It had been such a long day. My mind was so out of sorts and the stress welling in my head had gotten to an unbearable point. My house was empty, no one to talk to, no one to cry with. I needed to get away from the unholy silence in those enclosing four walls. I had to escape... The idea to take a drive and clear my head came to me so, I hopped into my car. For a few minutes all I did was sit there in the circle of houses thinking, starring out the windshield wondering if maybe I could drive myself into oblivion. A small bout of whimsical laughter escaped as I realized I probably wasn't that lucky and started the car. Slowly, I pulled out of the drive way and was about to make a left hand turn (considering going to the store to get a soda) when I heard it. I thought his fist was going to shatter the door if he hit it any harder. “OPAN THE FUCKING DOOR!” Loud yells masochistically mimicking sets of screams. “NO! JUST GO AWAY, PLEASE!” A woman’s voice cried out from the other side of the door.
I watched as the large, fairly drunk man pounded away at the front door and commanded her to open the door, threatening such unimaginably horrible things. My fingers wrapped hard around the stearing wheel in angst. The knuckles on my hands began to turn white as his ugly face contorted and twisted with his rum induced anger. I don’t know what compelled me to get out of the car, but I did and walked right up to the house ironically placed across the street from mine. With this man, at least a good few feet taller than me and probably ten times my weight, in my sight. I was determined.
“Excuse me, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” The words spilled out of my mouth uncontrollably. Oh god, what the hell did /I/ think I was doing? There was no turning back now, though, I was here and ready to spit in his fucking face. He whirled around in his drunken stupor, almost surprised to see me, and looked down his nose at me as if I were an insect beneath his feet. “MIN’ YOUR OWN FUUUUCKING BUSHNESH!” he slurred back at me, his lips spewing excess saliva in my general direction. His hand lashed out grabbing my shoulder in a tight, painful grip and attempted to throw me aside. I’m sure he would have succeeded if he wasn’t as drunk as he was. I tumbled back a little, but stayed firmly on my feet. After the useless attack he returned to frightening the woman behind the door.
“OPAN THE DER! YER MY GIIIRLFIEND AND THIS IS MY HOUSHE TOO!” The desperate crying and whimpering behind the door tore my heart into pieces. “NOT ANY MORE!” She said in between hyperventilating gasps and sobs.
I can’t really say what happened next. Wether it was his words, the fact that he had yelled and touched me, or the sound of the woman crying her soul out that set it off. The anger began swelling deep within, churning and churning, building and building until there was no room left for it to go and began to seek a way out. It was like a time bomb began to make it’s soft lullaby in my head, lulling the anger to it’s finally resting point. Tick... Tick... Tick... BOOM! It exploded just in time to watch me grab his shoulder in the fashion he had grabbed mine, turn him around, and bash my fist into his face. Blood gushed quickly from his nose and factiously drew like a fountain down his chin. It was all over my fist, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t done yet. My knee thrashed hard into his groin and quickly followed into his gut. He cried out in pain and finally stumbled to the ground. I moved into his way, blocking him from the door with my back pressed up against it, breathless with the hatred that reverberated through me like a deadly poison. His disgusting eyes looked at me and I wiped out my cell phone from my pocket, silently thanking who ever had reminded me that day to retrieve it from work.
“You get away from here right now or the cops will be on your ass faster than I can kick you in the fucking dick again!” I warned him, feverishly dialing 911, but didn’t push send. I was waiting... waiting to see what he would do. I thought he was going to charge up the drive way at me with that look on his face. The next thing he did surprised me the most. He must have completely lost it because he suddenly began to cry worse than the woman as he walked through the lawn and disappeared into his car. I waited until he drove off to put away my cell phone.
I took a deep breath and finally remembered the reason I had come over here in the first place. Her. My head was leaning against the door, her cries whispering through the crack to me. She had barricaded herself against it, I could tell by how well I could hear her through the wood. I finally knocked on the door. “He’s gone, honey. Everything is okay..” I calmly explained to her. The scuffs on hard wood floors told me that she was standing up and I backed away from the door just in time for her to open it only enough to look out. Teary gold-brown eyes peered up at me through the crack and I barely had enough time to say anything before the woman flung herself out from behind the door and wrapped her arms around my mid section. A smile pulled on the corner of my lips as I put my own arms securely around her and caressed her messy, dark brown hair with my hand.
“Thank you... Thank you so much... Thank you...” she kept on repeating, her tears soaking through my shirt. I crooned to her that everything would be alright. “I owe you so much...” The woman whispered and looked up at me. “I thought he was going to kill me...” There were bruises all over her frail body. Even a few fading cuts here and there. She was so small and weak that I couldn’t help but begin to cry. I was sure he probably would have killed her. I pulled her head to my shoulder again so she wouldn’t see the tears in my eyes.
I don’t know how long we stood there crying together, holding each other in one another’s arms, but it seemed like for ever. Finally, we didn’t have anything else left and let go. We both stared and, strangely enough, began to laugh. It was like we had both finally gone insane with the pain, but it was almost relieving. “Sorry about your shirt,” she desperately joked with a faint smile, pointing to my shoulder. I shrugged. “Who cares? I didn’t like this shirt anywa— “ She broke off the sentence with a soft kiss on my wet cheek. “You saved my life... Thank you...” she whispered in my ear. I didn’t know what to say to that and, really, she didn’t give me the chance to reply before quickly inviting me into the house. Some thing inside told me not to leave her alone here, in case he came back, and I certainly didn’t want to be here either. I returned her smile on my cracked lips and jerked my head slightly to my still running car.
“How would you like to go grab some food with me?” I offered. The woman looked at me with those sorrowful, hope lined eyes and all my inhibitions melted away. All my worries and fears just seemed to dissipate into those eyes and I suddenly knew in that moment that I would never forget them for as long as I lived. She nodded. “Yeah, just let me get some shoes on first.” |
Submission Name: "You saved my life."
