Chapter 1. “Boyfriend or foe”
Danyell was busy sitting at her desk typing away on her laptop when she heard rising voices coming from outside her door. Suddenly, the door flew open, and her best friend Annalyse and her stupid nerve-wracking boyfriend Josh burst into their dorm room. She was shaken to her very core, and Josh’s angry behavior toward her made it very plain that this dispute was not like any other quarrel. It was obvious that she was terrified of him, and it was also obvious that Josh had been physically abusive toward her at some point. She desperately tried to get away from him by running as fast as she could toward the door of the washroom. However, Josh, who was steaming with rage and anger, reached out like grease lightning and grabbed her by the arm, yanking her away from the door. Annalyse was caught off guard by the forceful tugging and felt as though she had been swept up in a cyclone and dropped to the floor.
She remained on the floor and curled herself up into a ball to protect herself in the event of being subjected to additional assaults. When Danyell saw how he had assaulted her friend, she became outraged and reacting on impulse, she pulled out her taser pistol from her desk drawer, ran up to him, pointed it at him, and ordered that he leave before she used it to put him down on the floor, after which she would call the dorm security. He looked at his shirt, where he saw two laser beams aimed directly at him and ready to shoot fifty thousand volts into his chest. He froze for a second in fear and gave Danyell a nasty stare-down. He tightened his grip on his fist as if he wished to punch her. He turned his head back to Annalyse and gave her an awful stare, she cringed in fear and avoided his gaze. He appeared ready to make a move, so Danyell responded by tightening her hold on him and giving him a hostile look in return. He did nothing but stand there looking dumbfounded while Danyell had her weapon readied and all set to fire. Annalyse yelled at him to leave and told him that she no longer wanted to be in a relationship with him. Josh became enraged as soon as he heard her comment, and he yelled back at her that she was not able to make that call, and that the relationship was over when he considered that they were done. Then Josh turned around and walked slowly in the direction of the exit. The girls watched as he opened the door, happy to see him leave at last. However, he did not immediately depart. Instead, he came to a halt at the threshold of the door, turned around, and looked at the two girls while increasing the intensity of the revenge that he felt toward them.
Although he was intending to leave, he gave them his word that they would run into him again in the future and that they would both end up regretting it. He predicted that both Annalyse and Danyell would regret their decision to cross him. Annalyse would regret breaking up with him and Danyell, by interfering in their relationship. Danyell yelled at him, ordering him to “GET THE HELL OUT!” because she was unable to tolerate even one more second with him. He notices the violet flowers that were kept within the vase that was elegantly placed atop a bookcase in the room that was located next to the exit door. Josh had given her the very same orchids because he knew they were her mother’s all-time favorite flower and considering her mother’s untimely suicide for whom no funeral arrangements had yet been made. Josh picked up the vase and tossed it across the room breaking it into several pieces as it hit the wall. Without hesitation, Danyell pulled the trigger and launched two bobbed-wire darts in his direction, but the wires narrowly missed him, and he quickly fled the room. She looked over at Annalyse sitting on the floor afraid, and emotionally and physically disturbed. She went over and sat with her on the floor as she sobbed and expressed her inner sorrow at how he could have treated her so cruelly at a time when she was grieving and suffering, her mother was dead, and Josh didn’t seem to care at all.
Danyell wrapped her arms around Annalyse and held her close while gently rocking her side to side, she wanted her to feel the love and warmth of her embrace. Together they both sat there and cried, as Danyell noticed a crowd of other students had gathered outside their door to see what all the drama and commotion was about, a few of those students made their way inside their dorm room asking them what happened and if everything was ok. But before anyone could answer them the campus security officers began to disburse the crowd. An officer was questioning Danyell and Annalyse about what happened when the girls heard the voices of their other best friends, Eliana and Charmaine. One of the officers wouldn’t allow Eliana or Charmaine to enter their room, so Danyell explained who they were and had to plead with the officer to please let them in but he refused while saying that so many rules had already been broken. The girls begged the officer to let them in, explaining that their friend Annalyse needed their support after losing her mother recently and that her boyfriend had just physically assaulted her.
The officer decided to let them in after hearing everything. When everything was over the officers left the room with the report, Danyell was stressed about the whole situation because she knew that the officers would turn the report in to the dean’s office. The girls had become acquainted with one another at the beginning of their first year in college and by this time they were graduating seniors, they had built a very close friendship with each other. They were all going in completely different directions regarding their professional lives. Danyell She was only a few months away from graduating and had already been accepted into medical school, so she could not afford to get into any sort of trouble at that point in her life.
Charmaine, who wants to become a nurse, Danyell, who wants to become a doctor, Eliana, who wants to become a biomedical engineer, and Annalyse, who wants to become a judge in the future but is having trouble passing the LSAT (also known as “The Law School Admission Test”).
Because Danyell was the only member of their group who resided in the same state as the college and the other girls all lived in other states, the group was particularly close to Danyell and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Keaton. Following the events of that night, they realized that they did not want to continue spending time in the dorm room, particularly if Josh was to come back.
