Page 85 of Stay Away from Him

Sometime after Thomas had left—I had no idea where he was—a knock came at the door again. I clenched when I heard it, thinking Derek had come back to finish what he started. To really hurt me this time. I went to the living room and peered out the window at who was standing there.

It was only Kelli. The sight of her brought annoyance rather than fear—I muttered, “Oh, for fuck’s sake, what is it now?”

I yanked the door open. “What is it?”

Kelli looked offended, her head snapping back atop her neck, skin wrinkling up under her chin. “Well, hello to you too.”

“Sorry, it’s been a terrible day.”

“What happened to your forehead?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Did Thomas do that?”

I sighed. “No. Christ. What is your obsession with him?”

“I don’t have an obsession.”

I rolled my eyes. It felt good to be mad at someone—with everyone else in my life mad at me.

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s go out. I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve seen you.”

“Kelli, just leave. Thomas and I are going through some problems, and—I just can’t right now, okay?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know why you don’t just divorce him.”

I glared at Kelli, hating her. She was so smug, so certain in her judgments of the world. So confident that she knew exactly what everyone else should do. I wanted to reach across the doorframe and slap her where she stood.

“Kelli,” I said, starting slowly, calmly. “You’re a busybody and an emotional vampire. The only reason you’re so obsessed with my life is because yours is boring and pathetic. You’re a profoundly unhappy person who loves it when other people are miserable, and I’ve never liked you. Okay? Now get away from my house and my family before I come out there and remove you physically.”

Kelli’s face reddened. As I spoke, there were parts of what I said that felt good—this was the strength I needed with Derek, and with Thomas. But after I was done, I only felt bad. I felt the urge to apologize, to take it all back immediately. But I’d said what I’d said.

“You made an enemy today,” Kelli said, then turned and walked back to her car.

***

Inside, I walked back to the kitchen and stood at the sink for a while, looking outside. The sun was poking through the trees at the edge of our property, flaring in my vision, blinding me. A part of me enjoyed the loss of sensation, the feeling of some part of me being blotted out. I closed my eyes and felt the warmth of the sun as it poured through the glass, and I thought about the day. The mess I’d made of everything.

Then there was a creak of footsteps on the floor behind me, and I turned. I caught a flash of some object heading toward me—a fist? a bat? a piece of wood?—and then pain flashed red through my skull. Something solid thudded against the back of my head, and it took me a moment to realize it was the floor. I’d fallen. By some primal instinct, my body knew to curl up, make itself small as more blows rained down on me—some hard thing hitting against my stomach, my back, my legs. My face. Bruising bone, splitting skin.

And then, as quickly as it had started, it stopped. Footsteps receded as quickly as they’d come.

I lay there, drifting in and out of consciousness. Then there was another knock at the door—timid, light. The door opening. More footsteps.

“Oh my God!”

Kelli again. I suppose I should be glad that she’s the kind of person it’s impossible to get rid of.

“I came back to say sorry, and—what happened? Can you move?”

I sat up straight, wincing, each microscopic movement bringing a lightning bolt of pain. “I need to go to the hospital.”

“I’ll take you.”

In the car on the way to the emergency room, Kelli askedme if it was Thomas who’d done this to me. I looked out the window and said I didn’t know.

But that was a lie.

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