Night Terrors

I went to my apartment last night kind of late. I had met Molly after work to grab a bite to eat and lost track of time updating her on everything that’s happened with the break-in. She was happy to hear I finally told Sean, even though it wasn’t the best way to tell him. I went primarily, to pick up a few more clothes, Murphy’s food and my mail and then get back to Sean’s but when I walked into my apartment and started walking around I just had the heebie-jeebies all over again. I came out of the kitchen with Murphy’s food and happened to looked down the hallway where the smashed vase still was and decided to clean it up. We had been in such a hurry that I hadn’t bothered cleaning anything before we left.

When I came back with my dust pan though I noticed something about the vase: it was too far away from the table I set it on to have been knocked over by Murphy. Whoever was here deliberately smashed it. I shook off the paranoia that was creeping over me, cleaned it up, and then grabbed my stuff to get the hell out of there. My apartment just felt so eerie and I’m not sure if I’ll ever feel completely comfortable or safe in it ever again.

I grabbed my mail on the way out of my building and started sifting through it when I stopped dead cold. There was a wedding invitation for Kevin and Hannah’s wedding (it’s in the next few days) sitting on top of my light bill. It took me a few seconds to realize what it was before an immense feeling of terror came over me. I looked around the lobby of my building and then at my phone for the time before booking it over to the bar where Sean was scheduled to be playing tonight.

Once I got there I waved at him and took a seat at a table before ordering a double whiskey and downing it. I wanted to tell Sean about the invitation immediately because I learned my lesson about withholding information and also because, honestly, I was scared out of my mind and didn’t want to be alone in either of our apartments. I probably looked like some crazy person sitting there with a bag of cat food and a duffel bag full of clothes; downing alcohol like it was my job.

After a few minutes I recomposed myself and got up to go the bathroom after asking the bartender to watch my stuff. I splashed some water on my face and took deep breaths before walking out of the bathroom directly into Kevin.

“Oh my God! What are you doing here? Did you follow me?” I asked.

I was up against the wall of the hallway and tried to look past Kevin to the main room of the bar to see if anyone could get him away from me or, at the very least, see me.

“Follow you? No. I’m here celebrating my bachelor’s party and I thought I’d say hello.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not sure bringing an alcoholic to a bar is a good idea. You said ‘hello’, now good-bye!” I said trying to push past him.

He stopped me from moving and pushed me back into the wall.

“What’s with you? I just wanted to say ‘hi’. We haven’t seen each other in months. Surely you miss me.”

The only reason I didn’t laugh was because I was so terrified.

“I don’t miss you, get out of my way.” I tried to push past him again but he blocked me and grabbed my waist.

I was trying to get away but Kevin’s grip was too much; he held me pressed up against him and started moving one of his hands up to my chest. I tried to push him away and slap his hand but I couldn’t get any space between us. I started pounding on his arms with my fists but it was no use. He had his hand up my shirt and was shoving his tongue down my throat and I had a sudden flashback to being in Kevin’s office when this all happened before, yet I wasn’t as terrified the first time. I tried to push his face away or turn mine away but he held my face and was using the wall to keep me pinned to him. It took me a few seconds to realize that he stopped touching my chest and was trying to unbutton my jeans. I was trying to scream but he was practically choking me with his tongue and I started crying because I didn’t want what Kevin was doing to progress any further and I’ve never felt so helpless in my life.

As soon as Kevin got my jeans unbuttoned I closed my eyes and tried detach myself for what he might do next but he was suddenly thrown off of me. Sean had him on the ground, pinned, and he was punching the shit out of Kevin. Lou and Guy pulled Sean off and held him against a wall until he stopped fighting to get to Kevin, I noticed that Sean had a bloody lip but Kevin was much, much worse. Blood was pouring out of his nose and mouth and he already had two visible black eyes. Jake came over to me and slowly walked me back to where I left my stuff earlier. I saw Eddie talking to the bartender who looked irate and was on the phone but everything after that seemed like a blur.

A police officer took my statement and Kevin was taken to the hospital in an ambulance with another police officer while Sean gave his statement and was taken to the police station. Seeing him put in the back of a police car with cuffs on was too much for me to deal with at that point and I passed out on the sidewalk in front of the bar. I woke up in an ambulance with Jake sitting next to me holding a compress to my head while a paramedic shined a flashlight in my eyes.

“Guy and Lou are already on their way to get Sean out of jail, so don’t worry about it, okay Faith?” He said.

I was still pretty disoriented and it took me a few minutes to understand what Jake was referring to.

“Z-Zoey.” I was struggling to focus.

“She’s definitely got a concussion…” I heard the paramedic mumbling to Jake but I couldn’t make out everything that was being said, “…monitored for a few days… needs to be checked…”

The ambulance started moving and I grabbed Jakes arm.

“They have to take you to the hospital Faith, you’ve got a concussion and need to see a doctor.”

“Zoey. C-call.” I tried to reach for my cell phone to get Jake to call her but my hand bumped into the bag of cat food sitting on my lap. I would have probably laughed at this absurd picture of me sitting in the back of an ambulance with cat food on my lap and Jake holding a compress to my head had I not been so out of it. Jake eventually figured out what I wanted and he called Zoey to let her know we were headed to the hospital.

She showed up after the doctor had cleared me to go home (only after I promised to come back in two days to make sure I was okay) and I had convinced Jake I would be okay to go sit in the hallway to wait. My speech wasn’t slurred anymore but I did have the worst headache of my life. Zoey sat down and put her arm around me while Jake got me some pain meds from the on-call nurse. She had a look of utter confusion on her face but refrained from asking any questions while we were still at the hospital.

Zoey offered to drive Jake back to the bar before we went to Sean’s to pick up all of my stuff. I wasn’t really supposed to do anything too strenuous so Zoey made two trips into Sean’s to get my suitcase and Murphy (we bought another disposable litter box on the way to her place). Once we got me all settled into her guest bedroom I changed into my pajamas and sat on my bed with Murphy, unsure of how to feel. Zoey came in with a glass of water and a bottle of pain meds in case I needed them later, she was in her pajamas, too.

“So, you up to talking?” She asked watching me pet Murphy.

I nodded.

“What happened?”

“I received an invitation in the mail to Kevin’s wedding and I got scared, so I went to Sean’s gig because I was too afraid to be alone in his apartment and I wanted to tell him. But when I was waiting for him to get a break I went into the bathroom. When I came back out, Kevin was there and he-and he-”

I started crying and Zoey comforted me.

“Are you going to press charges?”

I looked up at her, “Hell, yes.”