*This completes chapter 7.*:) Hope you like it.
Flash-back
My blurred vision met the wall, yet another time. I did not know what to do, what to say to calm him down, for him to stop beating me. If he continued, certainly he would kill me. Tonight he was more violent… than usual. My head ached, my arms, my legs. I felt a sharp pain somewhere in my ribs, I didn't know what was that… if the ribs just broken or… something more serious. Sitting at the floor and supporting my wounded form in the closest wall, I tried to get myself together. I could only hope that he wouldn't cause more than concussions, otherwise I wouldn't know what excuse I would invent this time, if I had to go to hospital.
My breathing was heavy… with pain, with…fear.
Please, don't hurt me anymore, my mind kept saying, to him, in silence. What had I done to deserve this? To be completely knocked out by someone… who, clearly, wasn't well with his head. What threat did I pose to him? None. I was just a fragile woman, trapped in a failed relationship, trying to forgive unforgiving actions, trying to justify what did not have any justification, at all. There were no excuses for a man to hit a woman, under any circumstances, I knew that. But my young mind, in love with a man that obviously did not – really - exist, held to a hope. And yet I still hoped he would change, I still hoped days could be calmer, and then, one day, he may possibly be tender and loving.
However that day seemed to never come. And I… kept waiting, with my body and mind sore, bleeding with sadness, with the inevitability I predicted.
Looking slightly up, I saw him observing at me, his eyes filled with rage. I couldn't cry anymore. I did not have the strength to do it. I could only stare, and imagine what he would do to me, yet again.
I can't take this anymore... My mind warned me. I could only sense what he was doing. He had now moved, gone into the kitchen. Only God would know what he was going after. However I, mangled in the floor, tasting my own blood inside my mouth, had a bad feeling. Sure thing, he was not going to ask for help. More likely, he would probably get something to hurt me even more. I could listen to him opening drawers… but the acute noise of the cutlery was proof enough to me. I did not have to see it to believe it.
He was going to kill me.
Suddenly, a strange force got to me, I didn't know from where. I stood up, quickly, and ran. I ran, reached the door of the place where we lived and darted downstairs. Panicking, I kept knocking at the doors I found in the way.
"Help, please…. Help me…" Sudden tears rolled down my face, as I mouthed the words, directed to the doors that seemed to be made of stone.
"SORA!"
Abruptly, I heard him yell. I felt my heart froze, at the horrible sound. He had noticed my absence. He was going after me, to take me out… and he was mad… so angry. Now, without any doubt at all, I was certain he would kill me.
I kept running downstairs, until I reached the last door of the building. It was shut and I didn't have the keys with me to open it. Despaired, I knocked at the closest door next to me, where someone lived, I knew someone lived there. And that person would be my salvation… or not.
"Please, open up. Please… " I sobbed. "… he is going to kill me…" I cried, with my forehead glued to the door, in desperation.
I could only hear him, descending, his footsteps slow, his laugh cruel, while he spoke, not ten meters from me:
"You will pay for your disobedience, my little Sora."
I could only close my eyes and wish I was elsewhere. Dead, or in another dimension, but not here. More tears rolled down my face, my mind hazed, realizing I had no choice but to accept the fate I was so close to receive. A fate filled with cruelty, hurt and sorrow.
But then, a sudden noise was heard. The sound of a locker, so close to me. Faster than I could ever predict the door in front of me opened and I was sucked inside almost at the speed of light.
Then, I could only listen to the noise of the door closing… and then, lockers, again. I looked ahead. It was an old man. I did not know his name, I only knew he lived in this building.
"SORA! Get out, now! Do not defy me, Sora!" Words – his words -, intertwined with punches, in the door. I trembled at the sound, his speech, the brutal noise in the wood.
I didn't say anything.
"SORA!Now!"
I felt my legs give in, and I let myself go down, with my knees supporting my weight. That strange old man remained there, scrutinizing his own door, that was suffering the madness of another. Punches, more punches and kicks. He called my name for more than an hour. He lingered there all the time, attempting against the door, but –thankfully - to no avail.
When silence finally reigned, the man that stood next to his own door like a statue finally talked.
"There is a time in life for everything. And your time has come now, my child."
I could only stare at him, not understanding the meaning behind his words.
"You need to run, be free of this demon. Enough of pain and sorrow."
He was right, I knew he was. But how, how would I run, get away if I had nothing?
"But I-"
"I will help you."
And he did. He gave me money – enough money – for me to catch a train. He gave me some directions, places he knew I would be… safe, at least for some weeks. Some clothes, food and myself – that was I had when I took the train that very same morning, into a place I didn't know, away, very very far away from the city I lived. My home… was now … nowhere. I couldn't afford to belong to any place in particular. I could only … thank God for being alive and having someone that helped me… that saved me the night all odds were against me.
There was no home for me, now.
End of Flash-Back
[Go to the previous chapter to continue with the story]
A/N: Sorry I had to put this separated from the last chapter, but there was no way of doing it. Feel free to comment people. Can't wait to hear from you. Your reviews are simply amazing!
Next chapter…
…
"Maybe…" I started, not knowing exactly how to put it. "… we should go when the night falls. It will be easier to get there and back again without… prying eyes."
"If you say so."
If I say so? What the hell?
"I am asking your opinion." I said right after. I was so angry with his behavior I felt really capable of slapping him. That bastard. Oh, you're gonna get it... you're gonna get it right now. "After all, you're a war criminal."
I felt myself triumphant. I had attacked low, I knew it. But hey, he deserved it, and more. He was being extremely unpleasant with me. To me, the one who had saved him and… fed him and… bought him clothes. I wasn't worthy of such manners, for Christ 'sake.
However my victory was short-timed. His answer was as fast as caustic.
"And you were my accomplice... because saving a sociopath isn't the greatest of deeds, right?"
…
[Man, this dude rocks!]
