Three Months Later…

Lisa was at a loss as to why so many months after the initial incident she was now having trouble sleeping. On that particular day, much to her relief, she had been told by the authorities that her would be assassin, Jackson Rippner, had died in the ambulance on his way to the hospital. But the horrible memories of that morning now ran fresh and raw as nightmares in her dreams and it now made her afraid to fall asleep at night.

With her Dad's encouragement Lisa sought out the advice of a Doctor who specialized in Sleep Disorders. This doctor diagnosed her as having Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome caused from an earlier emotional suppression of an assault, a rape that she had not yet emotionally recovered from. That incident combined with her traumatic experience with Jackson Rippner made all her suppressed fears and emotions resurface. In her sleep as her mind tried to sort out these two events her subconscious merged the unidentified rapist and Jackson all into one person who now haunted her in nightmares. This was the cause of her anxiety and insomnia. She was then told that with medication and therapy she would eventually be able to overcome these fears and the nightmares would subside but the treatments would take some time.

With her health deteriorating due to lack of sleep Lisa's Dad, Joe Reisert, convinced her to move back home. Though his home was where Jackson had stalked and attacked Lisa, it was also where Joe had rescued her. It was Joe who had fired that last shot into Jackson at close range. It was this last shot that threw Jackson clear away releasing his grasp on Lisa. It was Joe, her Dad, her hero, who worried about her each night now and wanted to do all he could to help her piece her life back together again.

But while trying to sleep upstairs in her old bedroom, this night her anxiety was like all the other bad nights. As she tried to sleep her mind raced on reliving the nightmare back on that day, that early morning flight back home, when she met Jackson Rippner, and when he first attacked her in the bathroom on the plane. This particular nightmare always began with the same hollow phrase echoing, in her voice, in her mind, in the darkness leading to the vision of her fears.

"You don't have to do this, any of this." Lisa whispered while forcing the words out and staring straight into Jackson's cold blue eyes. Jackson was standing so close to her she could feel his full body weight pressed up against hers pinning her to the hard surface of the bathroom wall. His right hand still cupped beneath her chin holding fast to her throat. His breath hot on her face, his hair mingled with hers. His left hand placed firmly on her shoulder gripping her tightly, holding her fast. Her fear now welling up from her chest choked off her ability to move as he was choking off her strength to fight back. Too close, he's too close. The scream raced through her mind as she tried to hold his stare and hide her trembling.

Jackson looked her directly in the eyes and let out a sigh and a slight smirk as he tilted his head slightly and grinned. He gave himself a second to revel in his dominance over her. His body was hard and electrified pressed up against hers. She was soft and defenseless in his grip. He could feel her trembling beneath him and she was aware it made his breathing quicken. In everything from the scent of her hair, the warmth of her breath, the softness of her body, it all made him burn from deep within the darkness, this darkness that grew in his cold blue stare. His ever watching, ever piercing blue cold crystal, sharp and lethal eyes now long empty of anything human. And he could hardly contain himself. He wanted to make every second of her agony last an eternity. And she saw his expression change. He seemed like a cat having just caught its prey. His mouth was so close as he admired hers. His eyes now black as onyx, gleaming at her, glaring, taunting, toying, as if saying "I can take you now!"

And then a look of curiosity overcame him as he glanced down to admire the soft delicate skin that caught his attention at the neckline of her blouse.

"I can't let him win, I will not let him have power or possession over me," Lisa winced as she felt his mouth so close to hers again and his breathing hot against her face. She tasted her growing anger and agony that he was doing this to her, and her frustration in knowing her body would betray her in this violation, that she will be powerless again.

"Not again." In the perspiration of her fear she prayed, "No not again."

Jackson traced the round curve of her right breast as he began to pull down the front of her blouse with the tip of his thumb. And then he saw it, the scar on her breast. The most surprising thing to find emblazoned right there on her skin. This was definitely the mark of something.

He was disturbed to see this imperfection and yet now also very curious. He was the cat once more. "Did some one do this to you?" He demanded using a compassionate yet firm voice as he looked back up at her.

Still trembling Lisa in defiance shook her head and barely mouthed the word, "No".

His black eyes glare back at her. He heard the blatant lie. He saw right to her wounded soul, he knew her now. He knew her weakness and fear. But worse, he knew the measure of her strength. He looked down at her scar again and then back to her eyes. And Lisa trembled. She was visibly shaking. He softened his voice ever so slightly. "Is that what it is?" he whispered as he studied her every movement.

Trembling even more now Lisa fought back her fear and flashed her eyes in defiance at him and again managed to draw up the courage to lie and say the word "No".

And with that one word he grabbed her by the throat and spun her around and slammed her up against the opposite wall. His face was now up against hers his teeth and jaw jutting out, his expression a fury of anger, as his hands wrapped tightly around her neck.

"No!" Lisa struggled, her hands grasping at her throat, "I can't Breathe, I can't breathe!" She gasped sitting up in bed and trying to fight off imaginary arms clutching her. But she only became entangled in her own bed sheets and tumbled off the bed to the floor along with the bedding that went with her.

And in the darkened walls of her old bedroom, huddled on the floor, she cried, and cried, until exhausted, and in the early pre-dawn hours of that morning she managed to finally fall asleep.