Horrors by the Hudson

Chapter Six

I waited outside the club for Zach. He was supposed to text me when he got here, but he was now 15 minutes late. I decided to just go in and wait for him at the bar. I texted him again saying, "You're so late so I just decided to go into the bar, meet me there."

I sat down on an open stool and waited for the bartender to come over. The music was so loud you could barely hear him when he asked,

"What can I get you?" He said leaning on the bar top.

"I'll have a Manhattan!" I practically yelled because of the noise and then smiled.

"Coming right up," he said and turned around.

I sat and just looked around to my right. There were people dancing and grinding on each other. I look to my left and see this group of college guys, most likely jocks, going over and flirting with every girl they even lay eyes on. Girls were dressed in skimpy dresses that barely covered their butts and gave a full display of their chest, it was like their boobs could just pop out at any moment. The guys were all in typical clothing, I was clearly not dressed in the right attire. Did I care though? No. I had black jeans with rips in the knees and a tan sweater that have a V cut on both the back and front with my normal black booties on. The bartender came back with my drink and I chugged about half of it down but, before I could finish, my phone beeped. I looked down at the message that said, "Coming in now." I sent back a quick, "ok" and looked back around, waiting. I sat there swirling my drink in my hands when a pair of arms circled around my waist and reached up and groped boob. I sat there frozen in fear.

"Hey hot stuff, wanna dance?" He said, even though I couldn't see his face he clearly had a smirk on it and his hand was still groping my boob. I couldn't move. I was paralyzed in fear. The thoughts of him come flowing back just like the nightmares I have every night.

His hands wrapped around my neck, squeezing, as he shoved me up against the wall. My back dragged across the rough coarse wall. as he pushed me onto the bed. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move.

"Chase don't! Stop! I can't breathe!" I choked out as he just squeezed harder.

"Just stay still and it will be over soon." He chuckled, enjoying himself like always.

He ran his hands all over me making me squirm. The lights dimmed, but lit enough to just make out his 6 foot figure and his piercing dark brown, hazel like eyes. His hands reached my butt and squeezed. I tried to move but he just hit me across the face, I could already feel it start to bruise. I squirmed again as his hands trailed up from my butt to my breast and cupped them. He kicked me this time. I tried to fight and get away, but he punched, kicked, and hit me over and over again—

I got knocked out of my daze by Zach standing there with his hands on my shoulders, looking into my eyes.

"Zara are you okay?" I just shook my head yes.

"What happened?" He asked, I looked back at him, our eyes locking.

"Nothing, just some drunk college jock, I'm fine." I said bluntly not wanting him to dig too deep into it.

"Oh... ok." He said with his hands still on my shoulders squeezing just enough for me to notice. I flinch and shrug his hands off.

"So..." I continue wanting to change the subject. "I wanted to talk to you about your dad." I pause. "Do you mind me asking you a few questions about him?" I asked, I didn't want him to do anything he didn't want to.

"Uh.... sure! Go ahead, ask away." He said, giving me a half smirk.

"Ok, do you remember the way he acted when you were younger? Did he ever act unusual?" I asked as I felt my cheeks start to heat up.

"The only thing that I remember that really stuck to me was when he threatened my mom. He would tell her that if she didn't do something that he wanted then he would hurt her or me," he was playing with his fingers while avoiding my eyes.

"Do you remember how he was going to hurt her or you? Did he say he was going to hit or use a weapon to hurt?"

"Well he was a hunter, he loved to kill as much as he could every time he went to the woods. He tried to force me to hunt, he said that it would make me feel happier, like I would get the same high he felt. But my personality wasn't like his, I took after my mother. She was more preserved, and never liked the thought of my father killing animals for sport, but she stuck with him because she was scared of what he would do. The one time I did decide to go hunting with him, he said that he was going to teach me all the secrets on how to get an accurate kill. Instead of hunting animals like I thought we were going to be doing, he forced me to aim my gun at a woman. Of course, I refused to shoot and I ran away from my father," I was shocked. I wrote down everything in my small notebook that I had brought along with me.

The loud music continued to play while I was thinking about the case. I wanted to ask Zach more questions but he was no longer sober. He downed at least eight shots of vodka while I was writing in my notebook. He was completely drunk and out of it.

"Zach! I'm going to ask you more questions later okay? But I need to take you home, it's not safe for you to be here drunk and alone," I grabbed my purse, and put his arm around my shoulders so I could take him to my car. "You need to tell me your address so I can take you home," I said to him while I was putting him in the passenger seat. All I heard was mumbling, I sighed and decided to take him to my apartment instead.