Chapter 10: Amy

Kevin's birthday party was great. I really enjoyed the expression on his face when Kim jumped out of the cake. "They make a cute couple," I thought to myself as I remembered the scene. Though Kevin seemed a little suspicious of what was going on when Walt and I came out with the cake and Kim was nowhere to be seen. Oh well, at least he enjoyed himself. And surely he was enjoying himself even more now that they were back at our apartment!

Susan came back after Kim and Kevin left, to help me clean up the party room. Fortunately, there wasn't much of a mess. We rolled the cake back into its storage closet for the next special event and returned to the party room to put away the table and chairs. The cleaning crew would be in early the next morning to vacuum the carpet and freshen everything up again.

I thanked Susan for sticking around and gave her a big hug for helping me cleanup. I owed her big-time. Then I saw Rodney, my boss, wander through the empty club and thanked him for letting us use the room for Kevin's party.

"No trouble - that room wasn't booked tonight anyway", he chuckled. I reached over to Rodney and gave him a little peck on the cheek, and Susan laughed as Rodney turned bright red.

I told Susan and Rodney that I'd close up for them tonight and that I'd see them tomorrow afternoon for my normal shift behind the bar. They waved goodbye and left appreciatively.

It was well after 3:30 by the time I had finished closing the place down and was ready to leave. I carefully locked the employee's door and slipped the keys in my bag. As I walked over to my car, I thought to myself, "These mall assholes really need to put some more lights out here. It's so dim I can hardly find my car!" Fortunately, I remembered about where I parked, so I headed in that direction. Finally, I spotted my car in the dim light. Unfortunately, I didn't see Nick sitting on its hood until it was too late.

"Hi Amy," he greeted as I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. "See what you did to me, bitch?" He pointed to the bandage on his nose, speaking through gritted teeth. "You're going to pay for that right now."

I turned around and tried to run back inside in the mall, but Nick grabbed my arm and wouldn't let me go. His facial features distorted with anger, Nick slammed his fist into the side of my head. I fell to the ground, my bag landing at my feet. I was so stunned by the sudden attack, that I couldn't stand up much less try to defend myself.

A flash from a knife blade caught my eye, sending panic through my already shaking body. With a dramatic sweep of his arm, Nick started cutting off my clothes. The sound of ripping clothes and the feel of the chilly breeze on my naked body terrified me. I tried to stand up and run away, but Nick hit me in the head a second time, then punched me in the stomach. I blacked out when my head hit the ground once more.

I couldn't have been out very long, but when my consciousness returned, I found Nick lying on top of me, pumping his cock into my cunt. Tears stung my eyes as I fought back my emotions, trying to focus on defending myself. With every ounce of strength I could muster, I tried to shove Nick off of me. His only response was to slug me again. I clawed at his face as he continued pumping into me, but he merely hit me on the head again. I grabbed his hair and tried to pull it out, but Nick responded by pinning my arms together above my head. My wrists ached from his grip. I couldn't move. Nausea overwhelmed me as the animal I once called my boyfriend pummeled me. The heat of his rage accentuated the woodsy smell of his cologne, a scent I'd grow to loathe I was certain. How could he do this to me? Did I deserve his vicious punishment? My intellect said no, but lying on the cold hard ground with my wrists pinned above my head as Nick's cock pounded into me made me feel dirty and almost deserving of his cruel treatment.

He didn't last long before he shot his spunk into me. A feeling I once associated with passion, was now closely linked to violence and hatred. "How could I have loved this guy?" I thought to myself as Nick climbed off of me. He let go of my wrists and started hitting me again. Suddenly, I realized that if I didn't do something quick, Nick was going to keep hurting me.

At the same moment, I saw a glimmer of light reflecting off of his knife laying on the ground nearby. I tried to reach for it, hoping I could use it to keep him away, but Nick beat me to it. He kicked me in the ribs, making something crack inside of me.

He leaned over me, grabbed the knife, and tried to cut me with it. On his first swing I managed to push his arm with the knife away from me, but with his second swing, the knife blade sliced across my forearm. Blood oozed from the fleshy wound as I grew more lightheaded. At that moment, it became frighteningly clear that Nick wanted me gone-for good! Nick's third swing of the knife ended up hitting me in my neck. My heart rate skyrocketed as I contemplated just how serious the latest wound was.

Across the parking lot, I heard a car driving closer. I looked over in that direction and saw lights coming toward us. Nick turned his head and saw the same thing. It was the mall's security car with its flashing amber lights, and it was coming towards us. I took advantage of Nick's distraction to kick him in his balls. He screamed like a baby and dropped his knife, clutching his crotch in pain.

Somehow, he managed to pull up his pants while doubled over. Then he waddled toward the woods near the edge of the parking lot, leaving me lying on the ground in a pool of my own blood.

Unfortunately, the mall security car turned into a different parking lot before catching sight of me. I knew that there was no one else around to help me, especially at this time of night, so I reached deep inside to find the strength to fight for my life.

I remembered that my cell phone was in my bag by the car. If I could make my way to it, I could call for help. Putting the palm of my hand over the knife wound on my neck, I crawled with one hand over toward my bag. Bits of gravel ground into my knees, and the pavement was chilly on my naked body

Crawling across the parking lot was painful and difficult to say the least. I had a lot of trouble breathing, and it felt like my belly was on fire. Finding my purse as my vision dimmed from the blood loss was almost impossible. I was hurt badly, and I knew it.

