Calleigh frantically tossed all her favorite cloths,shoes, and other necessities into the old army green bag. She had to be ready to leave when Tim

got there.She knew that if they weren't gone soon John would show up and thing's would get ugly.She didn't want to think about the consequences of him

finding her as she was leaving. And she sure as hell didn't want Tim to see her anymore vulnerable then he already had seen her.Asking for his help, admitting

what she had was too much of a blow to her ego as it was. 'But staying would have been so much worse,'she thought as she grabbed her make-up and other

toiletries from the adjoined bathroom. 'I would have given up power completely if I had stayed. And that would have made me weak and even more vulnerable.'

The silence in her apartment was suddenly distrubed and she was pulled out of her thoughts by the slamming of her front door, and the loud calling of her name.

"So much for avoiding that bastard," she said in an irritated whisper to her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

' Why the hell is this man running me out of my own home,' was her last thought before the large man in question stalked into her bedroom.

"Think your going somewhere Calleigh?"his voice was angry and there was a hint of controlling sarcasim mixed in there.

"God John, I would think by now you would have figure out that I do, in fact, like men that knock."she hissed at him, trying to move past him to where her duffle

bag lay on the bed.

"I'll pretend that I didn't hear that comment,"he hissed back into her ear, while gripping her arms tightly at her sides.

"Let me go John,"she said angerly through clenched teeth, all the while trying to free herself from his oppressive grasp.His grip only tightened and the anger in

his eye intensified. "Why should I let you go Calleigh? All your going to do is leave me.And nobody , I mean nobody get's away with leaving me, "he screamed

at her.

His booming voice reverberated off the walls of the small bedroom, scaring Calleigh to tear's. She didn't want to cry, she knew it would only make thing's worse,

but one solitary tear escaped her eye, followed by John's large hand connecting to her face causing her to yelp in pain.

"Damn it Calleigh, you know I hate it when you cry." his voice was gental, and the whole experience seemed surreal to her.How this evil man could go from

yelling at her and hitting her, to speaking as though she actually ment something to him.He had been this way the other time's he had hit her as well. He would

get mad over little thing's and take it out on her, then after everything was said and done he would realize his action's and become apologitic.Calleigh knew that

he wasn't really sorry and knew that he wouldn't stop. That was why she was leaving.That was if she could get out of her apartment without him hurting her

anymore.

"John I wouldn't be crying if it hadn't been for you," the words slipped from her lip's quietly without her even giving it a second thought. Only when she saw

anger raise again in his hazel eye's did she think about the actions that would accompany those words.The crisp cracking of his hand hitting her skin sounded

loudly in the silence of the room.Calleigh knew that she should have been in pain. The pain that she had experienced not five minutes before,but this time she

repressed the feeling, trying her best to block out the hell that she was going through.