REM

Her Past

Everyone has their own story to tell and I've heard quite a few. I've dated several women over the course of my lifetime and heard numerous stories of their past while lying in bed at night when neither of us could fall asleep. Some would end up crying as they told me about what happened to them when they were younger, while others just let it eat them alive by showing no visible emotions. I've seen enough crying girlfriends to know that they are hiding the more important issues deep down inside. I can't pry those out to help them with any sort of resolve, but I can do my best to protect them from their past coming back to haunt them.

When my girlfriend told me about how her father tried to stab her to death when she was five, I was quite shocked. Never had I heard something so scary and traumatic before from a girl I was dating, nor would I wish that upon anyone. Things like that can get the better of you, especially when your mother whisks you away in the middle of the night, thinking that running from a problem will solve everything.

Now we're here, walking out of my girlfriend's apartment and towards my car when a man I've never seen before approaches us. He looks a little scruffy with long shaggy hair and calls her by name, but she hesitates. The look on her face immediately tells me everything, it's her father. Not dead, not gone, not left behind, not dealt with properly. This is what happens when people don't deal with their past, it catches up to them, or people they love.

As he stepped towards her, he pulls a knife and plunges it into her stomach. I should have seen it coming, but before he stabs her again, I'm tackling him to the ground. The knife flops to the ground next to us and without a second thought, I pick it up and stick into his throat, causing him to bleed out as I turn back to my girlfriend whose pink summer dress is now soaked red with blood. She's lying on her side holding her wound, staring straight ahead towards my car. I kneel down in front of her, hold her face in my hands and kiss her. I tell her that I love her and that I'm not going to let her die.