My eyes followed her frail and obviously beaten body as is swayed from side to side a she walked down the dirt road. How could anyone do such a thing to another human being? What thrill does it give someone to practically kill someone, yet not enough so as to keep them alive to keep on living their absolutely horrible lives?

I looked down to my hand where the rusted wrench she handed me, not moments ago, still lay. The edges of my mouth formed into a grimace and I threw the cold object across the room; it made a loud crash as hit the file cabinet near my desk.

I'd been in the same position she is now, and I know the thoughts that are probably whizzing around in her head at this moment. She has no hope, and she definitely isn't expecting anyone to even attempt to help. No one helped me, but that's exactly what I'm going to do, and just maybe, we'll both get out of this alive. I know just how dangerous this thing is, but despite that fact, I needed to do this.

It was about a month later when something changed. Every day, I would watch as she would walk by my shop on her way home; I needed to make sure she was alright. It was on this one particular day that I did not see her. This immediately got me worried. No, she had not asked me to fix her problems for her, and she probably never would, but I knew I had to help.

I fixed up a few cars and spent the rest of the day sitting in front of the brick shop waiting for Ellie to pass by. That's the main thing I loved about the location of my garage, you had to pass by it to get anywhere. I waited all day long, but no long how I waited, she didn't show.

As soon as I saw Kristen pass by I jumped up off my place slumped against the wall and ran over to her.

"Hey," I said as I grabbed her arm and pulled her around, "have you seen Ellie today?"

"No, she must really be sick to skip a second day of work." She said then looked down to where my hand was still on her arm and said, "And don't touch me." I immediately let go and she walked briskly down the street. She was so annoying sometimes; couldn't she see that I was very worried?

Sick huh? For some reason I didn't think that's the truth. I ran into my apartment right above my garage and changed out of my greasy work clothes. I needed to see if Ellie was all right, she was home pretty late last night and knowing one abusive control freak is enough to tell me something isn't right.

About fifteen minutes later I arrived at the small house I had been at just a month before, only this time there was no Jarrett or his blue truck in sight. I peered through the grimy window right next to the front door and saw a slumped over body in the far corner of the small room. What I saw shocked me so much that my old criminal instincts kicked in and I found a small flat rock nearby and stuck it under the window then pulled it up swiftly and climbed in. I immediately ran over to the unmoving figure next to the torn and stained couch.

I turned over the body to see it was Ellie with a busted lip. Many other bruises were visible because her sleeve was pushes up to her elbow, but I was sure they weren't the only ones. I slipped my arms under her fragile body and lifted her up from the cold wooden floor. She was so light in my arms that I could hardly believe that I was even carrying her. Hurting someone is one thing, doing that and starving them is a whole different problem.

I didn't even know Jarrett that well, but yet I had this burning hatred for him.

When we finally reached the apartment, I placed Ellie gently down on my bed, took off her shoes that were still attached to her feet, and sat in the chair across from the bed and watched her.

On the outside her biting sarcasm and pretty much her entire personality, gave the appearance of a strong confident girl who knew exactly what she was doing. The truth was, she was strong, but she had been beaten down so many times in so many ways, more than anyone I know.

Three hours later, around ten or so, I was thrown from my thoughts when I saw her stir slightly, then she sat up and looked around the room frantically. She got herself up from the bed, pushed down her sleeves carefully, and began throwing things around until she found her shoes. She did all this while mumbling under her breath and was also completely oblivious to my presence.

"Where the heck am I?...Jarrett is going to kill me… I am so dead….How the heck did I get here? Uhgg my whole body hurts, no thanks to Jarrett of course." She was standing on one foot while trying to get the heels on her feet.

"So it was Jarrett who did this to you?" I chose that moment to reveal my position in the room by asking the one question I had already known the answer to.

"What?" she swiftly turned around and aborted all efforts to get that stubborn shoe on her tiny foot. "What are you talking about, it was a boating accident; and why the heck am I in your apartment. What time is it? What's going on?" she then bombarded me with a thousand questions very few of which I could understand.

"I brought you here to get you away from your abuse boyfriend. You would probably be dead by now if it wasn't for me! Oh, and I was beat every day of my childhood by own dad, I can tell the signs pretty well, so don't give me that crap about some boating accident!" I was so angry that she wouldn't accept my help. Didn't she realize how dangerous this was for her?

"Listen Jay, I don't need your help! Yea, I probably would be dead if it wasn't for you, but the only thing you are doing by helping me, is delaying my death and making yours come sooner. So get out while you can, I am dealing with a pretty dangerous situation. I dealt with all kinds of problems before, this one is no different, and I'll be fine." She said the last part somewhat calmly and convicting, but I could see it in her eyes that she didn't believe she would last the night.

"Ellie," I tried a calmer approach, "You need help, you won't be alright by yourself. I know you're strong, but this guy is stronger. You don't need to go back to him. Despite what every fiber of your being is probably telling you, he can't hurt you if you leave him."

"But that's the thing, I want to go back to him. I love him." She said and looked down to the floor boards. I was completely taken aback, what was it with girls and believing that they loved guys like Jarrett; I couldn't control myself this time.

"YOU LOVE HIM! How can you love a guy that treats you worse than he treats the fish he catches? He will KILL you! What don't you get about that? He is a monster Ellie! And whatever feelings you have for him, he does not return them. This is your chance, to get away, to not have to worry if you'll survive another day!" I stood there, begging, I couldn't stand to see her get hurt anymore.

"Fine, you're right. But where will I go? I have a job here, and friends. I can't start all over again; it was too hard the first time." She looked up at me earnestly, she was really lost.

"You won't be alone; I'll be there for you. We could go back to Toronto, I know it's a crazy place, but you wouldn't be starting all over again. I'm sure Marco, Paige, and maybe even your mom will love to see you again. We could leave tonight!" I watched her mouth move into a slight smile as she considered what I had said. After some time, she starred me in the eyes.

"Alright, let's go. Tomorrow though, I need to pack all my things and tell Kristen well,…..everything. She'll definitely get that promotion she wants then." She was joking and smiling, these were good signs, very good signs.

"Okay tomorrow it is." I was smiling, really smiling, she had that effect on me. She turned to head out of the apartment, but as soon as she reached the door she turned back around.

"Well, isn't it ironic that the same place we needed to leave so badly, is the same exact place we need to go back to? This is a strange, strange world." With that last comment she left.

She was right, it was odd, but at least we would both be safe and alive. In just a few hours we would both be on a plane back to our old lives, our old friends, and everything else that was familiar to us.

The only problem was, this tomorrow wasn't just a day away.