Catastrophe

Chapter Three

I stood on the bath mat for a couple of minutes, my hair still dripping wet, before finally getting a towel. I was examining the bruises I had on my ribs before I heard Tyson coming through the front door. Slam. Stomp. Grumble. That's usually how it was lately. The stations around this area were short of officers so he was coving extra shifts. A lot of extra shifts. He went to work and I usually didn't see him until the morning two days after. When he came home all he wanted to do was sleep. Which was fine, I mean, he's tired. God forbid if the phone rang though. He would get so pissed off.

I quickly pulled my dress on and started combing my hair, acting as if I didn't hear him come in. I was working on a tough knot when he came into the bathroom.

"Hey," he said kissing me on the cheek.

"Hey, you hungry?" I asked, knowing that asking how work was would just tick him off.

"Always hungry. You remember Nick from high school? He's having a cookout later and invited us. I thought we might go. Sound good?" He said, cracking open a beer and sitting on the edge of the tub.

I nodded. "Yeah, sounds fun. What do you want to take? I could make pasta salad, or those cookies that you like."

"Whatever you want, babe. I'm going to catch a few z's first before we go. It starts at five so wake me up around four-ish so I can get ready."

"Sure thing. I'm going to run to the store real quick. Be back later." I said. I kissed him on the cheek. He grabbed my sides and I winced, knowing that he was squeezing right on the tender areas.

"You okay? What's wrong?" He asked, his brow furrowed.

I silently cursed myself for showing the pain. "Nothing. Just tripped the other day. That's all. See you later," I said. I hurried out of the house and quickly up the road to the store.

The truth was I had gotten into a fight. It was nothing big, but it made me worry. I was tired when it happened, but I can't shake the images I saw. I was walking back to my car from Rachel's grave when some guy grabbed me from behind. I tried clawing and biting his arm but nothing would make him let go. He grabbed ahold of my necklace and his hand started turning red. Not like red from holding on too tight, but from heat. It was burning. He started crying in pain and let go. His hand had nasty third-degree burns on it. I'm pretty sure that there was a hole in his hand from where his grip was so tight. I can still the smell of the flesh burning off of his hand. I shook the memory from my mind. It was pretty late and I was incredibly sleepy. I doubt it was real but still... It's crazy to think that it might've actually happened.

I eventually decided to get the supplies to make both the pasta salad and the cookies. If it was the same Nick from high school that I remember, he loved my cookies just like Tyson did. I also got some stuff that I could fix for when Tyson and I got to eat together. It was a rarity, but still good to be prepared.

It turns out that Nick was preparing to move to Ohio and this was kind of a going away party. He had invited several people and his parents were there as well. Although they were in their late 50's, they were still pretty cool. Everyone had wished they were their parents when we were still in school. They let Nick throw parties twice a month and supplied all the food. I'm pretty sure that the shop down the road stayed in business just because Nick's mom bought out all the s'more supplies and hotdogs. His dad would grill everything up, just like he was tonight, and then grill extras for everyone to take home.

"Hey! How's it going you guys? Long time no see! Cassie, may I just say that Tyson is a lucky loser." Nick grabbed my hand and kissed it. "Where is he? I doubt he'd let a pretty thing like you come here all alone. Unless you're my going away present and I get to take you with me?" He said and winked at me.