“What is this?” he growled. “What’s this!?!?”

“It’s just a letter…” Her voice was soft, hardly a whimper and each syllable lined with fear.

“A letter from who?” he screamed

“Um,”

“A LETTER FROM WHO???”

“My brother,” she squeaked, hardly audible.

“Really,” He grabbed the piece of paper of the counter and held it up to her face. “Then why is the surname different?” he asked, accusingly, his thumb on the address and threw it at her. He took off his belt. “You been cheating on me sweetheart?”

She whimpered a no.

“Liar!” SMACK!


Hey girl you know you drive me crazy
one look puts the rhythm in my hand.
Still I'll never understand why you hang around
I see what's going down.


James sat down to his breakfast, carefully filling his mug of coffee and adjusted his chair to more decent position. He had a big project due today and everything had to go smooth, which meant for his presentation he had to be fully awake, well fed, and in a perfect mood to give a ninety minute long speech. The floor plans for his building design were tucked neatly away in his port folio which rested idly on the top of his dinner table. He sighed contentedly. Today he might actually make partner.

Behind him he heard and audible crash. Turning around, his view shifted to his kitchen window. Through this window he could see into the neighboring home where a woman was kneeling on the floor crying, next to her were scattered white fragments of a once whole object and several pieces of glass next to a curved shade and a tiny pronged piece of metal. Must have been her favorite lamp, he thought. Thinking nothing of it, he went back to his meal.


Cover up with make up in the mirror
tell yourself it's never gonna happen again
you cry alone and then he swears he loves you.


Maria crouched in the corner as the monster that had once been her true love stood over her with a belt in his hand, the buckle dangling dangerously over his knees. His shadow completely covered her and his glass green eyes glared evilly into hers as if they were the eyes of a demon. He was a tall heavyset man, just south of six feet and weighed a whopping four hundred and eighty pounds. His dirty blonde hair, trimmed in a buzz cut—a trademark of the many years he had spent in the armed forces—was matted with sweat with the perspiration gleaming off his brow. With his free hand he had used all of his strength to pick up a tableside lamp and hurl it at her narrowly missing by a hair, which—at least to Maris observance—angered him even more.

He reached for her, closing his giant ham fingers around her puny arm and hoisted her to her feet and positioned his face just inches from hers. “I’ll teach you how to show some respect.” He hissed.

She flinched. “Brian, please,” her arm felt sore as the circulation cut off. “you’re hurting me.”
He started to laugh. “Good!” he screamed and spun around and threw her halfway across the room. She landed with a thud in the middle of the floor as he slowly approached her, the belt in his hand.


Do you feel like a man
when you push her around?
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?


“No! Please!” she screamed/pleaded. “Don’t!”

“Shut up!” he said and delivered the first crack to her face which immediately sent her hands up to her mouth. Satisfied at the results of his action, he continued with fervor.

Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end
as your lies crumble down, a new life she has found.

As James dumped his plate in the sink he had a supreme filling of uneasiness deep in his gut. Something was wrong, he could feel it. But he didn’t know what it was. Shrugging off the feeling he rinsed his plate and grabbed his port folio and briefcase and headed out the door. Halfway to his car, he heard another crash. That woman must be really accident prone, he thought, once again shrugging off the feeling. That is, until he heard another noise that sent his stomach reeling: Several terrified sobs followed by pleads of mercy, and a bunch of loud noises that sounded like several whips cracking. James now stood at a crossroads and tried to figure out what to do. He had always hated conflict, even when he was a little boy. Always just taking it whenever a bully teased him or some tougher kid shoved him. Even now at his prime age of twenty-three did he do his best to avoid any kind of confrontation.

SMACK “No!” SMACK “Please stop!” he screams were becoming louder.
That’s it! He thought. I’ve decided! Dropping his briefcase he ran back inside the house.


A pebble in the water makes a ripple effect
every action in this world will bear a consequence
If you wade around forever you will surely drown
I see what's going down


James walked slowly and deliberately up the steps to the Patterson household were he was sure he heard the cries for mercy emanating from. His suspicions were confirmed when he heard another whip crack from beyond the wooden door.  His took a long deep breath, fingering the two objects in his belt and reached up with his fist and pounded on the door. “Open up!”

-

Maria lay motionless on the ground, too scared to open her mouth any more and too physically hurt to even shake from her fear. To anyone else it might have looked like she was dead, her face was bruised in several places, her left eye so swollen it couldn’t open. There was a small fountain of blood dribbling out of the corner her mouth. Her knees were smashed out of place, not broken however the kneecaps had been cracked. Her right shoulder was broken as well, and her wrists bruised, her nose had been kicked in and her breathing was labored and painful as every wheeze she took in spiked an unbearable sting in her ribs.

Brian, her boyfriend, stood over her a sickeningly large smirk on his face. The belt had been discarded, and lay several feet behind him. “Thaaaaats better.” He said apparently satisfied.
Maria’s chest painfully heaved as small animal noises began to escape her throat. Small little droplets of liquid sailed down her bruised cheeks and she crumpled up into a little ball on the floor, burying her face in her arms.

“Tschh, look at you. You’re so pathetic.” He scowled. Maria cried harder.

“Shut up.” Brian ordered softly. She continued.

“I said,” he raised his voice as he took another step toward her “SHUT UP!” his rage returning he kicked her hard in the ribs. That did it, she made a little choked coughing noise and rolled over onto her back, her tears relentless but her voice silenced.

