Kiss With a Fist
It had all started with a simple sentence. There was nothing complicated about the sentence at all. It was loud, well spoken, and authoritative.
"You bitch!" Charlie screamed at her. Charlie, her boyfriend of three years. Casey Novak didn't know why he was angry, she just knew he was.
"Excuse me?" she yelled back at him. She stood up from her chair. They were looking into each other's eyes. Each of them could see the fire in the other's eyes.
In his hand, there was a gallon of coke, the one she had bought at the store earlier that day.
"I hate Coke! I told you to buy Pepsi! Why the hell would you buy coke?" He shouted. Casey could hear the fury in his voice, but she stayed calm. She sneered at him.
"I like Coke better then Pepsi," she smiled at him, "Asshole."
And that's how it started. Before she even had time to prepare for it, she was met with a hard fist to the face. She had learned long ago that Charlie had very nice right hook. He could be a boxer if he wanted too. There was more power in this one then in punches before it, as it nearly knocked her down. Nearly.
She felt her cheek. No doubt it would start swelling tomorrow. She would have to explain the body injuries to her teachers and friends again. They all thought he was abusing her. One of her friends had even tried calling Casey's parents about it. That was mortifying. She was lucky her parents took a liking to Charlie early on.
She had one satisfaction, at least. If she had to explain her physical state, so would he.
She swung her fist towards his face as hard as she could. She hit him right in the nose. A satisfying grin crossed her face, as she saw the blood gush from it.
There was a point in time where anything more than a bruise would make the couple back down from one of their spats. That was a long time ago.
Charlie rushed at Casey, grabbing her by her shoulders. As hard as he could, he threw her against the wall. She let out a yelp, and fell to the floor. He looked over her, a demon in his eyes. The blood from his nose dripped down on her, ruining her shirt. He kicked her in the stomach as she was down, causing another cry of pain to come from her. She hated herself for it. Giving him the satisfaction of dominating her.
He grabbed her by the shoulders again, forcing her up against the wall.
"You're mine, bitch," he said, with satisfaction. Casey couldn't help but smirk. He didn't honestly think the fight had left her yet. He knew her better than that.
She head-butted him, hitting him in the mouth. It pushed him back, making him let go of her. He was open for attack. As hard as she could, she slapped him across the face with the back of her hand. She impressed herself, as this time, she was able to knock him down. Her hand hurt because of it, but it was worth it.
She walked over to his limp form, and straddled his stomach. He started to struggle the moment he felt her on him. She took care of that easily, though, by jamming her elbow into his rib-cage. He let out a cry of pain. She smiled.
"Who's the bitch now?" she said, with calmness in her voice. She grabbed one of his hands, and started bending back the fingers. She wondered if it was possible to break off a finger. He saw his face, as he winced. She pulled harder. She wanted to make him scream.
Charlie was not about to let that stand, though. He bucked from under her while her guard was down, knocking her off. He quickly climbed on top of her, holding her down with her knees, and holding her wrists tight with his hands. The more she struggled, the tighter he held on. His face was above hers. More blood from his nose dripped onto her. She could feel the drops fall on her cheek. It was almost as if they were tiny rain-drops.
She didn't give him the satisfaction of making any noise this time, though. She already reluctantly made that mistake earlier. He wasn't going to let it happen again.
"I think you broke my nose and my rib," he growled at her, "I'll just have to make sure I break more parts of you."
Still keeping a tight grip on her wrists, he got off of her, pulling her up again. He pulled her arms behind her back, and slammed her against the table. She was able to turn her face so her nose didn't hit the wood. She refused to be worse off than him.
He thought he had her in a dominate position, but he was wrong. Casey lifted one of her feet, hitting him straight in the crotch. Even with all of his experience fighting, it still caused him to have a moment of weakness. He let go of her, and she quickly got herself up.
She thought that would end the fight, and so she walked away, satisfied with the fact that she one. But she underestimated her opponent. Before she knew what hit her, she was grabbed yet again by Charlie. He threw her against the wall again, but she was ready. She braced herself for the hit, and the moment she did, she charged at him again.
Charlie was not expecting this, and so he grabbed the nearest thing to him. A large glass dinner plate. He smashed it against her head. He had never done anything like this before. It was a new move. She could feel the glass breaking and cutting into her skin. She would have cuts on her face as well as the black eye now. She couldn't help herself. She yelped again.
He leaned in towards her. She could feel his breath on her face. She hated it.
