My Nightmare (Pt. 2)

Breathless, I stood there with my heart in my throat. This very moment was something I had been terrified of for the past six months. In front of me stood the very man that I let control my life for three years.

Without hesitation, he reached out and put his hand around my throat. This is it, I thought. His cold, deadly grasp slowly tightened up as he looked me in the eyes and smiled.

"I asked you a question princess." As he said those words, he pushed my body back in the house with only the tight hand around my throat. I felt the frigid, hard wall hard against my back. "Where," he slanted his head to the side, "do," then turned it the other way, "you think you are going?!"

As he spat the last words in my face I felt my body give in. Any attempt to breathe in was painful, as he would only tighten his grip more. I felt my fingertips slowly get numb as the sense of panic began to rise within me. Since the day he left, I knew he would come back, but nothing could have prepared me for this moment.

"Please," I struggled to let out, but my begging for mercy only excited him more. My fear and struggles enlightened him, and that's what scared me most. The look of thrill and excitement on his face was terrifying. I tried looking around for any object close enough to me that I could use for defense, but he chose the only side of the room with absolutely nothing near me.

I glanced back over to him and noticed him squint his eyes as he analyzed my every move.

"Oh sweetheart," he smiled, "Don't you know you will never be able to take me down?"

Shit. He could see right through me.

"Goodnight princess." As he said this, the room filled with his malicious laughter. He looked at me one more time with that devilish smile on his face, pulled back his arm and almost in slow-motion I saw as he curled his hand into a fist and force it towards my face.

I gasped for air as I opened my eyes and realized I had fallen asleep on the couch. Never before had my nightmares ever been so vivid. My heart raced as if I had just ran the biggest race of my life; I guess in a way I did: a race to survive my worst nightmare.

I slowly got up from the couch, still shaking for what felt like the scariest moment of my life. I searched for my phone and quickly called for the only person that made me feel secure.

"Hey John," I said right when he picked up.

"Hey baby, is everything OK?" he replied with sincere worry in his voice.

"Yeah. I'm sorry to bother you while you're away, I just really needed to hear your voice."

"Another nightmare?"

"Yes," I started tearing. "It was so realistic and detailed babe. I really thought he was here."

"I'm so sorry that I can't be there for you. I will be coming home soon and we can look at houses, get you out of there. We'll start somewhere new, somewhere you can feel safe again. OK? I will do anything I have to for you, anything to make you comfortable living your life again. I love you."

At this point, the tears wouldn't stop coming. I had truly found an amazing man, and maybe he had a good idea. Maybe moving and starting a new life for myself is exactly what I needed.

"Alright, I'll see you soon. I love you too."