30
My heart hammers as I try to process what I’m seeing. I want to move, get the hell out of there, but I’m rooted to the floor.
“You left me no choice, Gretchen. You blocked me on your phone. You won’t show up at group. I needed to see you.”
I feel suddenly very dizzy. “How… d-did… you get in here?” I finally manage.
“Easy peasy. I have my ways.”
The man is a security expert and has a history of breaking into residences and businesses. Of course he has his ways.
He rises from the bed and moves toward me.
I bolt. I run in Ethan’s room direction, but before I can reach his door, Samuel grabs a hold of me. He slaps a hand over my mouth. “Be quiet.”
I struggle to free myself, to no avail. Samuel is a large man, much bigger than me.
“Stop wiggling or I’ll hurt you.”
My limbs tremble. They feel like putty. And I finally settle down. My brain is whirling, struggling to come up with an escape plan.
“Now we’re going to walk back to your bedroom,” he breathes into my ear. I’m dizzy with confusion. How can this seemingly normal man be doing this?
As soon as we’re back in my bedroom, he closes the door and locks it.
“Help!” I scream at the top of my lungs.
He grabs me again, and covers my mouth. “Shut the fuck up, bitch.”
My pulse speeds up as my gaze darts around the room for weapons. The red vase, the bedside lamps, the glass jewelry box.
“Lay down on the bed,” he barks. “If you make another peep, I swear I’ll strangle you.”
I’m still frozen, still struggling to process the situation. It’s more than my brain can handle.
“Now,” he scoffs.
I’m breathless as I obey him and scurry to the bed. I shake uncontrollably as I imagine the worst. He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a rope.
My stomach turns to stone. I can’t let him tie me up. If he does, I lose all control. I bounce from the bed, and he grabs me again. I squirm. I put up a good fight. We both struggle on the floor. “Help!” I scream again. “Someone help!”
I manage to escape his grasp and I slither on the floor. I reach for my bedside lamp. In the flash of a second, I’m brought back to the day Donovan and I chose the bedroom lamps. We’d argued endlessly about them. I thought they were too heavy, too medieval, but he argued that they would man-up the room, and he’d made a good point. I finally conceded and let him have his lamps.
I grab the lamp so hard and fast, the electric cord rips off the wall. I bang Samuel on the head repeatedly, over and over again, with a force I didn’t even know I possessed. He’s turned me into a crazy woman. It’s the fight or flight instinct. I bash his face in, and blood splatters all over my floor. It doesn’t scare me, it relieves me. I’m winning. I’m surviving.
When I’m sure I’ve finally beaten him into submission, I attempt to stand, but my legs are too shaky. I crawl to the door instead. My hands are trembling as I try to turn the door knob. When I finally open the door, Ethan is standing on the other side, and his eyes widen in fear when he sees me. I wrap my arms around him. “It’s okay, Ethan. Mommy is okay.”
The feel of his touch calms me, and my nerves settle just a little. I’m able to stand. I pick him up, and run straight out of there. I run straight to Abigail’s — she’s the closest.
I’m still shaking when she answers the door. Her jaw drops when she sees us. “What the hell is going on?”
I push my way inside. “Lock the door.”
“What’s going on, Gretchen?”
“I need to call 911.”
“What the heck is going on?”
