Falling With Grace

Women screamed, their high-pitched tones carrying over the chaos raining down in the church rooms above me.

Furniture scraped against the floors.

Thunk.

I stared at the ceiling as though I could watch the events unfold above me.

Footsteps skid across the stone stairs.

Someone is coming.

Perspiration froze on my brow as the heel-toe clomp of boots moved toward my room.

A dark figure rushed by the cracked door, pulling me out of ice-cold fear and holding my legs still.

Shit.

I raced across the room, slammed my good shoulder onto the floor, and rolled beneath the bed as the door swung open with an eerie cry.

The air in my lungs held as my knees ached from the impact.

Large black boots walked around the bed pressed against the wall and paused at the flipped corner edge of the rug.

I closed my eyes and rolled my cracked lips, pinching them between my teeth as I held my damaged arm.

His feet turned and shuffled, and I cracked my closed lid, his toes pointing my way.

Leave.

Please leave.

Time stretched into a never-ending point of despondency.

Leave.

He moved toward the door, and I exhaled as he stepped over the threshold.

Swallowing, I let my back relax against the wall and rested my head on the floor.

A hand gripped my ankle and yanked.

My heart leaped out of my throat, and my scream caught on a tight chest as he hauled me into the bright lights, his knees crawling up my body as he straddled me.

“Look what we have here…”

I kicked out, driving my knee into his back with a fierce warrior’s cry, lurching him towards me.

His head came down, and my nails went up, drawing down his cheek.

He bellowed and pinned my head between his hands, lifted, and slammed back down.

Spots seared my vision, my hand dropping at my side and twitching.

The room fogged, and the sounds dulled to a hum.

The thick silhouette of the man stood over me, his booted feet on either side of my thighs as he kneeled.

My vision focused onto a bright, crooked-toothed smile cracking his face in two, his cheekbones sharp, his nose sharper. His worn blue jeans stretched around his knees and thick thighs.