The Mad House

Maneater

"Seriously, just talk to me." He stepped forward and grabbed her arm. She quickly snatched it away."

"Motherfucker, don't touch me. Get your shit and GET OUT!" Tears of frustration grew in Melissa's eyes, matured on her cheeks, and died on her jaw. All she wanted was the same peace she had before she met Samael. Arguing, screaming, and negativity as a whole were things she protected herself from before she met him. But over the last six months, those very things became the norm and she was tired of it, tired of him. He had to go.

Unable to figure out what to do other than call the police, which as a black woman she was not prepared to do no matter how famous or successful she was, she retreated to her sanctuary on her patio, leaving Samael standing in the living room. However, he did not stand there and allow her to have space for very long. Like an apparition she couldn't get rid of, he appeared on the patio shortly after she laid out on the daybed. She stared at the stars in the night sky, ignoring him until he sat down within inches of her.

"Why won't you leave? I don't want you here. I don't want you in my life. I don't want to draw attention to myself by calling the police. I also just don't want to deal with police at all. I just want you to go away and stay there."

"I love you Melissa."

"Love? What do you know about love? You've used me, betrayed me, turned your family against me, lied to me, lied on me, and given me the bare minimum for months. That's love to you?"

"Melissa, I will change. I will be better."

"I hope you do change and you become better...for the next woman. I want nothing to do with you anymore Samael. We are done. It's over for good." Melissa continued to stare up at the stars. Samael hung his head.

"I won't leave until you talk to me, until we fix this." Melissa stayed silent and still as Samael stared at her. He stared for a long time before he turned around and put his face in his hands. She was really done this time and he knew it.

Without warning, his hands that just recently held his face, were wrapped around Melissa's neck. She squirmed and slapped his arms, but he did not move. His grip was deadly. Fortunately, Melissa regularly trained with a local boxer and had seen the movie Enough so many times, she could recite all the lines word for word. So while struggling for air and energy, she twisted her body to the side. Then she elbowed his inner elbow to bring him closer and slightly loosen his grip. Like a chain reaction, she kneed him in the abdomen as hard as she could the second after she elbowed him. He let go of her neck, let out a shriek, and descended from the couch to the rug like a bird that was shot out of the sky. Melissa, now standing over him, gave him a hard kick in the stomach, causing him to cough up blood, grab his stomach, and curl into the fetal position near her feet. She stepped back.

"You barge into my home, refuse to leave, refuse to accept our relationship is over, and then revert to your fuckboy ways and attack me? I should fucking kill you." The excruciating pain Samael was in caused him to remain silent. Melissa stared at him for a few seconds, disgusted. She then walked away towards the master bathroom on the other side of her bedroom.

"Alexa, turn on the lights," she commanded. The bathroom immediately lit up to reveal a clawfoot tub, sit down rainfall shower, and mirrors covering all the walls. She looked at herself in the mirror above the marble trough sink, specifically eying the bruises where Samael held her neck. Her cocoa brown skin did not bruise easily, but it was black where his hands attempted to cut off her air flow. "I'm going to fix that motherfucker," she whispered to herself as she opened the medicine cabinet. Her eyes scanned the shelving in the medicine cabinet until they landed on the sedative that was strategically placed behind a large bottle of sleeping pills. "There you are," she proclaimed as she reached for the bottle. She put the bottle in the pocket of the black silk robe she had been wearing that evening, opened the bottom drawer under the sink, and retrieved a syringe before she walked back onto the patio.