"Next time, get Pepsi." She thought that would be the end of her humiliation. How did she let herself be beat by him. She had won against him before. She hoped he would let her be along with her humbling, but no. He added one last insult to injury.
He spat in her face. His saliva landed near his blood. He gave a triumphant smiled, got off of her, and walked away.
Casey thought she could feel tears in her eyes. No. She couldn't cry. That would only give him more satisfaction. He had given up too soon, she thought. They had gone on longer then this many times before. She could still win this.
She stood up, refusing to let go of her dignity. Just as he had done before, she grabbed the nearest thing to her.
A box of matches.
She followed him into the bedroom. He was laying on their bed, watching the football game. He smirked at her.
"Do you want me to dominate you again?" he asked, a sadistic pleasure in his voice. She grinned at him. He wasn't the only sadistic one on the couple.
She didn't speak a word, only showing him the box of matches. She lit one, making sure he saw the flame. She made sure he saw her place gently place the little match on the bed. The flame caught to the bed quickly.
She walked away as he screamed in panic. She had won.
You Hit Me Once
I Hit You Back
You Gave a Kick
A Gave a Slap
You Smashed a Plate Over My Head
I Set Fire To Our Bed
It had been Elliot Stabler's firth month as a police officer. Nothing too exciting had happened. At least, not until tonight.
A young couple's room had caught on fire. Specifically, their bed. They had claimed that the boyfriend of the couple was trying to light a cigarette. He told them that his lighter was out of fluid, so he tried to use a match. He dropped it, and the bed caught on fire. The room quickly followed.
It would have been perfectly fine, but Elliot could poke some holes in their story. First, he didn't think it was the boyfriend who lit the bed on fire. He was obviously lying about that part. He was covering for his girlfriend. However, he also didn't think the fire was an accident.
The second problem is that they looked like they got the hell beat out of them. The man's nose was clearly broken, and he appeared to have a pain in his side. The girl had bruises and cuts around her face and her wrists.
"Tell me again how you two got so dinged up?" he asked again.
"We kept running into things as we tried to get to a phone," the man said. He had a very gentle voice. He had a nice smile. The girl let out a small laugh.
"I get really clumsy when I'm nervous."
As much as he wanted to call them out on their bullshit, he couldn't. They were the only witnesses, and they were sticking to their story. If it was just the girl who was beat up, he would have thought the man was abusing her.
But he had seen abusive couples before. When someone is being abused in the relationship, the wince at every touch. She certainly didn't. Neither did he. They seemed like a run of the mill, normal couple. Except for their injuries.
He couldn't press them on it. He could only just sigh and go along with their story. With nobody to say otherwise, he had to leave it at that. Besides, he figured that he didn't want to know. He let them be taken to hospital to be treated for their injuries.
The next morning, he would find out from another officer that while they were in the hospital, the boy proposed. The girl quickly said yes.
Elliot could only sigh.
"I think they're just insane," he mumbled. A couple that had beaten the hell out of each other. The girl had lit the bed on fire.
He was just glad he didn't have to deal with anybody that crazy.
Casey Novak sighed in her office. She didn't know what to say. She had found the picture of Charlie in her office. It was a small pocket photo, but they were both in it. They were hugging, looking like the happiest couple in the world. It was the morning of their engagement. She could still see the injuries they had inflicted upon each other.
She had changed this that time. She hadn't really been in a relationship since. Charlie was one of the best relationships she had ever had in her life. He was also the most screwed up relationship she had in her life.
She could remember the day she left him. He had stopped taking his medicine for his schizophrenia. He had become a different person. Physically, their relationship didn't change. They would still beat the crap out of each other. But mentally he wasn't the same. When the fought, he didn't know it was her.
Nobody at the special victim's unit knew the true extent of her relationship with the man. She hoped that they never would. Occasionally, one of her friends would go digging through police records. She could lie and say Charlie was having an episode. She didn't dare tell them that they were both sane. Both sober. Both bloodthirsty.
That was the one thing that scared her about her job in the Special Victim's Unit. The severity of the crimes she dealt with was humbling to say the least. She honestly felt for the victims. But at the same time, she could relate to the perpetrators. She understood that animalistic need better than anyone should.
She prayed she would never be like them ever again.
In case you could not tell, this story was inspired by Florence + The Machine's song "Kiss with a Fist." It has become one of my favorite songs of all time, just because I loved how twisted the relationship in the song was. This was originally going to be a Felinda thing, but I realized that it would fit so perfectly with Casey and Charlie. Thank god I realized that too! There haven't been too many stories with Casey lately. I hope there is more in the future.
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this! Thank you for reading!