Save the Date (Complete)

Chapter 41

"MISS PARDINA, IT'S NICE TO SEE you walking again."

May stood frozen as she stared at the same man she remembered from three years ago. Why hadn't she just given him the picture? The man stood up from the desk he had been sitting at, and it was then May tried to move. Her leg was almost frozen from the fear and she realized too late that the door behind her had been closed, and the door handle would not turn.

"Now, where do you think you are going?" The man laughed as May moved herself against the wall. "You were always very quiet," The man said as he moved closer to May.

"Leave me alone."

The man looked thoughtful for a second and then smiled. "No, I don't think I will. I don't know what it is about you. But I haven't been able to stop thinking about you for three years." He was next to May pushing her against the wall. His hand was on her leg and ran up the length of her scar.

"Tell me, May, have you been thinking about me?" He ran his fingers through her still wet hair. "Has my face crossed your mind every time you saw your leg? I know I wasn't ever far from your mind. I saw the pictures you did of me. I know you thought of me." The man lifted his hand and caught the tears that slid down her cheeks.

"Leave me alone, please," May whispered as she felt the man's lips following the path left by her tears.

"No, no, I won't, May," the man said angrily into her ear. He wrapped his hand around her throat. "You should have given me the picture. I only wanted the picture."

"You have the picture," May whispered, desperately trying to catch the breath that the man was cutting off.

"I have six of your pictures. And after today I will have the five here that are being put up for sale. But I want more. I want you, May. I can't have a repeat of three years ago," the man said as he roughly taped her mouth shut.

He pulled May away from the wall and forced her to the table standing in the middle of the room. Throwing her down on it, he held her tight as she tried to struggle. "I'm going to have you."

May closed her eyes not wanting to see his face. She wished that Matthew would come to save her. She tried to struggle, but the man was too strong for her and easily held her to the table. She burst into more tears when she heard the sound of a blade being opened.

"Do you remember that, May? Are you remembering that night in your hotel room?"

She remembered that sound. She could never get that sound out of head. It haunted her dreams. It haunted every corner that was cloaked in darkness.

The man laughed when he heard May whimper as he ran the blade gently down her face.

"Let's see. Where did I leave off?" The man ran the knife down her body keeping the pressure slight only so that she would feel it travel the length her body. "Uh, uh, uh, May," the man scolded her as she attempted to escape. "You better stop squirming. Remember what happened the last time?"

The knife traced the scar that lay under her jeans. The slight pressure caused immense pain as the nerves tightened up in memory.

"Now, if you are a little more careful this time, you may leave this room with no injuries." The man slid the knife into the waist band of her jeans just as the door to the room flew open.

In an instant May felt the pressure of her attacker's body leave.

"May."

May opened her eyes instantly when she heard Matthew's voice. The tears came again as she saw the man on the floor, and Matthew moving over to her. She reached for the tape and pulled it off her mouth.