Smoke & Mirrors

Chapter 4: The Nightmare

"I am done, you can't keep doing this, I am leaving. Don't try to contact me, if you do, I will press charges, I won't drop them this time." She screamed at him.

"Leaving?" he said menacing. "You think it will be different with someone else, as if anyone would want you. This is what we do, all men hit their women if she is being a disobedient bitch." he spit the words like venom before he struck her and she to the fell to the floor, blood dripped from her mouth staining the white tile floors of the kitchen. She brought her hands up to wipe the blood on her mouth and stared at him. She hated him and she was leaving this time, even if it killed her. "Look at you, pathetic, what was that about you charging me?" he kicked her in the back hard enough to leave his shoe print in bright red and the pain spread through her back. She blinked hard in an attempt to hold back the tears that burned in her eyes. He stood over her, his eyes seared with hatred she would never understand. He lifted her head and spit in her face before slamming it once against the tile. His spit ran down the side of her face and the smell made her want to vomit but she didn't dare move. Instead, she closed her eyes and lay very still on the floor for what felt like forever, until she heard the door open and car roar to life in the driveway, she opened her eyes and...

Allison sprung to life, drenched in sweat and the frozen air bit her skin. The winter wind whipped around her room, and she jumped from her bed to close and lock her window. Again, she thought.

"I know I closed and locked that window." she said out loud to herself. Allison looked around her room for any sign that someone had entered her home, but everything looked to be in place. She opened the door and was greeted by Cosmo who was whimpering in front of the bedroom door.

"Hey boy, what's got you spooked?" she spoke to the dog like he could understand her. He looked at her with wide eyes. "You too, huh?" she continued their one-sided conversation. She ventured down the long hallway that led to the kitchen and the living room. She turned her head when she heard shuffling in a room behind her, Allison spun around quick enough to see a tall shadow dart into guest bedroom. Fear ripped through Allison as she realized she was right, there was someone in her house and she was in danger. With Cosmo still in her arms she ran out the front door and into the winter night in just her pyjamas and socks. Allison ran as far as she could as she glanced around every few seconds to make sure she wasn't followed before she stopped to breathe. The frigid air stung her lungs, the cold was dry and burned with every breath. When she looked down, she realized she had no shoes on and her toes began to burn. She began to run again, there was a gas station with a pay phone only a few more minutes down the gravel road, if she could get there, she could call 9-1-1.

She was frantic when the dispatcher answered the phone, Allison explained through loud sobs about the intruder in her home and was immediately asked if she was blond, she instinctively said yes. The dispatcher attempted to calm her down and asked for her name, address and where she was now and informed her that officers were on their way to her and to her house. She stayed on the line until a uniformed officer arrived to bring her to the station to make a formal statement.

At the station she was given shoes, a warm blanket and was led to a small room in the back of the building. The officer handed her a piece of paper and a pen, he asked her to write down everything she did that day, where she went, who she saw, and anything she could remember about the person she saw in her house. Allison sat in the cold room, she could feel her feet burn through the shoes, while Cosmo sat wrapped in a blanket in the corner. She closed her eyes and thought about everything the officer had asked her write. The minutes ticked by Allison wrote every detail she could remember about her day and the intruder, although it wasn't much all she saw was a tall shadow. An hour later she was finished, and a short and squat officer with a 5 o'clock shadow covering his double chin entered the small room. His beady eyes hid behind thick rimmed glasses, and it smelled as if he'd worked a double and hadn't had a chance to shower. The officer meticulously read her statement, He paused for a moment to lick his thin lips and looked her up and down and in a stern voice he began to ask questions.