Broken Pieces

28

28

     Stop! Please! Don’t come any closer! Haven’t you done enough? He made his way toward me again, the evil grin spreading across his face with each step. Each dreaded step brought me closer to the agony that came with his touch.

     “I’m coming for you, Sammy,” he hissed through his teeth.

     I tried to crawl away, but the rough bottom of his golf shoes pinned my right arm to the floor. I fought back the scream that rose in my throat, knowing that it would only bring him more pleasure. The pressure on my arm increased with each second that ticked by, and I prayed that somehow, someway, there would be an end to this torture.

      I could feel my skin splitting underneath the spikes of his shoes. I wondered momentarily if he’d simply put on his golf shoes as another way to cause me pain, but then I remembered he had a game with a client earlier. I didn’t have much time to think, because he grabbed my other arm and yanked me from the floor, the points of his shoe scraping down my other arm.

     “You little bitch! You’re nothing more than that! And you never will be!” His rancid breath blew over my face with each whisper.

     Tears streamed down my face and I tried not to let his words get to me. They weren’t true. I knew they weren’t. But when someone who is supposed to love you and care for you screams indignant, hurtful words at you nightly… sometimes it’s hard to believe otherwise.

     Suddenly he let go of my arm and I dropped to the floor, limp like a ragdoll, unable to make my weary muscles pick my body up.

     “Stand up, bitch!” he screamed. “Get up! Now!”

     I lay on the cold floor, weak and broken, and cried. I’d lost the ability to do anything else hours ago. My throat was raw from the screams that had clawed their way out of my throat and into the dense air around me.

     He laughed darkly as he bent to where he was inches from my face. “Oh, Sam. I’m much closer than you think.”

     My eyes snapped open. I was gasping for air and sweating; Elliot was bent over me, worried and working furiously to try to get me awake. My body trembled slightly and my cheeks were wet from the tears that I was sure had fallen during my night terror, but seeing Elliot automatically calmed my nerves some.

     I found it odd that, just when I thought I might be escaping my past, it tightened its grip on my life.

     “Elliot, I’m okay,” I muttered breathlessly as I tightly squeezed my eyelids together in an attempt to dull my headache.

     “Sam…” Just noticing that I had woken up, Elliot pulled me up into his lap and held me in his arms. His heart beat quickly against his chest. I glanced up from under my eyelashes and saw the pain that filled his eyes… worry lines had formed between his eyebrows and his lips were pressed into a frown.

     “I’m okay, Elliot, really. It was worse than the last one… but… you’re here. I’m okay,” I reassured again though my head was aching tremendously. Where does he keep his pain killers, again?

     “Good… not that it was worse, but that you’re okay. Do you need anything?” He still seemed somewhat hesitant, but his eyes relaxed slightly.

     “Actually, some aspirin would be great.” I smiled shyly and shrugged my shoulders. “My head hurts.”

     “Sure, darling. I’ll be right back.” He kissed my forehead and eagerly stood from the bed. That was one of my favorite things about Elliot: how caring he was. Then again, I could go on forever about things that were amazing about him.

     Elliot came back in the room with a tumbler in one hand and a wine glass in the other. He handed me the glass of water first and dropped two pills in my hand. I took them graciously and then looked at him in confusion.

     “What’s the wine for?” He handed it to me once I had gotten the pills down and placed the water on the nightstand.

     “It’ll help you relax.” His fingers gently grazed over my cheek and he leaned down to kiss my forehead. “It’s only one, so I want you to be able to go back to sleep.”

     “Thank you,” I said as he sat next to me leaning up against the wall. I moved to settle under his arm and sighed contently before I took a sip of wine.

     “You know…” He already seemed to be completely calm again, obviously relieved that my reaction wasn’t as severe as it had been a few weeks ago after the first night terror he’d seen me experience. “Even when you’re upset, when you’re crying… you’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” I could feel him smile against the back of my head before he pressed his lips into my hair.

     I blushed and took another sip of wine, slightly embarrassed at the compliment. I wasn’t entirely sure what to say; I’d never really been given many compliments before Elliot. If anybody ever said anything like that to me I would run away and hide. I was a coward. I was afraid of what my past would do to the people I got close to, but I didn’t have to worry about that with Elliot. He saw the ugliest side of me and didn’t turn away. He wasn’t running, so I wasn’t either.

     “Elliot-”

     “Don’t you dare argue with me, Reynolds,” he chuckled lightly. “You’re stunning.”

     My headache was easing up and I was beginning to relax. Instead of making a fool out of myself by saying something that I’m sure would be completely stupid, I turned and kissed Elliot on the cheek. I finished off my wine and reached across him to put it down on the night stand.

     “You’re the sweetest person I’ve ever met…” I said breaking the silence that had settled between us.

     He slid down the wall until he was lying down again and I followed, eagerly accepting his outstretched arm to lie on.

      “It’s not hard to be nice to you. You make everything so… simple. You’re sweet to me, which makes me want to be the same to you,” he whispered into the top of my head once I’d gotten comfortable with my head on his chest.

     I blushed deeper and fell silent again for a few moments. “Being in a relationship isn’t as scary as I thought it would be,” I admitted.

     Elliot laughed softly and combed his fingers through my hair. “You thought it would be scary?” I didn’t have to look to know that he was smirking at me and that his eyes were full of amusement.

     “Well, what else was I supposed to expect? After all, I-”

     “I thought it was going to be scary, too…”

     I waited for him to continue, but he was silent for so long that I was afraid he’d fallen asleep. I looked up at him, careful not to move too quickly and wake him, and saw him staring up at the ceiling.

     “Really?”

     “I did… until I met you. Then it all just clicked. Everything fell into place and it wasn’t scary anymore. I just knew that I wanted to make you mine, and I wasn’t going to stop until you were.”

     I smiled softly against his warm skin and snuggled closer to his side. “I was still scared when I met you,” I admitted honestly.

     “Oh?”

     “Yeah, but for a totally different reason. I’d always thought it would be scary because I was afraid that any relationship I had would turn out to be like the one I had with my father… I always wanted to turn and run the other way because of it. But I didn’t want to run from you, and that scared me. I was scared to… I was scared that I was going to fall in love with you. But I’m so glad that I did.” Tiredness slowly made its way through my body and eventually caused my eyelids to droop.

     “Me too, darling.”