That Last Little Spark

Jess opened her apartment door and kicked off her shoes with a contented sigh. She dropped her purse right next to them and walked over to the phone, where she saw the light blinking.

But a note on the glass coffee table caught her eye. It was a stiff white card with the word Bitch written on it with a little red heart underneath. She laughed and picked it up, thinking Kelsey had put it there when they had gotten ready tonight.

Then she heard someone cough behind her and she turned around excitedly, thinking it was Bam, since he knew where the key was anyway.

The white card fluttered to the floor when her eyes locked on to the figure standing in the hallway, the darkness framing him from behind.

"What are you doing here." Jess asked with no emotion. Chase was leaning against the wall, smirking at her and looking her up and down with his brown eyes.

"I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd...drop in. You didn't have to get dressed up for me though." he raised his eyebrows and took a step forward.

"Get out." she raised her voice and backed away.

"Ah, ah, ah. It's late. I don't think your neighbors want to be disturbed." he walked toward her casually, and her gaze flitted to the silver gun he held loosely in his hand. Then she looked back at the door and noticed that it was still ajar, held open by the heel on one of her shoes.

"Well, it's a shame that pretty dress of yours is probably going to be ruined...but thanks for giving me an easy job." he smiled.

"What do you mean." Jess asked, trying to hide the fact that she was shaking. Years of watching What Should You Do weren't helping her now. She couldn't remember anything she had seen, or anything she'd learned in self defense in high school.

"Well...let's put it this way. Your celebrity boyfriend won't want anything to do with you once we're done." he sneered. Before she could even react, he lunged and clamped his hand over her mouth.

"Now why don't you show me the bedroom?" he laughed low under his breath, but Jess refused to move. The only thing she could remember was something about becoming a dead weight. She went limp in his arms, trying to somehow force her weight towards the floor. But it didn't work, and he simply forced her to the floor instead, where he continued to keep his hand over her mouth while he pinned her to the floor with one of his arms.

Chase had put the gun on the kitchen counter before he had tried to force Jess back to the bedroom. Jess couldn't see any weapons visible on him, but she didn't know what he was capable of.

She had her eyes closed, feeling disgusted as he sloppily kissed her neck. But then she opened them in sudden realization.

All her life, she had run from Chase.

Bam, or someone else, had always gotten in between him and her, giving her the chance to escape. It happened every time Chase had hit on Jess in high school. It had happened when Chase brought the gun in.

Someone else always stepped in. But nobody was here now.

Suddenly she remembered the words of her self defense teacher in freshman year: "Fight or flight. You either fight with all you've got or you run as soon as you get the chance. Believe me, if you're put in the right circumstances, you will either find the strength to fight or find the chance to run"

All her life she had chosen 'flight'. Not tonight. She wasn't going to be another victim to an attacker. This was her home, and he wasn't welcome anywhere near it.

She waited until she felt Chase loosen his grip on her mouth before she pulled her head back and bit him as hard as she could. He yelled and pulled back to look at it cradling it in his left hand. With nothing to hold her down, she brought her knee up between his legs as hard as she could. He yelled louder and fell to the side.

She scrambled to her feet and ran for the counter, but he was on his feet almost as fast as she was. She suddenly turned around and lunged at him. The sheer force knocked him backwards and sent the two crashing through the glass coffee table. Jess was screaming the entire time. She was screaming for someone to call 911, the fire department, the front desk...anything she could think of to wake someone up.

She felt the glass cutting into her knees as she punched him in the stomach and the face and every other place she could think of. The glass sliced into her feet and hands when she stood up to kick him, anything to make sure he stayed on the ground.

Then she ran for where the gun was still sitting on the counter.

"Get back here!" Chase managed to get to his feet and lurched forward. She grabbed the gun and pulled the trigger, aiming blindly.

The noise was deafening as the gun went off. Chase fell to the floor, clutching his foot as blood spilled through his fingers and he screamed in pain. The gun suddenly felt as cold as ice, and she was frozen to the floor with the gun still pointed at him.

Police suddenly burst through the door, but she didn't move. She didn't even flinch.

"What's her name?" one of them asked behind his shoulder.

"Jessica." she heard her neighbor respond quietly.

"Jessica?" he asked a little louder. "Put the gun down, okay?" Jess slowly set the gun down on the counter with a shaking hand. Three police officers and two paramedics ran into the room. Two officers cuffed Chase and one medic started checking him over as the other cop and the other paramedic started to escort Jess from her apartment. She slipped her silver heels on her feet, however, to prevent getting blood everywhere as she walked numbly to the elevators.