I watched as Gary began to make his way towards me, causing me to break into a sprint towards the door. His hands grabbed me by the hair, slamming me against the wall as my head collided hard with it. The feeling of his hands wrapping around my neck and throwing me across the dining room table was all that I had left to feel in my body. Tears streamed down my face as he continuously hit me with his fist, refusing to let me beg for mercy.
"Oh no, I'm not done with you yet!" I laid on the ground, nearly unconscious. I struggled to see what was happening before me as my eyesight kept fading out on me. He returned from wherever he had disappeared to and had come back with a knife in his hands. Is this how I'm going to die? Instead, he used the knife to cut off my clothing, leaving me bare beneath him. He covered my mouth to prevent me from screaming as he unbuttoned his pants and entered himself forcefully inside of me. I screamed in pain as I watched what every woman in this world feared. That wasn't the end of this brutal torture, for Gary had given me several painful blows to the abdomen and causing me to cough up the crimson blood from inside of my helpless body.
"Anyone who ever loved you was wrong!"
I awoke from my past haunting me in my dreams with an uncontrollable shake. A cold sweat covered my entire body as I looked at the clock next to me. '3:30, you've got to be joking!' I rubbed my face, knowing good and well that there was no returning back to sleep after that reminder. I looked over to see Michael stirring gently in his sleep, completely unaware of my disturbance. I unraveled myself from the sheets lying across my body and slipped out of the bedroom towards the living room. There wasn't much to do since everything involved sound so I decided to get some fresh air out on the balcony. The cool July night air blew through my hair, surrounding me with a sense of comfort. With everything going on with the case and Michael, I'm just a bit skittish and these dreams aren't helping. I haven't dreamt of Gary in a while and now that they're coming back up is scaring me, something doesn't seem right and it's only making it worse for me.
"You're gonna catch a cold out here." I turned to see Michael leaning against the door frame, half naked. His curls were falling in front of his face so angelically that it took a moment for me to thank God for this beautiful man before me.
"Says the one with no shirt on." I said with sarcasm biting at my words.
"What are you doing out here? Come back to bed." I shook my head gently, turning my focus back on the night sky. The twinkling of the stars catching me in a deep gaze that only made me want to escape this madness more than ever.
"What's on your mind?" I felt his warm body wrap me in his peace filled bubble.
"Nothing that I haven't dealt with before." I remorsefully responded.
"Anna we've talked about this, if you're dealing with something then you need to tell me. We can deal with this together, as a team." I turned around to face him completely.
"You can't understand this since you haven't gone through it personally. You won't understand Michael, it's just how this works." He gripped onto my shoulders, holding me at a close distance.
"Then help me understand it, Anna I want to understand what you're going through and maybe I can't but that doesn't mean that I can't support you with any of this." I couldn't stop the tears from filling my eyes for all of this became too much for me. Michael pulled me close to him, refusing to let me go knowing that I needed him the most right now in my weakest.
"Talk to me baby, just tell me what has you so upset and then we can figure out a solution together." I sniffled, trying to resolve the tears from flowing.
"I dreamed about the accident with Gary, and I haven't dreamed anything like that in a long time. Michael I-I can't do this anymore, I don't want to continue on with this any longer. If I see Gary and Whitney, who knows what will be bound to happen! Another accident? I don't want to risk anything and I'm sick and tired of the pain and suffering that we and everyone around us has to go through." I knew I wasn't making any sense, but when you're upset nothing seems to ever make any sense to anyone.
"I know how much you disagree going through with this lawsuit, but Anna I want to keep you safe. You need to relax because I'm not going to let them ever hurt you again, Gary will be put away for this and Whitney will get what she deserves. Remember when I proposed to you and everything that I told you?" I nodded my head at his words, "I told you that dark clouds may hang over us and our future but that it will be bound to bring us many rainbows. We may be stuck in the darkest of storms right now, but there is bound to be a rainbow somewhere in our despair." His fingertips grazed across my wet cheeks, causing the tears to fall delicately over his long fingers.
"What will happen if we lose the case? What will happen to us?" He sighed heavily at my words for I knew that this was something that we shouldn't be talking about.
"No matter what, I will stand by you. I'm not going anywhere Anna." He nestled himself into the crook of my neck, placing small kisses around my earlobe. Suddenly he began to him a tune that turned into him singing aloud.
"When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we'll see
No I won't be afraid, no I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me
So darlin', darlin', stand by me, oh stand by me
Oh stand by me, stand by me" He continued to hum the tune, causing all of my fears to disappear into the night. I fell into a trance the longer he sang into my ear.
"I love you Michael." I whispered sweetly to him.
"I love you more than life itself Anna." He pecked my lips gently, kissing all the way to the top of my head.
...
My eyes fluttered open as the suns rays blinded me immensely. The bed felt empty, for it was just me laying in the bed. I jerked my eyes over to the clock that read 12:30pm. I jumped quickly out of bed to see Michael sitting on the couch with Thomas across from him.
"Good morning, or should I say good afternoon Ms. Simms." Thomas greeted me with a chuckle. I lightly brushed my wild hair down before walking over to Michael's inviting arms and embracing him with a kiss.
"Good morning my angel." He smiled widely at me.
"Sorry for disturbing you two, I didn't realize you were coming over today." Thomas brushed it off, simply turning off the tape recorder.
"That's quite alright, I was just finishing up with Mr. Jackson's statement. Are you up for answering more questions? Or should I come back?" I looked at Michael who knew right away that now wasn't a good time to be doing any questions.
"I think it would be best if you came back, right now isn't a good time for any of this." He nodded his head and gathered up his things.
"Well I'm flying out tonight to meet with the judge tomorrow to get a set court date. Until then, take care you two." We all shook hands before Thomas left Michael and I to be. I laid my head down on Michael's lap, looking up to admire his face.
"What are you thinking about?" I asked him curiously.
"I'm just thinking about how lucky I am to have such a smart, beautiful, sexy, and intelligent woman in my life." You blushed madly at his words, but you knew that wasn't the real reason and it was obvious.
"I'm flattered but what's the real reason? Michael you know that you can talk to me about anything." He sighed heavily, stroking my head gently.
"I'm just worried about you, I can tell that this is really starting to take a toll on you. You can barely answer any questions without crying, let alone sleep and I can't push away the feeling that this is all my fault because it is. If I hadn't shoved you into the dark or even filed this lawsuit then you would be perfectly fine...we would be perfectly fine." I lifted myself up from Michael's lap and looked at his broken face.
"Michael you did what you had to do. Yes they weren't the best decisions but I'm still here and I'm not planning on leaving." He still didn't look at me in the eyes which really agitated me.
"I've hurt you Anna and I've been nothing but a horrible fiancé to you and I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't want to marry me." I got down on my knees and made him look at me in the eyes.
"Michael I'd be insane to not want to marry you. Anyone would be insane to not want to spend the rest of their lives with a man such as yourself, look beyond the past and focus on the now. Look at me Michael, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere." He cracked a smile, which caused me to return the favor.
"So you still want to marry me?" I bit my lip, nodding my head enthusiastically.
"Of course I do, I love you and only you." He grinned widely at my words.
"Say it again." He demanded softly.
"I love you and only you."
I apologize for my sloppy writing, but I'm still cooking up something good for you all, so stay tuned for more of That Summer!!!