“God, what is wrong with you? Should I just fuck you and get it over with? God! Your like a little kid, I can’t trust you with SHIT! You always, ALWAYS go behind my back to do some shit. Haven’t I been good to you sweetie? Haven’t I loved you like a good man should?”

She coughed. Was he serious? Beating her, yelling at her and forcing her to undress while he masturbated was love? The only reason she hadn’t walked out on him was because she was too afraid of him, of what he might do. It was all she could do to keep herself together, from not ending it straight off. She flinched as she saw that twinge in his eyes.

“Yeah, I think I know what you want…”

Oh please God, no… She shuddered in horror.

“Come here.” He said.


I see the way you go and say your right again,
say your right again
heed my lecture


After several failed attempts, James was about to give up when he tried the doorknob and found it unlocked. The noise from the other end had sufficed but that only made him more apprehensive. Summoning all of his courage, he walked through the foyer.

Jesus Christ, he thought as he strode slowly around the building. The house was a mess. The wallpaper had been ripped violently off the wall and the dining room table had been turned upside down. In the kitchen all the dishes had been pulled from the cabinets and smashed on the tile floor. He heard something crunch under his shoe, and upon looking down he saw the lamp which he had heard smash previously; his stomach lurched as he heard a sound coming from the living room. Making his way around the corner he saw the door half open and silently walked toward it pressing his back to the wall. The sounds were different now, indistinct, but he thought he heard a soft moaning as well as an odd squelching sound.

“Yeaaah, uh huh,” a voice sounded from past the door. Disgusted and afraid of what he might find, he said a silent prayer and kicked open the door.

Taking in the scene before him he resisted the urge to gag. Kneeling on the carpet with her hands fastened behind her back was a young Latin woman of about twenty or twenty-one who looked like she had just gone through World War Two. Standing high above her towered a hulking giant of a man with his huge beefy palms on the back of the woman’s head, his jeans pants undone and an unmentionable part of him inside the woman’s mouth.

“What the—” said the man as he registered James’ presence. “Who the hell are you?” He pulled out of her jaw and the woman leaned to the left and vomited.

“I—” he stammered. “What’s going on in here?” asked a frightened James.

“That aint none of your business!” the older male bellowed zipping up his pants. “Now who the HELL are you, and what the hell are you doin’ in MY house?” his voice raised sky high he stook a few threatening steps toward him. He found his courage. “Here,” he said and reached into his back pocket. “Catch!” he threw the object at him.

“Wha-” said Brian stupidly as he reached for whatever it was James had thrown at him. He caught and examined the object in his fingers: a long enclosed butterfly knife. He looked up a second later and there was a gun in James’ hand.

BOOM!

The sound reverberated throughout the mans home as his gigantic body fell to the floor, a small round hole in his chest. He looked over at the woman. “Are you alright?” he asked. She looked at him, then at the dead body at her knees, then broke down and bawled.


Do you feel like a man
when you push her around?
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?
Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end
as your lies crumble down a new life she has found


“So you say he pulled a knife and tried to attack you?” Officer Polaski scribbled into his notepad.

“Yes sir, I heard the noise from my home and went to investigate, the house was in pieces and the two of them were—”

“Yes yes,” he interrupted. “we got a statement from her already.”

“Is she gonna be alright?” he asked.

“She’ll be fine,” he replied “she has a bunch of fractured bones and a huge swelling over her elft eye. Might have to spend a week in the hospital but she’ll be in tip top shape in no time.”

James gave a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” He said.

“I should be the one thanking you.” The officer countered. “If you hadn’t done something he might have killed her.”

James had no response to this so the officer left him and returned to his vehicle. James glanced over and saw the woman he had saved lying in a stretcher with her eyes half open, she was clearly exhausted, but was giving the whole of her story to another officer regardless. James looked around and nervously approached her bedridden form.

“I just got a letter from my friend upstate,” she was explaining. “he found it on the counter and threw a fit, he’s always accusing me of cheating on him when I haven’t. He was just so possessive…” her voice trailed off. The officer seemingly satisfied with the information he had gathered, left her alone. James came and stood next to her stretcher, his hands in his pockets.

She opened her eyes and gazed up at him. “Hi,” she said smiling.

“Hi.” He responded meekly. “Are you okay?”

“Mmm,” she groaned. “I’ve been better.” She shifted on the stretcher. “What’s your name?” she asked.

“James.” He replied.

“I’m Maria.” She said.

“The guy over there said you might have to be hospitalized for a few days.”

She groaned again. "It’s a small price to pay. I’m just glad I’ll never have to put up with,” she scrunched up her face “him again.”

James looked at her strongly. “How did you ever live with that guy?” he asked,.

“I couldn’t really, he would always do stuff like this. He’d hit me for no reason or when he got drunk or angry. I couldn’t stand it, I almost thought about killing myself.”

James looked apprehensive.

“But thanks to you,” she reassured him, reaching out and touching his arm. “That’s not gonna be an option anymore.”

He smiled.

“I can start over, I can be whole again. Thank you.”

“No problem.” He said as they began to lift her into the ambulance.

“Oh, and James,” she called to him from inside the vehicle. He acknowledged her.

“Keep your head up,” the double doors closed.


Face down in the dirt she says, this doesn't hurt she says I finally had enough…