Mercifully, I finally felt my bag on the ground ahead of me. Pausing a few seconds and breathing deeply to gather the necessary strength, I reached inside the bag and pulled out my cell phone. I hoped the phone had a charge, as I always seemed to forget to plug it into the charger. As luck would have it, the phone worked. I called my apartment hoping Kevin was there with Kim. "He'd save me," I thought to myself. Kim answered the phone on the first ring. Gasping for air I said, "Help... Nick... found me... at the mall... He cut me... with a knife... Tell Kev..." and then I passed out.

When the fog lifted from my brain, I saw Nick punching me. "Let me go Nick!" I screamed. "Help! Help!" I cried, my arms thrashing wildly. I hoped that someone would be nearby and could help save me from Nick. I tried to open my eyes. When I did, I realized that there were two people on either side of me. I looked up into the face of one of them and saw Kevin.

"Thank God Kevin's here," then I passed out.

The next time I woke up, I was in a hospital room with Kim and Kevin sitting beside my bed. The only question my brain could put together was, "Where am I?" When I heard myself speak aloud, it sounded like someone had filled my throat with sand and it hurt that much too.

Kevin leaned down and put her head near mine. He said in a quiet voice, "You're safe now. Nick is gone, and you're in the hospital. The doctors did a lot of work on you, but they think you'll be up and around real soon."

Kim held up a cup with some ice chips to my mouth. "Here. They don't want you to drink yet, but you can have an ice chip. It'll help your throat."

I pulled an ice chip into my mouth with my tongue, and it tasted heavenly. I let the ice melt and felt the water trickle down my throat. There were a thousand questions on my mind, but the most important came out in a hoarse whisper. "Where's Nick?"

Kim took a deep breath and answered, "In a lot of trouble. After you called, I called 911 and we raced over to the mall. The police were driving up as we got there and I could hear the ambulance's siren not far away. The police looked, but they couldn't find Nick anywhere. They suspect something spooked him and made him run away. The police have put a guard on your hospital room just in case he tries to hurt you again"

Nausea came on in full force as Kim filled me in on all of the details. From the sound of things, I was very lucky even though I felt anything but at the time.

"When we got there," Kim continued, "your clothes were soaked in blood, and it looked like there was even more blood on the ground." Kim grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "We thought you were dead at first, but Kevin got down on the ground and just held you in his arms. Luckily, he could feel you breathing, but just barely. Fortunately the ambulance arrived just seconds later. The medics managed to stop the bleeding pretty quickly, but you had really lost a lot of blood. They started an IV and told us that you were a very lucky girl. Five more minutes and you probably would have died," Kim continued.

I bit my lower lip, trying to hold back the tears. When I regained my composure, Kim went on with the story. She knew I'd want to know all the details of what happened to me, even if it was hard to hear.

"Kevin rode with you in the ambulance, while I followed in my car. When we got to the hospital, we had to wait while they treated you. The doctor told us later that the knife didn't damage anything vital, so you should heal pretty quickly. However they x-rayed your chest and found three cracked ribs. Fortunately, none were broken. You'll be hurting for a few weeks, but you should recover completely" Kim finished.

Kevin grabbed my other hand and held it tightly. I could see the look of concern on his face. I took a deep breath and let another ice chip from the cup melt on my tongue. "Nick raped me," I managed to croak out.

"We know," Kim admitted, her eyes filled with sadness. "The nurses told me that that's one of the things they check for in cases like yours - after they save your life that is. They also told me they were able to get a good sperm sample, so matching it to Nick's DNA should be easy. The police found the knife laying nearby and found Nick's fingerprints all over it. They've got more than enough evidence to put him away for a very long time."

After hearing the details, a wave of nausea overcame me. My mouth started watering with that dreaded pre-vomit sensation. "Gonna barf..." I managed in a near whisper as my hand flew over my mouth.

Kevin grabbed the container from the rolling table meant for that very purpose, held it up in front of me, and rubbed my back as my body heaved from the force of the vomiting. If I hadn't felt so shitty, I'd've been mortified to have Kevin see me this way. As it was, I honestly didn't care.

Kevin and Kim didn't seem to care, either. Kim took the container of my vile smelling puke and left the room to dispose of it while Kevin walked over to the sink and grabbed a washcloth from the towel bar. He dampened the cloth with warm water, and then gently cleansed my face. The mundane act was so endearing. More than ever, I felt a strong connection to Kevin. As I was about to tell him that I loved him, Kim returned, followed by a nurse.

"That's enough you two," the nurse spoke quietly as she checked the various monitors. "Let Amy rest now. You can talk to her some more later."

"Can we stay? Please?" I heard Kevin ask.

While I didn't hear the nurse's response, Kevin remained by the side of the bed, so I assumed it was okay with her that he stayed. Kevin said gently, "Close your eyes, Amy, and get some rest." He reached over and held my hand. "We're here for you," he added, giving my hand a squeeze for emphasis

I started crying softly - I was so grateful to be alive and safe again. Kim reached over with a tissue and wiped my eyes, and then Kevin gave me a kiss on the forehead. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, knowing Kevin and Kim would keep me safe.

When I woke up later, I was in a different hospital room. Kevin was still beside the bed, though he had fallen asleep in his chair. My head and arm hurt pretty bad, but I still felt lucky to be alive.

Kevin must have felt me stir, because he came to life almost the instant I awoke. He reached over and held my hand. "How are you feeling, Amy?"

"Better", I managed to say. Then I heard a beeping sound from beside my bed. A nurse walked into the room. I quickly saw by her destination that the beeping was coming from a machine next to my bed. Above it was an IV bag attached with its tube snaked through the machine and into a big needle that was inserted in the back of my hand.