I awoke to find myself upright, strapped in, enclosed in the car. Nikki's Mitsubishi warrior powering down the road, weaving in and out of traffic in the direction of Sonya's pointed finger and shouts. For me I felt underdressed, I didn't like other's seeing me without a face full of makeup and my dress and heels, sitting here sleepy eyed in pj's and socks now wide awake with Nikki's hand clawing mine tightly. Waves of that familiar nauseous feeling arose as we hit the speed bumps, Nikki's car almost breaking them in two.

Pretty soon we arrive at a building that I used to know oh so well. Crumbling and demolished, memories of myself crying myself to sleep, feelings of this guy's warm body pinned against mine. Escaping with Ellie as a little tot, holding her close and safe wrapped up warm in my arms. Never thinking I'd have to feel the same again, selling the business and running away towards a new horizon and life. As the sun set deeper over the buildings as the summer was approaching, my sun had set faster, now in a full eclipse.

I forget to be careful of the car door, the road pressing against the pads of my feet as I burst in the door with Nikki and Sonya at tow. I turn a corner and come face to the face with the man who made my life a horror. If this had happened at school there would be a ring of students pushing and shoving each other screaming FIGHTFIGHTFIGHT. There was no one to scream or cry out just silence in this damp dark room. The dust collecting on the window frames like the janitor had neglected it, the almost moonlight catching on the window. Light reflecting the horror within.

Nikki's deep breathing reminded me I wasn't alone. One step and 'STOP WHERE YOU ARE DON'T MOVE!' He shouted with raspy breaths. 'Ok let's be rational…..'Nikki stated but suddenly stopped, I turned to see a bit of metal pressed against her temple with the power to kill a hundred men. Ellie was standing in the corner sobbing. 'Mummy.' I stepped towards her, the gun was swung to face me, and the guy I once knew disappeared with the blink of an eye. Nikki edged towards me to distract him. The gun literally swinging between me and Nikki; Sonya was nowhere to be seen.

Life in slow motion come to a standstill before a voice spoke. 'I need to be in control for once.' He spoke pacing up and down tapping the gun lightly against his leg. Sirens sounded in the distance and it all came back to haunt us. The same as it always would. 'We can sort this out.' I pressed reminding him, maybe even with this false promise he'd let us go. 'Daddy…..' Ellie looked up at him and I almost saw a human like quality in his eye, a tear as he looked into his daughter's eye. In that moment the trigger was pulled and a shot fired. I jumped down to the ground, crouching away and another shot fired. He killed himself. Lying in a blood-stained heap pouring out blood, like my soul and the rush of emotions like the sense of security now this monster had left the face of the earth.

Nikki's hand clasped on my shoulder. 'Lo….' 'It'll be ok…' I replied. She pointed me in the direction of the opposite side of the room to the mess; it wasn't just Luke that had found his peace. Ellie had a stunned expression on her face. My eyes briefly met Nikki's; I leap to my feet rushing over to my little girl. Nikki stood solemnly in the corner. She wasn't saying it would be ok, she was warning me something bad was happening.

We didn't want to startle her; for deep down we both knew there was nothing to do to help her. The cruel world I had tried to protect her from had come back and slapped us against the face hard. I removed her top to reveal a massive wound on her abdomen. I held the pressure of her shirt against it for a few minutes, Nikki standing over the top of me as Police rushed in to the scene unfolding before our eyes. 'Mummy?' Ellie asked confused lying with her head in my lap. 'On the day that you were born the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true, so they sprinkled moon dust in your hair and golden starlight in your eyes are…..' Close to you by The Carpenters had been one that I would sing to her, one when she went to sleep, watching her close her eyes now. Blinking back the tears, I broke down in Nikki's arms as she stopped breathing and her soul slipped away. The tyrant, the one who ruled over us, hadn't only ruined my life, he'd taken my daughter away from me too and this was something that I was going to have to live with.