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“No!!” I scream, but he slaps my face. Stunned, I shut up really quick, fighting to keep my limbs free to punch, scratch, and kick what I can.
“I want what he gets, you little whore,” Daniel yells again and punches me in the stomach. The tears burn and I kick at him, catching him in the shin. “You bitch!” I lunge away, landing on the floor and crawling, trying to get to my phone on the coffee table. He grabs my foot, dragging me back.
“Daniel, no. Stop it!” I yell out again. A small part of me flickers with hope, begging some higher power that maybe my neighbors will hear something through the impossibly thick metal door. I don’t live in the greatest of neighborhoods, as Jack has often reminded me. I kick back, connecting with his face.
“Whore!” He is more infuriated as blood spurts from his nose.
“I hope I fucking broke it, asshole.” I grab for my phone, fumbling to dial. I can’t get to the door, but if I can just connect the call, maybe the police can get here. I barely get 9-1-1 into it before he knocks it from my hands.
“You think you’re special? I see girls like you come through each semester. Ignore me, laugh at me. I’ll show you who is in control of your grades, you dumb bitch. Flaunting your body like the garbage you are.” He crawls over me as I struggle to get away, but the fight has taken a lot of my energy.
“Edith! Edith! Baby! Open the door!” I hear a muffled voice. Loud banging, followed by kicking and punching, comes from the door. Tears clog my throat, making speech difficult. Jack is here. He’ll save me. If I can just get to the door… I reach out my hand, feeling the stubby corner of a book barely within reach of my fingertips.
“Oh, good. Your lover can listen while I take pleasure in you begging me to stop.” Daniel renewed his efforts, determined to take a piece of me that I’m not going to relinquish easily. He let go of my hand to brush my hair out of my face. His eyes are wild and darting all over. I have never wanted to shave my head bald more than at that moment. My fingers try gripping the book, a fingernail catches and pulls painfully, slipping once before I can get enough of my grasp on it.
“Fuck you,” I say, angling my head away, forcing him to grab my face to look at him. His hand bruises my chin and tears slip from my eyes as I hear Jack still trying to get the damn door open.
“Excuse me?” Daniel settles his weight over my body, making me want to puke, as he tries to rub his nearly non-existent dick into my stomach. I can hear Jack yelling through the door like a lunatic, and my heart hurt for the helpless feeling he must have. The banging of the door echoed the pounding of my heart.
“I said, fuck…you.” I spit in his face, then took the book that had been tossed to the floor in our struggle, smacking him in the head with it. I have never been so happy for the heftiness of the Principles of Statistics before. My actions only stun Daniel, but it is enough for me to get to the door and unlock it.
“Bitch.” Daniel staggers over and tries slamming the door shut again, but once unlocked, Jack kicks it in, propelling us both backwards. Both Daniel and I are pushed back over the coffee table and onto opposite sides of the couch.
“Edith! Oh, my god, baby!” Jack rushes over to me and picks me up, shoving me behind him and rounding on Daniel. “You fucking little shit! I’ll kill you!” Jack punches Daniel twice before Aiden and Shelby push into my apartment.
“Jack, no. He isn’t worth killing. You’re already sleeping with a student. Stop it!” Aiden yells and I grab his shirt, but Aiden’s words are the ones that actually get him to stop pummeling the little douchebag. His chest is heaving and he looks like he could kill Daniel, which scares me as much as it makes me feel safe.
“Jack, Edie might be hurt. You need to think clearly about this. Let him go.” Shelby is holding me up now, but barely. Aiden stands between all of us and Daniel. My best friend is like a grizzly bear protector, his hands fisted in Jack’s shirt, barely holding him back.
“He hurt her, Aiden.” Jack is breathless as he takes in the scene. Shelby grabs his arm and puts our hands together. Just like that, Jack is holding me and breathing me in. I bury my head in his shoulder and feel the tears start to overwhelm me. “Oh, Edith. Baby, are you okay? I could hear him, but I couldn’t get to you.” Jack is shaking as much as I am.
“I’m okay now.” I hug him tightly before wincing from my injuries, but I don’t care. It’s over. The place that once was my home looks like a tornado imploded inside the four walls.
“Okay, so this is how things are going to go down. I’m going to call this in and report it, but you never saw Jack here. You got that, scum?” Aiden grabs Daniel by his shirt and slams him up against the wall, almost choking him. He releases him when Daniel gives a weak nod. “Jack is going to call Dean Andrews and let him know you’ve been stalking Edith, and that he suspected something might be up with your odd behavior lately. She fought you off as we were coming over to pick her up.” Aiden slams him against the wall again, holding him there. “Shelby, be a dear and call 9-1-1.”
