by Heather Wood
“Oh yeah, I had plans to go to my family’s house in New Jersey this weekend. I still have to get a few things together, why don’t you eat something first? It’s going to be a long drive.”
“I’m actually not hungry. Thanks anyway. I’ll just sit on the couch and wait while you finish getting ready.”
“Okay,” he said and gave her a kiss on the cheek. A minute later, he handed her a mug. “Here’s some hot tea, I know you said the caffeine seemed to be helping you feel better.”
“Thanks,” she smiled and took a long sip. As she sat waiting for him, she began to regret her hasty decision to run off with him. She had been ready to breakup with him the other day. Why was she here ready to take off to upstate New York? She knew Ryan and her mother loved her, they thought taking her to the hospital was for her own good. She finished her tea and heard Peter still rustling around in his bedroom. Aimlessly, she began to walk back and forth across the living room floor.
The other day at Ryan’s apartment had been amazing. She had finally gained clarity over why their relationship had ended. The rage she had felt for him before had vanished. She couldn’t stay mad at him for having reservations over being a father. Anyway, if she wanted kids, would Peter be the smartest choice? He had showed her more than once what kind of violence he was capable of. Would she really risk the chance of him raising a hand to her child?
She stopped for a minute. And why had she grown so angry at Ryan for asking her if she’d been suffering from battered woman syndrome? In all honesty, her behavior indicated something was wrong. She not only stayed with a guy who was violent and abusive, but she lied to protect him. Her eyes rested on the black suitcases by the door. Shooting a quick glance at the bedroom, she ran over to the first bag and opened it. She wasn’t sure what she thought she’d find, but was relieved to see shoes and some clothes. She quietly zipped the bag closed and opened the next one. She noticed his socks and underwear in the second bag. However, pulling the garments aside, she let out a strangled cry. Quickly, she inventoried the items in the bag. Duct tape and rope had been concealed by the clothing. She opened the side pocket and saw multiple prescription bottles. Before she could read the labels, she heard Peter enter the room behind her. “What are you doing?”
She jumped up and ran into the kitchen. The island separated them and she dared a look at his face. He didn’t even look mad, just mildly annoyed. His sensuous mouth was pulled into a grimace. Without thinking, she reached behind her and removed the largest knife from the butcher’s block. She wielded it in front of her. “Stay away from me,” she warned.
“What are you doing?” he asked in a bored voice. “Planning to kill me?”
“I saw what’s in your bag, you fucking psycho!” Alice screamed as she swiped the air with the knife when he stepped closer.
“You’re sick, Alice. Seriously mentally ill. I don’t know what you thought you saw, but this must be some sort of paranoid episode.” His condescending tone made her burn with rage.
“Oh yeah because you would never hurt me,” she said sarcastically. “Look at my arms, Peter. Or how about I show you the mark on my head from when you threw me into a table.”
He took another step towards her and held out his hand. “Give me the God damn knife, Alice.”
“What were you planning for me up in that cabin Peter? And what’s with all the drugs? What have you been doing to me?” she cried. She took a step back as he inched forward. She looked behind her to the sliding glass door. It wasn’t likely she would be able to make a run for it and not have him catch her. Fear made her heart pound erratically and she wanted to smack herself for coming out here alone. No one even knew where she was and as far as Ryan and her mother knew Peter hadn’t seen her for a week.
“You’re no killer, Alice. You could barely hurt a fly. All those times in bed, I knew you hated it, but you just laid there and took it,” he mocked her. He walked with confidence towards her and reached out to take the knife. She lunged the knife into the side of his body. Blood quickly squirted out of his body and she saw him fall backwards. Seeing her purse on the counter, she grabbed it knowing her phone was inside and she could call for help. Without another look, she opened the glass patio doors and ran down the steps of the back deck. She lost her footing on the last few stairs and fell on her ankle hard. Although pain shot through her leg, the adrenaline of the moment kept her running as far as possible away from the house.
Chapter Twenty Eight
In a quiet clearing in the woods, Peter wrapped his arms tighter around her neck. She felt an overwhelming sorrow at her life being cut so short. She would never get to reunite with Ryan and tell her mother that she loved her. She would never fulfill her dream of having children or finding a fulfilling career. Instead, their last memories would be of her drugged up and fleeing from them. Whatever drugs Peter had probably slipped in the tea seemed to numb the pain. She felt disconnected and not a live participant in the scene of him pushing her into the ground and squeezing her throat. She looked at his beautiful face and wondered why he was doing this to her. She realized it was because she had made herself such a willing victim. The reason he picked her up at the bookstore wasn’t because he felt sorry for her, it was because she made herself such an easy target.
