Two Steps Behind

Part 35

 Elizabeth stared at the phone in her hand, her feet rooted to the spot she was standing. Terror took over, seizing her heart and squeezing it until she swore she could feel it cracking. The phone clattered to the floor, her stomach twisting as her hands clutched at her chest, yanking at her shirt, trying to ease the pain that was lancing through it. Her brain was misfiring, unable to process what she just heard.

No...Eddie was in trouble. David had Eddie. The thoughts broke through the shock and she shook the paralysis off that had gripped her after the call. Eddie. He was all that mattered, the only thing that mattered. She didn't have time to break down right now. She had to get to the music store. She had to save Eddie because David was going to kill him.

She grabbed her mom's keys off the table and ran out the front door without saying a word. She could hear her mom screaming her name, saw her running onto the porch, but she didn't have time to explain. She couldn't waste even one moment when she was about to lose the most important thing in her life. She was going to lose Eddie if she didn't act fast. She peeled out of the driveway and went racing up the street.

No, no, no, no, no. This wouldn't happen. This couldn't happen. He would be okay. She kept repeating it over and over like a mantra in her head. Her worst nightmare was coming to life. She had told Eddie that being with her was going to put him in danger and he refused to listen to her. David had said a bullet. Jesus Christ, did he have a gun? He'd never owned one before. His fists had been enough for him to do damage. Of course, he had to know he would win. She knew after Eddie took a swing at him, he'd find a way. She had seen the look in his eyes. The look that said he would do whatever it took because he couldn't stand to lose.

Elizabeth pressed her foot down on the gas, the pedal almost to the floor in her desperation to get to Eddie. David had taken everything from her. He had taken her pride, her strength, her trust, her autonomy, her independence. He had taken her body. He had murdered her unborn child in a fit of rage and laughed about it. She was not going to let him take the only thing she had left that meant anything. He did not get to take Eddie.

She brought the car to a screeching halt outside the music store. Her brain grappled with her body, telling her to drive away, instinctively wanting to run away from the monster waiting within those walls. Her brain wanted to find somewhere safe to hide until the danger went away, her instincts of self-preservation screaming at her that this was a horrible idea. But her heart fought back with a vengeance, pushing all of those thoughts away, and it was her heart that won. Of course it did. There was no choice here. Fear or not, she would battle any monster that threatened the man she loved. It was time to face her demons head-on.

Elizabeth threw open the car door and ran, slamming the door of the store open with her hands. Her whole body immobilized on the spot as she took in the scene in front of her. Eddie, her sweet and beautiful Eddie, was tied to a chair. His lip was split and bleeding, his eye swollen, and she could see the mark from a cigarette on the inside of his arm. Rage like she had never known rose up inside her like a snake ready to strike. She wanted to kill this bastard.

"Elizabeth..." he whimpered dejectedly at the sight of her, shaking his head. "No. Run."

"Oh my god. Eddie," she replied, running to him and dropping to her knees on the floor in front of him. Reaching out, she gently placed her hand on the side of his face, tears stinging her eyes at the sight of his injuries, knowing they were all her fault, knowing he wouldn't be in this position if it wasn't for her.

"Baby, please. You have to get out of here," Eddie pleaded with her, his own eyes sparkling with sadness.

"Oh, she's not going anywhere."

Elizabeth's head spun around and there he was. The monster under her bed. The bogeyman hiding in every shadow. The demon haunting her nightmares. The sadist who had marked her perfect Eddie. Her own personal beast who had tormented her for years, just standing there with a smile on his face, thinking he'd finally won.