his building ecstasy to claw at his face, knowing that I have to do something.

“Leave me alone!” I scream, while the tears fall from my eyes; my emotion doesn’t stop him, it never has. He takes his bloodied, bruised knuckles and connects them with the side of my face for the third time tonight.

“You think you can leave me after everything I’ve given you? You ungrateful bitch!” He shouts, spit rains onto my face as he speaks. And then he just laughs, a cold and humorless chuckle. “No, no no. It’s time for you to give something to me.”

His calloused, bloodied hands tore my button up from my body, exposing my bra covered breasts, moving downwards; his touch brings the desire to burn every inch of me. I feel the pull of my jeans as I wiggle around, just wanting him to focus his attention elsewhere.

“I’ll stay!” I cry out, hoping my lie will make him pause just enough to gather the right back. “I won’t run anymore; I swear just don’t this please!”

My cries are ignored. My jeans are ripped off my legs leaving me completely exposed. There’s nothing to stop him this time. Who am I kidding? There was never anything to stop him. I look away from his mouth on my skin and see the door, though quite a distance away, is reachable. I can’t wait for my opportunity to come. I’ve run out of options; with his body hovering above mine I take my knee, jabbing it into his groin, giving myself the chance to run to the door. My body is weak, but my desire to get away pushes me to the door, unlocking the door with one hand and ready to turn the handle with the other.

Door wide open, my freedom is just beyond the threshold but his grip on my hair yanks me backwards into the apartment. My body hits the wall with a brunt force, kicking the air out of my lungs. The door slams with his force as he saunters my way; I know he’s going to kill me. There’s no other option for him now that he knows I’ll continue my attempts to leave him.

I look to him from my view on the floor, the shining silver blade in his hands and I know I was right. He reaches down, gripping my hair in his hands --so hard it was like all my hair would just rip off in an instant—pulling my body up to his as he presses the knife to my throat. His eyes burn with rage, though tears remain unshed in the deep grey as he readies himself to kill me. I close my eyes, ready for what he may do to me, until I hear it.

My saving grace, the wood splitting crash of a baseball bat against his head.

“Sophie!” Lily calls out to me as I fall to my knees in relief while his body lies still. Blood stains his blonde hair. “We need to go.”

She tears a blanket from the back of the sofa and wraps it around my exposed skin, then gestures to the bags with urgency. I waste no time in following her out the door, fearing that he could wake up at any moment and what could happen to us when he does. Reaching Lily’s SUV, she tosses the bags into the back seat, snatching the rest from my hands as I stand unmoving.

“Soph, we have to get moving,” She tells me while I nod to her before settling in the passenger seat. The sound of the door closing doesn’t set me off, it’s the silent start of the ignition, the start of my freedom from four years of being held prisoner.

I allow myself to completely break down, sobbing with no restraint despite my body being so worn down.

“It’s over now,” She cries with me, squeezing my hand, transferring all her strength to me. “You’re going to be okay.”