Alice began to struggle and was able to grip a nearby stone. She was able to claw her fingers around it and wailed it as hard as possible across the side of Peter’s face. The sound of bone crunching made her stomach tighten with nausea. Blood poured onto her face and she felt his hands loosen on her neck. After a few coughs and greedy gulps of air, she scrambled out from under his body. Peter had a hand to the side of his head and gave her a hateful look.
The sirens sounded closer and she knew if she was able to get to them, she’d be safe. She had to fight through the pain and confusion and run as fast as possible. Rising to her feet, she was about to take off when Peter grabbed her injured ankle. She fell to the floor as he dragged her towards him. He gave her a sinister look. “I wasn’t even planning to kill you, you stupid bitch. I was going to take you up to the cabin and have some more fun with you. You might not have been able to walk for a couple of weeks, but you wouldn’t have been dead.”
She tried to kick her leg free from his grasp. “You’ve been drugging me the whole time, haven’t you? My exhaustion, the confusion…I wasn’t crazy or experiencing bad side effects, you were slipping me something.” She felt horrified at all the meals and drinks he served her.
“Yeah, well when I want something nothing is going to keep me from having it. You were stupid enough not to figure it out, so who’s really to blame for the predicament you’re in?” he grunted as he struggled against her. She did feel humiliated by her stupidity. Thinking back, she realized he probably started drugging her from the beginning. Why didn’t she question the blackouts? She felt bile in the back of her throat over the memory of waking up naked in bed after they first slept together. What had he been doing to her body while she was drugged?
She couldn’t think about the past now. If she wanted to get her life back, she needed to fight him off and get away. “Alice,” he whispered with venom, his eyes burned intensely with pure hatred. “All you had to do was be a good girl and submit to me. You just would never give up Ryan. I want you to die knowing that I’ll kill him too before I leave town.”
“Like hell you will,” she screamed and began to scratch at his eyes with her fingernails. She shoved a fingernail into his head wound and pushed hard. He let out an angry wail and threw her off of him. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a hunting knife. She swallowed hard and realized he had an ace in his pocket that he had hidden.
“Alice!” the voice echoed across the clearing. It sounded far away and she knew they wouldn’t ever get to her in time. Peter might get caught, but he still would have enough time to kill her. She ran at him with her last reserve of strength. She felt the knife plunge into her. The pain was unlike anything she felt before, but she was damned
if she was going to die without taking him with her. She dug her nails into his hand and was able to slip the knife from his grip. She pounded the knife into his chest. She pulled it out of his chest and didn’t hesitate to stab him again and again. Daring a look at his face as he fell back onto the ground, she saw his eyes opened and unseeing. Knowing that he was dead, she finally was able to let go and collapsed on top of him. She was unable to respond to calls of her name and she soon lost consciousness.
Chapter Twenty Nine
It was painful to wake up. It was like trying to make her way through a dense fog that prevented her from getting to her destination. Beeps and voices sounded in the distance. She tried to find her voice, but her throat felt like sandpaper. As she came to, her body began to hurt and she wondered if it would be better if she slipped back into her dreamless sleep. “Is she waking up? Look at her.” She wanted so badly to see him-she forced her eyes to pull open. Ryan stood over her with a concerned expression on his face and adoration in his blue eyes. She blinked several times to allow her eyes to adjust to the light that flooded the room.
“Baby.” Alice tore her eyes away from Ryan’s face and moved her head in the direction of her mom’s voice. She stood next to Ryan and mirrored his anxious look. A brief survey of the room confirmed that she was in a hospital room and hooked up to all sorts of monitors and IVs. She croaked out, “I’m not dead.”
Ryan gave her a sad smile. “No, you’re not. We’re lucky we found you though when we did, you lost a lot of blood…” She looked over and saw her shoulder bandaged and her left arm immobilized. “You’ve been in and out of consciousness for two days. There’s damage to the tendons in your shoulder, but it looks like you will regain full function in it after physical therapy.”
She took this in, but desired confirmation her tormentor was indeed dead. “Peter?”
“Dead,” Ryan said and gave a solemn nod. She waited for the guilt and anguish, but felt nothing. She was about to say good, but decided it would be in bad form.
