11

What the hell was he doing here? He was in a long sleeved, black tight shirt of some type of gym brand with black pants and tennis shoes. He smiled genuinely at me, but I kept the door where it was, close to me.

"Ricky what are you doing here?" I asked.

"What do you mean 'what am I doing here?' I came to see you." he said. I kept my hand on the door knob and as he moved in closer, to obviously come in, I held my stance.

"Without a heads up?" I asked and he shrugged, looking hurt.

"You weren't returning my texts or my calls for that matter. I was worried about you." he said. I knew I had been ignoring his calls and texts.

"Ricky there's a reason for that." I said lowly looking down almost nervously now. He wasn't an idiot, he knew why I wasn't replying to him.

"Oh yeah, and what's that?" he asked with a deep confused stare.

"I've been seeing someone okay? I didn't think I owed you an explanation, now please leave." I said trying to close the door as quickly as I could so I could lock it. But it swung back as easily as it moved forward. I jumped back immediately, completely taken back by the violent motion as Ricky came in. He closed the door, his eyes never leaving me. His eyes were tight, and focused on me like I was one of his opponents now.

"You think you can just use me like that?" he snapped and I raised my hands backing away.

"Ricky you need to leave." I said, my voice trembling now as I tried to keep a safe distance from him. He shook his head and scoffed.

"I left my wife for you." he said. I shook my head.

"I did NOT ask you to do that. You did that without talking to me. You do everything without talking to me!" I snapped.

"So what that means you just run off with the next bloke huh?" he snapped loudly. His eyes immediately found my sketch book on the couch and I made a move to grab for it, but his long arms darted out and grabbed it before me. My stomach tightened as if he had grabbed a small child with violent intent.

"Give it back!" I pled, and he just flipped it open. My eyes watered already as I watched his eyes harden on each page he flipped. He shook his head and then scoffed acidly. He held the book up showing me the new sketch I had just did as if he had found my dirty little secret.

"This guy huh? You left me for him?" he asked. I just stood there huffing and puffing lowly. He shook his head once more eyeing the picture. "I always wondered why you wouldn't draw me."

"Ricky-" before I could get another word in, I watched as his rippling arms took my book in his hands and shred it right there in front of me. My eyes widened as if he just taken the child and snapped its neck right in front of me. I let out a painful scream, my face shaking, my hands covering my mouth to hold back any other rotten emotions I was feeling. I cried out hard as he dropped the pages onto the ground. The book cover was ruined, white lines dancing up and around it from the tearing of the thin red layer of the page. I could see parts of Viktor's face shredded, his dark eyes looking at me now. I felt darkness boiling up inside me and I just looked up at Ricky to see the look of guilt on his face as he looked at the ripples of pages around him.

"Astrid, I'm so sorry." he said and my face was shaking with anger as I shook my head.

"Get the fuck out of my house." I said lowly, my shaky and disturbed.

"We need to talk about this." he said, but I was in front of him immediately, hitting at his face and scratching and clawing and sometimes punching. He just leaned his shoulders from left to right dodging my meager blows of rage.

"GET OUT!" I screamed. I was hoping to maneuver him toward the door or go absolutely crazy enough to make him say 'deuces'. But he wouldn't budge. He was trained to take blows. He starts grabbing at my shoulders trying to talk me down, but I can only see rage. I feel my legs leave the ground as I am projected across the air, towards the wall next to my room. I tumble over, my hand clawing at the wall to catch myself, but instead I just tear another painting down. I groan a bit feeling as if that stopped my rampage. I see Ricky still standing there with rage in his eyes.

"You want to hit me eh!" he said grabbing my Giver painting and my eyes widened as I watch him slam it down on the ground until the frame cracks and the portrait is shredding. I feel my heart break as I let out a blood curdling scream.

Normal POV

For once Viktor was excited to be jogging for his normal route consisted of running by Astrid's home. Astrid, it made him think of asteroids then his mind would drift off to space somehow. His dad was driving closely behind he was running as fast as he could. He didn't tell him to change routes, so this made him lucky. Even though they couldn't be in public in cameras, just being with her made his heart burst with butterflies. His father would scoff at his feelings should Viktor ever voice them or be caught gazing out the window of their apartment.