“You bet, sweetheart.” Shelby dials her phone. “Hello. This is Shelby Moore and I’d like to report a break-in and assault. Please come to 11 Birchwood… Yes, my boyfriend is holding the guy who attacked my friend. Her name is Edith Willows… No. No ambulance is needed. Thanks.” Shelby stays on the phone and pushes Jack and me out into the hallway. “Jack, don’t you think you should…?”
She trails off as Jack is shaking his head. “Absolutely not. I’ll explain this somehow. Let’s just worry about Edith.” Jack holds me tighter and the tears flow freely. “I do think she should get checked out medically though. There will be bruises tomorrow.” Jacks leans back from me to look in my eyes, searching. I rest my head on his chest wishing this day away. I should have never let Daniel come here for the study session.
“H-how did you know?” I shiver from the shock and Jack rubs his hands up and down my back, shushing my whimpers. So much of this is my fault.
“I just had this feeling. It doesn’t matter now. I’m here and you’re safe.” Jack kisses the top of my head and holds me as tight as he can for a long moment. I don’t care how painful my stomach feels or how bruised my face might be. I don’t ever want him to let me go again.
***
The police arrive and question all of us. They process and charge Daniel Munson with breaking into my apartment and assaulting me. They haul him away in handcuffs and his stare makes me sick to my stomach. I think back to all those tutoring sessions in the library and how he, more than likely, was planning this all along. I wonder if I could have seen this coming if I hadn’t been wrapped up in my relationship with Jack. They have all of us drive down to the police station to make a formal report and taped statement. They make me repeat my story at least six more times. Telling the story over and over again, feeling my body succumb to exhaustion and pain, I feel this must have been my fault, although no one ever says that to me. It’s just the sympathetic looks from everyone that make it worse. I get a “No Contact” order, and the police let me know my apartment is a crime scene for the next few days while they take pictures. I’m going to Jack’s anyway. I couldn’t stay there even if I wante
d to. Still worried things might leak out about Jack and I, Aiden convinces Jack to drive home alone. Shelby and Aiden pack a bag for me and drive me over later. I’m safe, but still unsettled. When we get there, Jack is on the phone with Dean Andrews, letting him know that his TA attacked me, but not that I’m staying in his house. I’m sure Dean Andrews has an idea that something is going on, but he’s probably too polite to say anything.
Over the next few days, we learn that Daniel has a case pending and the prosecutor tells me I might need to make another statement. The university hasn’t expelled Daniel and, right now, I don’t think I even care. I’m just overwhelmed and shaky. I can’t even think about my last semester and if he’ll still be on campus. Jack promises me I’ll be safe because he will make it happen and I believe him. Justice is not always what we envision it to be, so I’m prepared to let karma have her way with him instead. Whatever steely resolve I had is now floundering, and Jack is really the only thing keeping me grounded. I’m excused from taking my final exam, but I opt to go through with it. Daniel was a shitty tutor, but I still work hard to get through this class. Dean Andrews actually grades my exam and I pass it with an 81%. I’ll take it. I do my best to forget the worst parts of this semester, highlighted by probably the best thing in my life. Jack.
Jack
Edith has been pretty listless since Daniel attacked her. I feel like it is partly my fault for making him tutor her in the first place. The university is still investigating the matter but, technically, it happened off campus. I’m in contact with the prosecutor’s office daily, making a nuisance of myself until they ask me why I am so involved in the matter. Edie asked me to leave things alone, but I can’t. I will never forget the look on her face or the helplessness I felt. When the police took preliminary photos of her bruises, it lanced my eyes with a vision I never want to see again and they didn’t even see her the day after. Shelby came over and took photos with her digital camera the next day. The blank look in her eyes is one of the memories that pains me the most. I retained a lawyer, just in case things go further. I decide I’ll let her know if and when it’s necessary, but I don’t want her unprotected again. She has days when she smiles and I think things are okay; other days, she mopes around the house. It’s hard to express how proud I am of her and how much I admire her strength without getting choked up. Even on her worst days, she is a fighter. She passed all her exams and she has one semester left. I’m not sure what will happen after the Christmas holidays and she goes back to class. Her determination is a bit intimidating at times and I’m afraid to ask her.
We move to the new house, just to get away from campus and give her some distance from things. The house feels new and safe, and I’ve installed a top notch security system, which I don’t even know how to really work. Edith read the manual and knows it better than I do. The first time I accidentally set it off, I thought she might have a panic attack, but she just smiled and calmly told me the disarm code. We laughed about it, and I joked about tattooing it on my body backwards so if I forget it, I can rip my shirt off and check in the hallway mirror to read it. Needless to say, Edith was against the idea.
Shelby and Aiden stop by daily so she’s never alone. She sleeps in my bed, but I haven’t tried to be intimate with her because I’m afraid it will make things worse. Our days are spent with me working from home when I can, and holding her at night when she lets me. I’m still waiting for my brave girl to shatter and let me in.
