FIGHT OR FLIGHT

PROLOGUE

      SANTA FE: JANUARY 1997

Richard Miller arrived home still feeling raged from his earlier encounter. Patrick Simmons was still nowhere to be found.
He was drenched from head to toe but he felt like he had accomplished what he wanted. He had served the revenge  dish cold and brutal. Abigail Lancaster would remember him for years to come.

He flounced his phone on his wide bed and went into the bathroom to shower and dress warmly. He laughed for the third time remembering how her pathetic face turned fifty shades paler when her small brain registered what was about to happen.

Satisfied, he had left her in the puddle writhing in mud and dirty rain water. Putting on a clean shirt, he picked his phone and dialled Patrick.

"Where did you disappear to little chick?"

"I went home. You wanted me to witness you commiting a crime? Well, maybe I would if my mother wasn't a women's rights attorney."

"Little Mama's boy who would've told her? You just got scared little chick."

"I'd rather be that, than have my mother hate me for the rest of my life."

Richard was determined to make Patrick angry.

"Little Mama's chick. Go to bed. I can't waste my time talking to you after having the best orgasm of my life. Fucking under the rain, who knew it would be so much fun. That bitch was so hot and tight."

Patrick was literally grinding his teeth by now but knowing his friend, he didn't show it to let him win.

"Just go to bed already."

He answered not sounding interested in the topic anymore.

"Bye little chick."

He repeated and this time it hit the right spot.

"What does that make you? A rooster? No. A stupid rapist. A criminal."

Richard gasped loudly. He didn't expect such a comeback from the 'little chick', his best friend. His anger skyrocketed to boiling point and when Patrick hanged up he smashed his phone on the wall.

Adella and William Miller were just coming in from a business dinner with their newly found investors when they spotted Richard whacking his new audi with a baseball bat in full rage.
The windshield was completely shattered and it didn't seem like he was going to stop soon. Adella jumped out from the car even before William had parked the car properly.

" Rich! What happened? What's wrong baby?"

She tried stopping him by prying him off the car with no avail. Not giving up she cupped his face in her palms forcing him to stare at her.
His eyes were deep red and rimmed with tears, they were cold and filled with rage, something Adella had never seen in her son's eyes. His dark hair stood up as if he'd been pulling at it in frustration, his hands were shaking, his lips were quivering and he was trying to speak up. His chest was heaving up and down, his hands tightly holding the bat.

"What is it son? Just talk to me. Look at me. Hey, hey, HEY! Just calm down, talk to me! You know you can trust me."

William's voice interrupted them.

"Just let him whack it down. It's already beyond damage control."

"Bill! Don't you see that our son is obviously going through something?"

Adella complained as William passed by and walked towards the main entrance of their multi-billion ranch house. Sighing in disbelief, she returned her gaze on Richard who was now crying painfully.

Richard knew that at this point he had to tell his mother, maybe she was going to be able to do something to ease the guilt in him.

"Mother, I went too far. I...I did not intend to. I think I killed her. I am a murderer mother, a rapist and a murderer."

Adella gasped immediately understanding what her son was talking about. She definitely knew that Richard would have wanted to avenge for whatever the Lancaster kid had done to him.

She had not seen it as a big issue at first but when William took it seriously  and complained to the school principal she thought she should also stand on his son's side.

"Where is she now? Where did you leave her?"

"Just outside the ranch mother. I hit her really hard. I don't think she will survive the night."

"Don't worry, your father and I are here for you no matter what happens. We will stand by your side and fix it."

"Mother, Pat saw it, am scared he's going to report me to his mother or  the authorities."

"Pat won't say a word. I assure you. I will talk to him and Allegra won't find out. Even if she does I know how to fix it. She is my friend."

"Thank you mother."
Richard mumbled, hugging his mother tightly.

************************************

She was drenched from head to toe and limping, allowing herself to feel all the pain that coursed through her body, mind and heart. She knew that Richard had to pay for everything. She just didn't know how. As she reached for the door, she held her breath hoping her father would already be asleep. She wasn't lucky. He roared from the living room.

"Three hours for an apology?"

"It's okay as long as she's safe, you don't have to punish her."

Her mother's worried voice came in."

"I have to or else she will never stop. Stupid tramp."

"I am not a tramp father."

Abigail defended herself standing against the living room entrance. She turned heading to her room. She felt the sharp sting of the whip on her back even before she could explain her planned story. Her father was violent and she failed to understand why her mother put up with all the pain.

She wasn't going to tell her parents that Richard Miller had raped her and hit her mercilessly. She couldn't even accept it herself.
She had laid there on the muddy puddle shaking, unable to get up for a very long time. She felt dirty. She was dirty both literally and psychologically.

Her idea of losing her virginity was in a candle-lit room with someone she loved, not in a ditch while her perpetrator rained fists on her and groped her like a hungry hyena.
She had never seen it before and she was shocked when Richard screamed in happiness as he thrusted forcefully in her and she felt as if something was being sucked from his penis into her. Afterwards, she felt something warm trickling from his penis and some of it  poured out on her pelvis and private parts.

What she didn't realize was that Richard had just had the best orgasm of his life and had emptied his semen into her. No one had ever told her how it worked or how it felt like. It was a topic for the wedding night according to her mother and asking about it was a deadly sin.

The lights were dim because power had gone out due to the storm. Her parents couldn't see how bad she looked.

"Enough! That's enough you're going to kill her."
Abigail's mother cried for her father to stop whipping Abigail.

She wasn't feeling the pain anymore. She was so angry and hurt. When her father stopped hitting her, she quietly limped to her room and locked the door without saying a word.