Lifeline (Jacoby Shaddix Short Story)

Confrontation

An hour later, I’d finally gotten cleaned up and out of my work clothes. Taking off all of my make-up, I pulled my dark blue jeans on over my lace panties and pulled my Tequila Rose T-shirt on. Running a brush through my hair, I quickly put it up into a pony tail, grabbed my purse, and headed out the back door to my car.

The night air was warm and humid. I could immediately feel the water condense on my skin. It was an uncomfortable feeling. I finally made it across the parking lot to my car and was thinking of how great it was going to be to have a day off tomorrow when I heard footsteps behind me, crunching on the sand in the parking lot. My blood ran cold. I tried to hurry up and unlock my door, but suddenly a baseball bat smashed onto the hood of my car, right next to my head. Screaming, I dropped my keys and purse, both of which fell underneath the car.

Terrified, I turned to see who was wielding the bat. Just what I was afraid of; it was Ben. He started swinging the baseball bat, a sadistic grin on his face. Finally, he spoke, “Well well. Here we are again, Chas, all alone. I don’t see your pretty boy protector anywhere. So, you have two choices. You can either get in my car and come home with me, forgetting this ever happened or… we can do this the hard way, where I beat you within an inch of your life every couple of days until you come crawling back to me to make it stop. The choice is all yours, babe.”

Despite his threat and the fact that I knew he was very capable of following through with it, I was NEVER going back to that life. Finding my voice, I said, “You’re wrong, Ben. There’s a third option. The one where you can try whatever you want to get me to come back to you, but I never do. I’m over you, Ben. I’ll never come back to you. EVER.”

Furious at his failure to terrorize me and get me to do what he wanted, Ben swung the bat and broke out my driver’s side window. Glancing at me, he continued until all of the glass on my car was in shards on the ground and inside the car. Tossing the bat aside, he turned his wrath on to me. I knew I should have ran, but I was too scared to think clearly. He grabbed me by the arm, holding me steady, and punched me in the gut.

I doubled over in pain collapsing to the ground. With a booted foot, Ben pushed me over onto the ground and proceeded to start kicking me. I curled up into a ball as best as I could, trying to protect myself. Mind full of fear and body wracked with pain, I knew I needed to get away. In one swift movement, I kicked a foot out, finding his shin. He stopped kicking me to grab at his shin, and it gave me enough time to stand up and kick him in the groin again.

Ben doubled over in pain, and I grabbed the discarded baseball bat. With one swift swing, I brought it down hard over his back. He groaned and crumpled to the floor. I knew he wouldn’t be down for long, and the keys to my car were in the exact center of the underside of the car. I’d never be able to reach them in time. I was running out of options when I happened to spy my cell phone and the white business card Jacoby had given me. Snatching them up off of the concrete, I took off running.