Julia Lelieveld and the fifth element

~25~

He dragged me into the office and kicked the door shut behind him. The pain only got worse and tears welled up in my eyes.

"Let go of me," I hissed through my teeth, kicking and hitting him with my free arm. He just laughed harder.

"Do you really think all that kicking and hitting scares me? Then you really have to come up with something better."

With those words I kicked him hard in the groin. He bent over, but only gripped my wrist harder.

I tried to break free from his grip, but he was just a lot stronger than me.

Head red and angry, he got up and grabbed my shoulder and turned my back to him so he had me in a headlock. My wrist was now in an odd twist. Panic suddenly hit me.

The flashes of the hostage who had also held me in that kind of way with a knife to my throat wouldn't leave my sight. I totally panicked.

I started screaming and fighting, but he just held me too tight. And because my wrist was at such a wrong angle, I couldn't do everything I wanted to do.

I heard him panting in my ear.

"Keep going like this, I just like it better."

For a moment it seemed to turn black before my eyes. I didn't know if I could stand being held like this any longer, with everything about that day running through my mind again. The screams of my mother and father.

Suddenly I heard the door open with a bang and saw Renzo standing in the doorway, startled. In a second he took in the whole situation.

I felt Ivo stiffen behind me.

Renzo rushed at us.

Ivo loosened his grip, but he was slower than Renzo.

With his quick reflexes, he punched Ivo in the face so hard that he immediately let go of me and flopped back on his desk himself.

Renzo turned to me and came to stand in front of me. He grabbed my shoulders and looked me up and down. He stopped at my eyes and looked at me intently.

"Julia, are you hurt?"

Completely in shock, I was unable to answer, let alone move.

Renzo grabbed me tighter and shook me briefly. I blinked a few times and then really looked at him. His eyes were worried, confused and angry.

"Julia?"

"I.........., no, I'm not hurt." He looked at me for a moment, then nodded and sat me in the other corner of the office. He turned to Ivo, who had struggled to his feet in the meantime.

Little streams of blood came out of his nose and he was really angry.

He walked towards Renzo with his finger pointed at him.

"You! You're going back to jail, do you hear me?"

Renzo seemed to freeze for a moment, but then changed his mind and in one step he grabbed Ivo by the throat.

"If I go back to jail, I'll take you with me. Do you know what they do to you if they know you're a rapist?"

Ivo looked at him with small eyes. His face started to turn red.

"It will be a lot more annoying for you than for me. I've already made my status, but you? It's hell, I'll tell you that in advance."

When he had said that, Ivo tried to push him away. But Renzo was stronger and held him by the throat. Ivo kept getting redder and redder.

Suddenly an alarm bell started ringing in my head. I had to force myself to get moving. When I succeeded, I approached Renzo and tried with all my might to take his hands off Ivo's throat. He held them so tightly that they couldn't.