He was coming upon her home now and was hoping she would be sitting on her balcony waiting for him. He waits for her at home even though he knows she would never come there. But he doesn't know that. He's too embarrassed to even invite her to his home, to the life he was born in. He was just starting to see her balcony and was disappointed she was not there. But as he continued running, he noticed a very shiny, very wealthy car parked next to hers. As he drew closer, he came to a complete halt. His father planned to scare him into running, but slowing his speed a few miles, but Viktor just looked at him with a hard glare and Ivan stopped the car.

"What are you doing?" he snapped as he stuck his head out the window. Viktor didn't respond all he did was look up toward her window. Something wasn't right. There was no reason another fancy car should be in this neighborhood. Of course there could be hundreds of reasons, but to Viktor there was no reason. He stared up at Astrid's windows hoping somehow, she would feel him, sense he was there come out to him. He needed to see her face, needed her to smile down at him and wave if she wanted. He panted lowly waiting ignoring the blaring horn of his father's truck. Suddenly, a loud scream tore through the blankness of his mind and his body jerked forward without any more thought. He ran inside, his father's protests had gone deaf in his mind. He rips opens the door of the complex and rushes towards the stairway. A scream was all he needed. He ran up the stairs skipping multiples steps as he ran.

Astrid's POV

Ricky grabbed me and now had me up against the wall as he had ruined more of my paintings that had meaning to me. We sound like a couple having a domestic dispute. Maybe that's why no one was coming to help me. We mind our own business and just hope the problem goes away. We'll find the dead body later. I'm screaming for him to leave and he's yelling at me to just calm down and listen. But I was over that the second he tore up my sketch book.

"Get off of me!" I'm shouting at the top of my lungs. My throats burning and my shirt is ripped from him grabbing at me so much. There's a loud bang that erupts in the room and we both look over to see a heavenly sight.

"Viktor." I whispered. Viktor's torn off his hoodie and running at Ricky who already had violence in his mind. This was not a ring, or a fight for the cameras. This was a brawl. The two men collided with Viktor raising Ricky in the air and slamming him down on my coffee table. It was like an explosion as the furniture gave out immediately under the men. Punches were violently thrown to each other's faces and I just keep my back to the wall, mouth covered and eyes widened.

The sound of fist to face made my stomach clench of fear. I hadn't seen such a violent fight since I was back in the detention centers. Viktor looked so primal as his massive fists showered down onto Ricky's face. Ricky brings his knee up and gets him in the side and with his size, Viktor falls over and the two are wrestling and continuing to violently assault each other.

"Stop it!" I cried out, but no one heard me. They were going to kill each other. I quickly turn and move to my room. The drawer beside my bed had my peace of steal in it, my Smith and Wesson Shield 9mm. I grabbed it, took the safety off and prepared it. My first thought was to shoot into the ceiling, but their people living above me. Why should their lives be affected by my brash, excited choices? I moved into the living room, aimed at my back window and fired. BANG. BANG. Glass shatters immediately.

Ricky and Viktor jumped back. That split them a part. They looked at me with hard pants and surprised eyes. Viktor has a cut on his lower lip and eye. Ricky has bruises all over his body as well. I aimed the gun at him immediately.

"You want to fight a bullet? Get out." I said venomously, sweat pouring down my face some. Ricky just stared at me with disbelief. I slowly cocked my gun, my brain asking me if I was truly ready to do the next step if I have to. "I will not ask again."

Viktor looked at Ricky with hard eyes, ready to fight again should he have to. Slowly Ricky raised his hands, his body moving up and down with his pants. Bits of glass from my coffee table were in his arms and back.

"I'm gone." he said. And you had better stay gone. He slowly eased toward the door, having to walk past Viktor to do so. My gun followed him to the door. He kept his hands open and eyes on me as he moved.

"You come here again… and I will kill you." Viktor threatened voicing my thoughts. Ricky didn't respond as he simply left the room. I didn't lower my gun yet, not until I moved over to the back door and saw him leave in his car. I panted gently as I heard the familiar sound of a police siren. I hear heavy footsteps and look up at Viktor as he leans in and takes the gun from me. He sets it down on the ground and just leans in to me, gently letting his forehead rest against mine and we just looked down, our eyes closed. He rests his hand on my head and keeps me close as we hear heavy footsteps coming down the hall.

To feel his skin against my own brought me great comfort where sadness was about to devour me. My beautiful paintings, destroyed.