The Neighbor

That Damn Scrapbook

"Cass, I want you to go back to the house, grab Michael, lock the doors, and call the police." Cassie grasped his arm tightly. "Ben," she whimpered. "What's going on?" He turned to her and cupped her face in his hands. "Baby, go. It will all be fine, I promise." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and she immediately ran down the stairs.

As soon as she got down to the bottom, she was suddenly pushed up against the wall with a hand over her mouth. This seems to be a familiar position for her nowadays.

"Hello, sweets," the only other British accent she's encountered said darkly in her ear. She whimpered and muffled a scream to Ben, but it was useless. Fighting was useless. She knew this from Ben, so she didn't even try.

That was until...she saw the knife. Then she thought of Michael and Ben, Sarah and Alec, her mom and dad. That's when she started fighting.

She kicked Chuck's leg and shoved him away, then immediately screamed, "BEN!" Chuck came up behind her and put his hand over her mouth and brought her back against his body with his knife at her stomach. Ben's footsteps were coming furiously down the stairs, but stopped right at the bottom when he saw what was unfolding.

His eyes were wide with fear and his breathing was heavy. "Chuck," he said, "let her go. Please. She has nothing to with this." Chuck let out a disturbing cackle and told him, "She has everything to do with it, Benny! Did you really think I was just going to let this go? I didn't move here for work, you idiot! I found out where you were and I saw it as my opportunity. You took my life...now I'm going to take yours."

"NO!" Ben charged after him...but it was too late. The knife pierced through her stomach, but the worst part...her scream. It racked through Ben's body like nothing has before. He's heard plenty of blood piercing screams in the years, but this one...Cassie's...his wife. It broke him.

Everything happened in slow motion. Her body fell to the floor; limp and motionless. Chuck ran past him and back up to the attic, but Ben didn't notice. He focused on his dying wife.

He got down on his knees and quickly gathered her in his arms. Tears were spilling out of him like mad and he tried to put pressure on her stomach to stop the bleeding. His hands were shaking, his breathing was ragged, and he didn't know what to do. He's usually not the one helping in these situations!

"Cassie, Cass--oh God, baby," he sobbed. "Hey, hey, look at me. Stay awake for me, sweetheart." He tapped her cheek with a blood stained hand and her eyes fluttered a bit. Her droopy eyes fell on him and he gave her an unconvincing smile. "There you are. Hey, beautiful." He put his hand back on her stomach to apply pressure and she whimpered. "I know baby, I know. Just hang in there for me." He cradled his phone in between his shoulder and ear, while situating her head on his lap.

"Yes, please help," he sobbed into the phone, "my wife she's...she's been stabbed! God, please get here!" He started getting frantic when blood started coming out of her mouth. He dropped the phone and leaned down to press his forehead against hers.

She tried to speak, but he just shushed her. "Don't talk, it'll all be fine," he told her. But she kept trying to say something. Finally he just put his ear to her mouth. What she said made his breath catch in his throat.

"Michael."

He whipped his head up to look at the stairs that lead to the attic, then looked back down to Cassie. She faintly nodded, but he was hesitant to leave her. But Michael. His son. He took a deep breath and said, "I'll be right back." He gently placed her head on the floor and sprinted upstairs.

He got up just in time to see Chuck try to escape through the window. Oh, Ben wasn't going to let him go that easily. He charged at Chuck and grabbed him by the jacket, hauling him back inside. Chuck landed harshly on the floor and didn't have time to escape before Ben was on him, crushing his wind pipe.

"I warned you," he snarled in Chuck's face. "And now...I am going to fucking end you!" He lifted Chuck's head and slammed it into the floor with a whack!. "You try to kill my wife," whack! "You were going after my son," whack! "And you killed," whack! "My," whack! "Unborn," whack! "CHILD!" He slammed his head down one more time, and then punched him so hard that his head flew in a direction that no one would think was possible. But Ben didn't stop there. He kept hitting and hitting and hitting.

He eventually let up when Chuck's entire face was creamed with blood and his body stopped moving. Ben struggled to stand up, but when he did, he started moving downstairs without giving Chuck a second glance. But then...something caught his eye. By the cot in the corner, was a large looking book. He stumbled over and picked it up.

The damn scrapbook.

Ben tucked it under his arm and glanced down to see if there was anything else. There were stacks of pictures.

He picked up one and screamed in frustration when he saw it. It was one of several of Cassie naked in their bedroom. A few were of Ben and her having sex, the most recent one when he took her from behind the night before he left for New York.

He threw down the pictures and ran downstairs where he saw Cassie struggling to stay still. The ambulance could be heard just down the street now.

He threw himself down beside her and stopped her from moving. "Baby, don't move, you'll make it worse." She started crying and clutched on to Ben's hand. "Michael," she choked out. He brushed back her hair and said, "He's fine, honey. Marshall will keep a good eye on him, alright?" The ambulance was right in front of the house now and he could hear the front door opening.

"In here!" He shouted. Several officers and paramedics and firefighters ran to them and immediately started attending to Cassie. One of the officers knelt down to Ben to ask if he needed anything. "My son," he croaked. "He's alone at the house with our dog." He didn't need to say anymore, as half the officers ran out to go get Michael.

Ben answered any and all questions as Cassie was hauled up and put in the ambulance. He got in with her as they also brought down Chuck with a neck brace. Unfortunately, he wasn't dead. Ben swore to the almighty Gods that he would kill Chuck in any way he possibly could. But right now, all his focus was on Cassie.

She had gotten incredibly pale from blood loss and her skin was cold to the touch as Ben tried to hold her hand. And if things couldn't get any worse...she started going into cardiac arrest.