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The door at the end of the hall is splintered and there’s a large hole in it, but it’s still standing and is mostly intact.
“Emily?” I call out.
“Aaron, he’s still out there!”
The words are barely out of her mouth when a blur of movement in the corner of my eye draws my attention. Instinctively, I draw backward and am instantly thankful I did. Robert, leading with the point of a wicked-looking blade, sails past me. He adjusts mid-step well enough to drag the edge of his blade across my torso. I grunt and grimace as a feeling like fire spreads across my skin. I feel the blood flowing down my belly, warm and viscous. I know it’s a superficial wound, though. He didn’t get too deep with that knife.
He spins around and is in the process of raising the blade again when I lash out, driving my fist into his face. I hear the pop as I land the punch, my fist smashing into his nose with a sharp crack. He stumbles backward, blood flowing from his nose – which is barely distinguishable from the blood that’s already flowed down his face from a nasty cut on his head. Emily must have gotten a good shot in on him. Good girl.
Pressing my advantage, I close the distance between us and drive my fist into his stomach. Robert grunts and doubles over, gasping and wheezing as he tries to catch his breath. He manages to square himself up enough to take another swing with his knife. He buries the point of it into my bicep, drawing a pained roar from me.
Jerking myself backward and out of his reach, I notice that he’s not holding the knife anymore. Looking down at my arm, I see the hilt protruding from my shirt and feel the blood flowing freely. The strange thing is, I barely feel it. Yeah, it hurts, but it’s more of a dull ache than a raging inferno of agony. Still, I’m not going to say it’s comfortable.
Robert stares at me with a pure, unadulterated hatred. I know he won’t stop until one of us is dead. He’s relentless. I grip the handle of the knife and grit my teeth. With one vicious pull, I scream like a wounded beast and yank the knife out of my arm. Blood coats the steel and drips to the floor in front of me as I point it at him. The blood on my arm is gushing now and I know I need to get pressure on it immediately. I need to end this. Now.
As if he thinks he senses weakness, Robert rushes me, letting out a snarl that’s more animal than human. He closes the distance between us, trying to force me to either kill him, or let him get me into a position where he can kill me. I have no desire to kill him, but I’m not going to let him take me out either.
When he gets within a few feet of me, I quickly drop to a knee and drive the point of the blade forward. The sensation as I drive it into the meat of his thigh is strange and disturbing. Robert howls in agony as he stumbles backward. As he does, the blade of the knife comes free and his blood starts to flow, leaving puddles on the hardwood floor. He collapses, falling onto his butt, his face a mixture of tears and blood. He’s clutching his leg tight, trying to staunch the flow.
It’s then I hear the pounding of footsteps in the living room. I drop the knife and get down onto my knees as the horde of cops, guns drawn, rushes around the corner. They start shouting at me as they cuff Robert. I comply with their orders and lay face down with my hands behind my head.
“No!” Emily screams. “He saved me. He saved me from Robert.”
I turn my head and see her arguing with the cops about who I am and what I’m doing there. The older black security guard is with them. He looks down at me, giving me a nod and a tight smile. EMTs show up and tend to our wounds as the situation is cleared up.
It takes a while, but Emily and the security guard eventually convince the cops that I’m the hero in this story and not the villain. After the EMTs patch me up, the cops make me give them my version of events. It’s nearly an hour and a half later before they send me down to the ambulance to go to the hospital. Initially, I tried to decline, but Emily insisted that I get checked out.
Having endured so much chaos for a few hours, I’m grateful to have the reprieve of a silent elevator. It’s just Emily and me. She clutches my hand the way a drowning man might hold onto a life preserver in the middle of the ocean. When I look down at her, I see the fear and pain in her eyes – it’s subsiding, but it hasn’t loosened its grip entirely just yet.
The air between is still tense and filled with so many unspoken words and sentiments. The air is charged with anticipation and expectation. There is so much to say, and so much to express, that I don’t know where to start. Given everything that just happened, I’m having trouble collecting and organizing my thoughts.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
She nods. “I will be. Just a bump on the head.”
“That’s a lot of blood for just a bump on the head,” I observe.
A rueful smile touches her lips. “Yeah,” she says and then turns and finally meets my gaze. “You came for me.”
The wonder in her voice is like a sharp needle of guilt piercing my heart. It’s as if she didn’t think I would. It’s as if she thought I would leave her there for Robert, rather than step up to defend her. And that powerful feeling of guilt and sadness that she would think that is tearing at my insides.
Not to mention highlighting just how big of a selfish asshole I’ve been. Thanks for pointing that out to me first, Nick.
I pull Emily to me, relishing the feel of her body pressed to mine, all the more knowing if not for some strokes of dumb luck, I might not ever feel her embrace again. I place a gentle kiss on the top of her head.
“I’ll always come for you, Emily,” I tell her, hearing a tremble in my voice, and feel the sting of tears in my eyes. “I thought I was going to lose you. I was so scared I was going to lose you.”
She looks up at me. Her eyes are filled with a spark of hope. It’s small and it’s uncertain, but it’s there. It’s not much, but it’s a start.
I put my fingers beneath her chin and lift her face upward. In that moment, as I look into her rich, caramel eyes, all of my own fears and insecurities fade into the background. All of my uncertainty melts away like a thin covering of snow on a warm day. All that’s left is what I feel for her. And that feeling is stronger and more powerful than even my fears. Allowing myself to open up to my true feelings for Emily is filling me with an energy and light I never could have imagined.
An energy and light I never want to let go of again.
“I will always come for you, Emily,” I whisper. “I love you.”
Her eyes widen and she looks absolutely startled. “Y – you do? You love me?” her voice is soft, her lips trembling.
I nod, never taking my eyes off her. “Always. I want and need you,” I tell her. “I love you, Emily Hall. You are mine and I am yours.”
