2.
The weekend brought with it an abundance of parties and nightclubs for Rylee. I went along to the first one on a Friday night but left after a few hours. We were complete opposites, and it was a wonder that we were such good friends. Funny enough I preferred the company of her many cats to her parties.
With my car safely parked in the driveway, leaving room for Rylee to park in the garage whenever she decided to stumble home, I reached to open the front door. It pushed open when I touched the lock with my key. Puzzled I swung the door open and stepped into the small entrance hall wondering if I had not locked it properly when I'd left earlier. The lights were on too, but I was sure I had switched everything off. The cats were lazing around which was, at least, normal. Cautiously I made my way to the bedroom. The light was also on, and I smelt a strange odour the closer I got to the room.
When I entered the room – by now walking on my toes just in case – my heart stopped for a second before I let out a horrified yelp. Standing at the bedside table scratching in the drawer was a man less than gracious and clearly determined to get whatever he could to sell for drugs, alcohol or both. He turned and ran towards me, and I froze for a split second, stifling a scream, and then I came to my senses and turned to bolt out of the room. A string of vulgar obscenities flew from his disgusting mouth leaving his bitter breath lingering on the back of my neck. Panic overrode any rational thinking and I screamed trying to escape the hand that had a hold of my jacket. His other hand held onto my forearm so tightly it hurt, and the touch made me want to throw up. I had to fight back or…I did not want to think even of what he was going to do me…I had to fight back. I swung around and with my fist threw a punch at him. I had no idea if the punch would even land on him, but it did. Better than I could have anticipated. It landed in his throat, and he released my arm, instinctively grabbing his throat, this gave me just a few seconds for an escape. Or so I hoped.
As I got to the bedroom door, he was grabbing my jacket again. I wriggled my arms out of the sleeves and kept running, holding my car keys for dear life. My cell phone was still in the pocket of my pants. He threw my jacket to the side and grabbed my arm again, pinning me to the wall. I kept screaming; he slapped me in the face that the sting was so intense tears sprang from my eyes, but I still had to fight even if all I wanted to do was hold my throbbing face. My foot shot into his leg, my pointed cowboy boots made an impact as he bent forward from the pain and I slipped through his grasp again. Had I made it out the house? My mind was spinning with instructions, questions and panic. His hand gripped my leg, and I fell to the floor just inches from the door. He pulled me towards him and pull himself towards me, all the time threatening to do awful things to me. I had to resist. I kicked and shouted for help, but who would hear me? I was almost underneath him. He stank so badly, his breath was nauseating, and he was so dirty, but I ignored all that and desperately tried to free myself.
I screamed out loud, 'Oh Lord, please Lord help me! Help me!'
A few more minutes of desperate struggling, kicking and begging and then I felt a surge of confidence filter through me knowing that I was not going to get harmed any further. I flung my free arm at him making no impact whatsoever. Then I realised I was still holding the car keys in my hand, and amidst all my irrational thinking I had enough savvy to release the pointed part of the key and use it as a weapon. With a loud grunt, I plunged forward and wildly stabbed at him, not caring where I stabbed him. I took the adrenaline induced energy and dug the point of the key into him, not once but three times until he collapsed on the floor beside me holding his pulsating bloodied face and crying in agonising pain. I got up and finally made it out of the house to my car. Somewhere in the mixed up chaos flooding my thoughts, I managed to start it. I reversed out of the driveway so fast the rear bumper hit the asphalt, sounding like a head-on collision. I shoved the gears into first and put my shaking foot on the accelerator, speeding off like a maniac.
I don't remember changing any gears at any stage from the house to the service station two blocks away. I raced into the driveway, and while the car was still idling I sat choking on my hysterical sobs, my body uncontrollably shaking from the shock. An attendant approached the window to ask if he could assist me. At the glimpse of a person in my peripheral vision, my hysteria up-scaled into manic hysteria. The attendant sensing that something clearly was not right, and probably also noticing the blood on my hands, face and matted in my blonde hair, ran to the convenience store and told the manager to phone the police.
I fought with my unsteady hands enough to get my phone from my pocket and pressed any number on the call log. I did not care who it was as long as it reached someone. The blaring sound of music and people shouting to hear each other speak greeted me above Rylee's voice.
'Hello hello!' Rylee shouted through her slurs.
I tried to answer her, but she did not hear me. I hit the end call button and hit another number on the call log.
'Hello,' a male voice answered.
My mouth opened, but my throat so choked up I was unable to get any words out.
'Hello Darla, you there?'
His voice went up a notch.
Forcing the words out, I brokenly begged, 'K…Kai…help.'
The tears ran into my mouth as I swallowed the stutters of anguish and fear.
'At the BP in Strand.'
Unable to say anymore I let the phone fall from my shaking hands and cried and cried so loudly I'm sure I was heard from the other end of the street. And by now there was an audience around the car and so many people mulling around. A stream of blue and red lights was swirling around the area. A police officer knelt down at the window of my car. He tapped gently on the window to get my attention.
'Ma'am, can you wind your window down, please?'
He showed me his badge and smiled. I shook my head still sobbing, my hands holding onto the steering wheel were still shaking so wildly it was obvious to everyone.
'Can you unlock your door then ma'am? Please, we want to help you.'
It took a few minutes to get my brain to register that I should do what the policeman he asked me as he was going to help me. With an immense amount of effort, I managed to relay a message to my hands to let go of the steering wheel and unlock the door. The second the policeman heard the click of the door he opened it. He reached in to help me get out the car, but at the sight of his arms coming towards me I screamed, throwing my arms at him envisioning the man that attacked me.
'Darla, Darla!'
I knew that voice and fought through my inner panic to find where it was.
'Do you know this lady?' the policeman asked the man with the voice.
'Yes, she called me a little earlier. Said she needed help and mentioned this place.'
He bypassed the policeman in a flash and stood next to me reaching for my hand.
'Darla, hey, it's me, Kai. I'm here.'
My eyes were heavy, and I was exhausted but hearing his gentle, well-mannered voice sent a wave of relief through me, knowing that he was here with me. He was soothingly persuasive and finally coaxed me to trust him and allow him to take me to the ambulance that was nearby. As I stood up, my knees buckled but before I collapsed, he caught me in his arms and carried me to the ambulance. The paramedic instructed him to carefully lay me down onto the gurney. When the paramedics lifted me into the ambulance, I would not let go of Kai's hand, and so they permitted him to travel with me. He held my hand all the way, but he looked down and had his eyes closed the entire journey. I wondered if maybe he was very tired.
At the hospital, I was given medication to make me relax and sleep, and they cleaned me up. The staff of the hospital and police tried to get information from me as to what had happened. I was eventually more forthcoming and in bits and pieces explained what had happened, the fear still so viciously fresh. Kai stayed with me until I was fast asleep.