On the Other Side(87)

“So tell me, Neal, what’s next?”

“Oh. You’re asking me? Well, I’d like to fu . . . fu . . . fuck my wife. What about you?”

A broad smile spread across Damita’s face. She thought for sure her response to him stuttering would have been enough to set the wheels in motion, but not quite. It was when he took another step toward her, that she got a rise out of him. He stumbled and this time Damita did more than smile. She laughed out loud. She kept laughing until he lunged at her. The angrier he got the less agile he became. Then, suddenly, he revealed his true self.

“You bitch! I’m going to gut you! No one will even know or care!”

Damita stared him directly in the eyes. “Go for it,” she said.

Damita ran from the living room into the bedroom. She had the most incredible sense of déjà vu. Only this time, there was no large walk-in closet to cower in. However, she had learned some new tricks in anticipation of danger. Neal never noticed Damita purposely leaping over the doorway entrance. When he continued in pursuant of her, he stepped in the exact spot that would activate the trap she had set. Soon after she cleared the doorway, a large plank embedded with several large nails came flying down from the top of the doorway and slammed into Neal’s chest. It only slowed him down for a moment. He wiped at the blood and continued after Damita. She hoped that his limp would slow him down but it didn’t. Instead, he was even more intent on getting her. Damita dropped to the floor and rolled under the bed, hoping to evade him, if only for a moment. Just when she thought she could get out from under the bed and run for the front door, he lunged at her and pulled her back down on the floor. He straddled her and the weight of his two hundred and thirty-five pounds was too much for Damita, with or without his deficiencies.

“Who’s in control now?” he asked her.

“Did you have fun taunting me? Well, if you thought that was fun, sweetheart, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Damita struggled beneath him, but her efforts were useless. He was too heavy. Eventually, she recognized that her constant struggling was arousing him. She could feel his erection spring to life and was sorry to see that hadn’t been impacted by the damage to his brain. Suddenly, Damita stopped struggling. Her body went limp.

Damita was surprisingly defiant. “So what’s next, Neal? You rape me again? Or, maybe for fun, you invite another one of your friends to do the job for you. Tell me, what’s next?”

For a moment it felt like Neal was going to get off of her. The pressure of his body lifted and she thought she saw something in his eye. She hoped that something she said had gotten through to him. Instead, he increased the pressure on her and from his back pocket he extracted a knife. He held it to her face.

“Do you really want to know what I’m going to do next or are you still posturing? Quite frankly, I’m not sure yet. I was thinking I’d ruin that pretty little face of yours so no man but me will ever want you again.”

He pressed the tip of the blade to her cheek and she could feel the warm blood come to the surface and trickle down her face.

“Neal, you don’t have to do this,” she pleaded.

“That’s where you’re wrong. I do have to. It’s all I’ve thought about doing since I came out of that coma. After physical therapy and headaches so violent I’ve wanted to blow my own brains out, I realized one day that the only way I would be whole again is if I found you.”

“It doesn’t have to be this way. We’ve both changed. We can start again. We’re in a new city with a clean slate. Why can’t we start over?”

“Do you think I’m stupid? You would say anything to save yourself. The last thing you want is to be with me.”

“I can see you’ve changed. I’d like to try. Wouldn’t you like to at least try, Neal?”

“That’s all I ever wanted. I don’t know what happened to us. We were once so in love. Somehow everything got so screwed up.”

Damita managed a smile. “We can get it back. I know we can. Don’t we owe it to ourselves to at least try? Isn’t your leg hurting? Why don’t we both lie down on the bed? That way we’ll both be more comfortable.”

Neal looked at Damita skeptically, but released his hold on her. Slowly he got up, but he held on to the knife.

Damita lay back on the pillow.

“Even with everything that’s happened between us, I still miss how we fit together. Do you think there’s any chance we could recapture some of that old magic?”

Neal continued to hold onto the knife. He didn’t quite trust her yet. Once he started kissing her and Damita returned his affection, he let go of the knife and gave into the feeling. Within minutes Damita kneed him sharply in his groin and while he was doubled over in pain, she extracted the gun hidden under her pillow and pointed it at him.