Keeping Claire

Chapter Thirty Two

Chapter Thirty-Two

Claire’s POV-

            My head was still swimming as I walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. A new outlook on life filled me up. Did the thought of large crowds of people or acceptance from people still scare me? Absolutely. Those things would take time. I was still apprehensive to try new things and meet new people, but I felt as though I finally had worth on this dangerous planet. With Cody by my side, I could do just about anything.

            I turned on the radio and jammed out to Of Monsters and Men as I made a peanut butter sandwich. I moved to the beat of the music and reflected on the lyrics after each song. The meanings of the lyrics had a completely new meaning now that I had let go of the burdens I was clinging to.

            I was so lost in my thinking and the music, that I didn’t hear the door open or someone walk to the kitchen. They came up behind me and breathed into the back of my neck. At first I thought that it was Cody. However, I proved that theory wrong in an instance. He would have touched me somehow. This stranger didn’t.

            I turned around to find the one man that created that dark cloud for me: my father. His sinister grin and lust- and anger-filled eyes sent chills up my spine and through my body. Before I had time to react, he grabbed me by the hair and slammed me to the ground. I cried out in pain as he kicked my stomach repeatedly. I felt as though my organs would turn into mush if he kept going. Luckily he quit, only to grab me by my hair and yank me up from the ground.

            He brought me so close to his face that I could feel his ragged breath on my skin. I could have puked as the smell of alcohol invaded my nose. “You think that just because that little punk boyfriend of yours protects you that you aren’t mine? We’ll see about that.” He laughed humorlessly as he dragged me down the hallway and into Cody’s room.

            I knew what he was going to do. I hoped that Cody would come bursting through the door at any second. But hoping never works. Instead, I kicked and screamed and thrashed around like I was some lunatic. It only worked for about a second. Once he regained his hold on me, he threw my battered body onto the bed.

            This was the end. It was the end of everything that I had hoped for. I would never live a happy life with Cody because my own father was about to kill me. Instead of fighting back, I just laid there. My body wouldn’t obey my commands to fight back as my capturer beat me repeatedly with his fist. I just closed my eyes, trying not to think about how much the blows hurt me.

            One last blow to the head knocked me out and I was soon consumed by darkness.

Cody’s POV-

            The meeting was, as always, pointless. I didn’t care about how good our business was when I had a girlfriend at home that was being threatened by both herself and others. Telling me that I’m doing a good job is pretty irrelevant. I know that I’m doing a good job because the people that I help tell me that every day. They will let me know when I need to improve.

            I thought about this as I drove down the road and parked outside of my apartment. I walked up the steps to find that the door was unlocked. Immediately, I began to panic. I ran in and looked desperately for Claire. I was looking in the living room when I heard the sounds of movement in my room. I ran down the hall and tried to open the door, but I slammed into it. But this didn’t deter me. I took a step back and kicked the door in. I was horrified at what I saw.

            Claire’s body was lifeless and unmoving. Blood covered her face and from my position I could tell that she had a black eye. But I was even more horrified at who had done this to her. Her father was just about to lay down on top of her, but I didn’t give him time. I ran and tackled him to the ground. This confused him enough to give me time to get a few good punches in. But he regained his own strength and got me one good time in the stomach, causing me to double over in pain. He kicked me in the face, I guess hoping to knock me out. My adrenaline, however, wasn’t going to let that happen. I got back up and slammed him into the wall, crushing his face into the hard barrier. He threw back away from him, quickly turning around and going to tackle me. But I didn’t give him that. Instead, I somehow got him in a headlock, cutting of his breath. After minutes of struggling, his body finally gave and he hit the floor with a thud.