I feel the sting of his fist on my face and the familiar pain of a punch shoots through my body. It wakes me up.
He aims another one at me, but this time I see it coming and I counter, catching him straight across the jaw, he stumbles back and the next one puts him flat on his butt. I can see anger start to well up in him, but anger makes men blind.
He jumps to his feet and rushes in with a predictable right hook, I step in, intercept and throw him over my hip, slamming him hard to the ground, this knocks the wind out of him, this time he won’t get up.
He coughs and holds his stomach, I can feel the rage in me welling up but Alice’s voice cuts through it “Jack, stop…” her eyes are filled with tears and she can barely hold herself up, I forget him and I run over to her.
I pick her up in my arms and I carry her through the back and down the street to my car, I have to get her home, I’ll deal with everything else later. I lay her in the back seat, shut the door and drive toward home.
***
We pull in to the garage and it seems like she fell asleep so I take her out of the back seat, lift her and carry her up the stairs to her room, she’s light so its not a bother. I can’t help but notice how during all of this she seems to still be so... perfect looking.
I lay her on the soft bed and take off her shoes then I open the windows instead of using the A.C. because it may be too cold for her. The moonlight floods in, calm and blue and a cool breeze passes. I sit at the edge of the bed and sigh. She moves in her sleep “J…Jack…” her hands touch mine.
I move mine and I place it on her forehead, I brush back her hair and she nuzzles closer to me. “You’ll be okay Alice, I promise.” She falls back in to her sleep again… I don’t think I’ve ever laid eyes on someone so beautiful before.