Leave Me Alone

“I met Mike the first day of rehab last year. He was some big shot goalie supposedly going to be drafted the following season. At first he seemed like an ass but then I started to get to know him and he turned out to be really sweet. We were never technically dating but even if you just looked at us, you could see we might as well of been. He would come by wherever I was just to say hello and other little things like that, to make me smile and he would stick up for me against everybody. And then it changed. He started to get really strange and it weirded me out a bit. He would scream at me for no reason, and then be all sorry about it and I’d believe him all the time. I was starting to spend less and less time with him as the summer went on and had barely seen him at all before that night. It was like the last week of the summer and all the instructors were going clubbing to celebrate their almost freedom. I was invited along and thought ‘why not blow off some steam with a bunch of attractive guys’ so I went with them. Mike couldn’t go but he knew I was friends with them all so he was cool with the whole thing. I don’t even know why I bothered asking him about it, but I felt like I owed him at least that much. About halfway through the night I was dancing with one of the trainers named Travis, just having a good time and we were both pretty drunk. We started to make out in a corner of the club, when Mike appeared. He grabbed Travis’s shoulder, turned him around and punched him in the head. Then he threw Travis against the wall and started to beat him.”

I didn’t realize I was shaking until I took a moment to calm myself down from telling the story. I glanced up at Max who was watching me with a look of anger on his face. His hands balled up into fists, knuckles turning white. I reached over and took his hand when his expression started to calm down.
“I don’t have to keep going.”
“No. Please finish the story. I’ll keep calm.” He said taking my tiny hand in both of his.

“Alright. Where was I... Oh yeah. Well I was screaming at Mike to stop hitting him and then I stupidly threw myself in between him and Travis. I have never seen someone’s face filled with so much hatred. His face was red with anger and his eyes were almost bulging out of his head. I was in complete shock. This was Mike. My Mike. My sweet Mike. Never had I ever been so scared of someone in my entire life. The next thing I knew he had grabbed me by my throat and pinned me against the wall, letting Travis crawl away. But the idiot didn’t leave. I was screaming at him to leave, to not be stupid but he wouldn’t listen, He was covered in blood, dripping from his mouth and nose and he could barely stand up, yet he didn’t leave. He slowly got up and then tackled Mike, who released his grip on my neck and started to pummel Travis again. Mike got one good shot right to Travis’ jaw and he went still. His eyes rolled back in his head and I slowly crawled over to him. I was kneeling over Travis crying, begging him to open his eyes and wake up, when Mike grabbed my neck again and dragged me out the back door of the club. I remember yelling at him about killing Travis, but all he did was laugh and throw me against the side of his truck. ‘The idiot isn’t dead you stupid bitch. He should be though and so should you. You little whore, fucking around behind my back. I should’ve known better.’ I could see something silver shining in his hand as he started walking towards me. ‘Mike. What are you doing? Mike!’ I was screaming at him, backing up as far as I could until I was completely pressed up against his truck. ‘You should be dead. No one cheats on me. No one.’ Before I could respond he had thrust his arm towards me and I screamed out in pain. The knife in his hand hit me right in the chest and I collapsed. He knelt down beside me and then lifted his arm up again and stuck the knife back in me. Screams shaking my entire body, I had nowhere to go. He ripped the knife back out and put it to my throat. ‘Whores don’t deserve to life.’ He whispered in my ear. I tried to twist out of his reach only to turn my neck as he went to cut it. ‘What the hell! You little..’ His fist made contact with my jaw and I saw stars. ‘If that’s how it’s going to be then you can die slowly.’ My head was spinning from the blood loss and that last punch to my face. I could feel him cutting my stomach but I didn’t have enough strength to scream anymore. He picked me up again and pressed me against the truck. He had said something to me, when the back door burst open and all the instructors came charging at him. Travis had found them and told them where Mike had gone. In Mike’s shock, he let go of me and as I hit the ground, everything went black. I woke up in the hospital two days later with Adam and Travis sitting beside me. They told me Mike had been arrested and was awaiting trial for either a life sentence or something else. Supposedly he wasn’t a first time offender and he had actually killed a girl before me. I was in so much shock at the whole situation that I didn’t even remember about myself. Adam told me that I had been stabbed by him twelve times. Thirteen including this lovely one on my neck here. I wasn’t supposed to have lived and it was a miracle that I did. It’s been an entire year since then but yet rarely does a day go by where I don’t replay that night in my head.”

As I fell silent Max pulled me over to him. I didn’t even bother trying to resist him anymore. He wrapped him arms around me as I started to cry. He held me until I didn’t have any more tears able to come out and then he finally spoke.
“I’m so sorry.” He whispered, leaning his head on the top of mine.
“You don’t need to apologize. You’re not him. You didn’t do it to me. It’s my fault anyways. I was the idiot who fell for him.”
“Don’t say that. What that bastard did to you, is not your fault. I never want you to think that again, okay. Nothing about what happened that night was your fault.” Max took my hand and then stopped. He rubbed his finger over my left wrist and looked me right in the eyes.
“Is this because of last year? Indicating to the many scars on my wrist. I had gotten terribly suicidal in the months following the attack, and all I could do was nod to answer his question.
“I could kill him. For doing all this. For making you go through all of this. The little bastard will pay.”

I could see Max’s anger boiling up inside him again and decided to let him get it all out before I tried to calm him down.

“How can a guy do that to someone? Oh, if I ever get my hands on him, I will make him pay.” He took a couple deep breaths and seemed to be calmer. I laid my head against his shoulder and looked up at him.
“I’m sorry. I just can’t believe someone would be so horrible as to do something like that to you. I’m going to promise you something Cori.”
“Please don’t say that.” I begged.
“Nobody ever keeps promises. They’re just a bunch of words with no real meaning behind them.”
“No, not mine. I can assure you, that I will keep to everything I ever promise you Cori. You have to believe me. I will never hurt you. And I can promise you that I will never let anyone ever hurt you again. I will keep these promises until the day I die. Nothing will ever make me break them.”
“Thank you.” I whispered into his shoulder and as my eyes started to get heavier I felt him lay me in my bed and pull the blankets around me.
The last thing I remember was him lightly kissing my forehead as I was surrounded by the darkness of my dreams.