Show Me Where it Hurts

“You can’t.” Was all I could manage to blurt out, holding my arms and legs in front of Ivy’s bedroom door.
“Relax, beautiful,” Will brought his fingers to trace the outline of my jaw and smiled a disturbed smile. “I only want to see her.”
“Will, please don’t be unfair to me. She’ll be terrified.” I was near enough sobbing now. Pleading. “I’ll do anything."

Will stared at me for another few seconds before pushing past me and bursting into the bedroom, lined with white walls and pink objects. I’d tried to make it as much like her bedroom at home as possible.

I don’t know who was more disturbed when they saw her covers were pulled back and she wasn’t there. She was young, too young to know that Will was dangerous and posed any kind of threat to her. My heart was thumping against my chest. Then, Noah’s cries came. They encapsulated the silence like a knife through butter. Will was clearly irate at the fact that neither of us knew where Ivy was hiding, but I was more than relieved.

Without thinking, I ran for Noah. As soon as I saw Will’s eyes point in the direction of where his cries were coming from, I bolted. I couldn’t let him start with Noah as he had meant to with Ivy.

“Shhh shshshh..” I tried to stay as calm as possible whilst taking him into my hands. I bit my lip and waited for Will to appear in the doorway and when I did I felt a horrible pang of sadness, knowing that it should be Harry here instead. But Harry wasn’t going to save me this time. Harry was 35,000 feet in the air, and he would be for at least another eight hours.

Nothing tore my heart into pieces more than the fact that I could never see him again. I doubted will would hurt me that badly. He murder, even for him, was surely a taboo.

“How old is he?” He said, suddenly speaking. I looked up at his face and tried to still my own cries long enough to speak. He was so fucking messed up. He had just chased me through my own home and now he was asking about my children as if he was a close friend of mine.
“Seven months. He’s just a baby.” I said, hurrying to warn him that he shouldn’t hurt Noah. Will lifted his eyes from Noah, who was settling back down.
“I’m so jealous, Annie.” He was seething as he spoke through gritted teeth. I placed Noah as gently as I could into his crib and ran after Will, who had taken off back down the stairs. I searched the living room, no sign. I came to the doorway of the kitchen and froze.

He had to have the largest knife we owned in his hand, and suddenly all of my fears were confirmed. He was coming for me.

“No, no, no..” I breathed, as I ran back in the direction I had just come.

My legs were like jelly and I could hardly mount each step of the stairs, obvious when I came thudding down onto my knee as I was just about to reach the top. He had caught up with me and he had grabbed my ankle, yanking me back down. I prayed that Ivy would stay wherever she was. I thanked God that she had, for whatever reason, hidden herself.. it just worried me that I didn’t know where.

Before I could even think about what I was doing, I brought my knee up and kicked Will in the face. I didn’t waste a second, I was up onto my feet seconds later, running toward the door of my bedroom where I knew the house phone was. But he was larger, faster, taller than me. He pushed the door from my weak grip and I stumbled back. Relief washed over me as soon as I saw he had dropped the knife in our spat, but fear pulsed through me as soon as he grabbed me. I knew what was coming next. The bed, mine and Harry’s bed, it was the perfect setting.

I struggled to reach for the house phone beside me but there was no point. All of his body weight was resting on my forearms where he held them in two, bone-crushing grips. He was raking his eyes over me, and then he was bringing his lips down onto my neck. I cringed, feeling bile rise in my throat. Maybe I should just give up. Maybe I should just get this over with as quickly as possible.

“I’m taking you back,” he was saying, over and over again. “I’m taking back what was mine in the first place.”

I felt tears threaten my eyes and decided that this was much worse than being harmed physically. Being stabbed and left alone. The thought of this happening here, where my two children were, in the house that was our sanctuary from all of the horrible things that had happened, just made me think there was no point. As a family I had no idea how we would ever repair the damage he was about to inflict for the second time.

I closed my eyes and tried to imagine whatever I could. Harry’s face was so vivid in my mind that I could almost reach out and touch it. I held onto some sort of hope that telepathically telling him I loved him right now, over and over, would give him a warm feeling and put a smile on his face, wherever he was right now. I hoped he knew how much I loved him and I hope he would forgive me for how stupid and weak I obviously was to let this happen again.

I was so busy imagining these things, that I didn’t even realise when Will stopped thrashing above me. I didn’t even notice that there was somebody else standing in the doorway.

Notes

WHO DO YOU THINK IT IS?!

Interesting to see your answers..