“He’ll never hurt you again,” her mother said with feeling. She began to kiss her face. Her mother’s dark hair fell onto her skin and Alice breathed in the comforting scent of her mother. “Thank god, you’re alive.”
“Am I in trouble?” she looked back and forth between them nervously. “For killing him?”
“No, of course not, honey. It was self defense. They ran a background check on him and he had a history of violence-battery and assault charges filed against him by an old girlfriend. Not to mention, the evidence they found at his house.” Ryan shot her mother a look to silence her, but Alice’s curiosity was sparked.
“What did they find?” she demanded.
“Honey, it doesn’t matter now. We know the things he did to you were horrible and we don’t want you to relive it,” her mother said soothingly.
“Mom, I have a right to know.”
“Okay,” she looked uncertainly at Ryan who turned his head away. “There was a suitcase with duct tape, ropes and different kinds of knives. A ton of drugs were found in the luggage and in the house-sedatives, tranquilizers, sleeping pills. He also had your journal and a lot of pictures of you.”
“Pictures?” she groaned.
“You were unconscious and…” Her mom’s eyes went downcast. “And not dressed in some of the photos.” She could feel Ryan’s barely controlled fury and decided she rather not know anymore. Bad enough she would have the memories of what he did to her while she was awake, she rather not be haunted over all the things he did to her unaware.
“You’re right, it’s over now and we don’t have to talk about it,” she gave her mom a shaky smile. “Mom, I love you and I’m so sorry for taking off from the hospital. I was a complete moron to ever trust him.”
“Don’t worry about it, honey. I’m just thankful you called Ryan and the police were able to track the cell phone call,” she rubbed a finger across her cheek.
“Mom, do you mind if I have a minute with Ryan?” She could still feel his anger and wanted to talk to him privately.
“Of course, honey. I’ll stop by the nurse’s station and let them know you’re awake. I’m sure the doctor will want to see you.” With another kiss, she rose and left the room. Alice watched Ryan for a minute as he gazed out of her hospital window.
“Sorry,” she said. He looked towards her and pulled up a chair close to her.
“What could you possibly have to apologize for?” He gave her an incredulous look.
“For getting mad at you when you were only worried about me. I mean obviously I need massive doses of shock therapy for ever thinking it was a healthy situation. I don’t know why I stayed with him…I think I was so depressed over losing you that I was willing to cling to anyone. I think it shocked him that I finally fought back in the end.”
“Alice, it’s my fault. You should hate me. I left you to fend for yourself against a monster. I wish I could go back and change things. I love you and I was such a fucking idiot to let you go,” he buried his head in his hands and she heard the barely contained tears.
“I love you too,” she said. “And I could never hate you. You mean too much to me.”
“Marry me?” he asked with a sheepish smile. He grabbed her hand and she heard the earnestness in his voice. “I have a ring and everything.”
“You do?” she asked surprised.
“I do.” He nodded and his blue eyes burned with intensity. He was breathtakingly handsome and even though it looked like he hadn’t slept in days, she still was captivated by his beauty.
“No.”
“No?” His disappointment was apparent and she tried not to focus on his crestfallen expression.
“How about you take me out for a date instead and we’ll take things from there.” She wouldn’t mind the date being a weeklong vacation in Tahiti, but figured they could discuss the details later.
He kissed her gently. She giggled as his scruff brushed against her skin. His tenderness made her want to smack him for ever even thinking he would make a crappy father. Although kids were no longer an immediate need, she had a vision of a couple of blue eyed brown hair boys climbing on Ryan. She had a strong feeling his skittishness over fatherhood was no longer a road block in their relationship. She was sad it took a murderous psychopath to put things in perspective for both of them.
“Sounds like a plan,” he smiled and his eyes told her he would do anything for her. It was hard not to melt when the man you loved gazed at you that way.
“But Ryan?”
“Yes?”
“Promise me, you’ll ask me again sometime.”
“Count on it.”
The End
About the Author
Heather Wood graduated from the College of New Jersey in 2005 and holds a bachelor’s degree in English. Working full-time as a freelance writer for publications such as USA Today, Livestrong.com, Outlook by the Bay and Step in Style magazine, she writes fiction novels in her spare time. She resides in Trenton, New Jersey with her husband and two sons.
Shattered Love is her debut novel.
Follow Heather on Twitter to keep posted on her upcoming works:
https://twitter.com/#!/woodtop255