The Heart of a Warrior

Chapter 7

Adelaide

            After coming back in from watching the night sky I start my nightly ritual. I shower, have my tea, put Ares in his kennel and climb into bed.

            The nightmares come again quickly upon falling asleep. Like they do almost every night.

            I wake with a start, something falls and shatters in the hallway of my old home. Thinking I had left a window open, a strong breeze pushed a picture frame off the marble table that sat halfway between my bedroom and living room.

            I pull the blankets from around my waist, rubbing my eyes, and saunter to my bedroom door. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, goosebumps erupt down my arms. My fingers graze the handle before I notice the shadows of someone’s feet showing from the crack at the bottom of the door.

            My blood runs cold and I freeze instantly. My heart beats rapidly in my chest. Quick shallow breaths come from between my lips. The terror is all consuming. I slowly inched away from the door, a few feet and the back of my legs hit the edge of the bed.

The handle twists and creaks, opening slowly. A man stands in the doorway, my eyes trying to adjust to the light that pours in from the hallway. Before I can catch my bearings, he is on top of me. He pushes me down onto the bed. His body covering mine, he’s too heavy to push off.

I endeavor to scream but the sound only makes it to the back of my throat and will go no further, he puts his hand over my mouth, then moves it down to squeeze my throat tight. I squeeze my eyes shut as tight as I can.

Tears prickle at my eyes and run unabashed down my face landing on my silver comforter underneath. I can hear him moving his other hand and then I feel the cold hard metal against the soft part of my cheek. The sobbing comes like waves.

“Stop crying stupid b***h!” He spits with so much venom lacing his words. I recognize this voice. My brain has shut down and I fight to place it. It is a voice I know well but a name won’t come to me.

I slowly open my eyes to see who my attacker is before the hand moves from my throat and pain tears through the left side of my face. How the punch doesn’t knock me out I have no idea. Though my vision blurs and distorts.  I wished it had rendered me unconscious, then I wouldn’t have experienced what is to come next.

I wake with cool sweat drenching my body. My dreams are getting more vivid. My fingers brush across my left cheekbone and I wince. It is incredibly tender. Flipping the covers off of me I fumble to the bathroom. The pain in my skull intensifying.

The reflection in the mirror is not possible. I have seen this exact reflection before. Not my face but the red discoloration around my throat and the blue and purple bruise that now mars my face. Eye swelling shut with every second that passes by.

What the f**k? Not possible. I’m still dreaming. I rush to closet and tear out the box I had stuck there and tried to forget about.

My police reports, court papers from the trial, my fingers brush against what I am looking for. The photos of my injuries, I had several of them. All from different angles, so my injuries were well documented. I grab the photo of my face directly facing the camera and run back to the bathroom. They are identical.

How was I supposed to hide this? There isn’t enough makeup in the world to cover this. I still can’t even wrap my head around what I am seeing. I know no one broke into my house. Because of that night I have the best security system money can buy installed.

To top it all off, I have three strangers sleeping in my guest house who are going to wonder what happened to my face and my dad, oh god my dad, I can’t hide from him. He’s going to flip and think I was assaulted again, that would make more sense than the reality of it.

I push myself away from the counter and walk into the kitchen to get a bag of frozen peas out of the freezer. My head feels like it is going to split in two. My vision wavers, knees buckling. Everything slips into black.