THE DIFFERENCE
"Ranger!" she screamed through the darkness. "Oh God! Ranger!" Her face was contorting as she made the pleas of a dying woman. Nothing could have prepared her for this. It was genuine; it was flabbergasting; it was unreal; it was┘ frighteningly real.
Stephanie was reaching for, and running her hands over, anything she could find in search of the one thing she needed most. It wasn' anywhere within reach. As a result her pleas doubled in intensity. Why was he doing this to her? Why had it come to this?┘ HOW had it come it this? The thought of what was happening boggled her mind beyond recognition and eventually she just stopped thinking about it. It was bound to happen in the end, she supposed, it was just sooner rather than later.
Where was he? Where was her night in shining armour? This was her time of need and he was nowhere in sight.
"Ranger!!" this time when she uttered his name it was more restricted, like she was in pain. Her breath was coming in short gasps as the burning sensations ran through her entire body. She was practically doubled over from the feelings rising within her, coupled with the thoughts running through her head.
It took laborious effort for her to utter words now, so she expressed herself through moans and groans hoping he would get the picture and just lay waste to her. Stephanie never thought she would be one for giving in like this, but she had tried for so long to avoid it and the consequences had built up so high that there was no where to go but crashing down.
She lifted her hand to her forehead and felt the moisture gushing over it. It was a new awareness she had never taken notice of. Questions continued to pass through her consciousness. When had it started? How had it started? When would it end? And most terrifying; how would it end? This last question filled her with fear.
Finally, with a sigh of release she felt it, that most useful tool, the only one she needed at that very moment, the only one to end this torture. She pulled it toward her, grasping it as tightly as she could, so as not to let it get away. Now she had a problem, she couldn't see. Normally this wouldn't have worried her, but in her current state, she was likely to do something wrong and end up in more pain than she was already in.
A snarl from above startled her and made her drop the instrument. It skittered from her reach once more and she was back to square one. She had forgotten he was here. It sounded weird, being that he was the instigator of her anguish, but she had been so focused on what she required that his presence had completely slipped her mind.
Suddenly he seized her hand and drew it above her head where he pinned it against the wall to prevent her from moving. With her free arm she renewed her search, but to no avail. It was nowhere to be found. All she could do was hope for it all to be over soon. A stab of agony pierced her screams as he drove the knife into her stomach once again and she fell unconscious.
Ranger sat bolt upright in bed. Sweat trickled down his spine and temples and his chest heaved with the effort of breathing. What? Why? How? A plethora of questions entered and left his mind in quick succession as he reflected on the dream. His hand shot out beside him as he remembered the subject of his nightmare and relief washed over him. His Babe was okay, but that still left the other fifty-gazillion questions floating through his head. Why would he dream such a thing? How did the thought of him doing such a thing even filter into his subconscious?
Slowly he returned his head to the pillow, but his eyes did not close. He lay there for a good many hours until the sun rose, wanting to hold his love, but afraid of what might happen if he. The dream replayed in his head over and over. It was his fault she had experienced that pain imaginary thought it was. It was his enemy she had been faced with, and it was he that was not there to rescue her. At that moment it became clear to him, he would be the difference between her life and death.
THE END?