Part 5

SHORTLY BEFORE EIGHT that evening, there was a soft, gentle knock on my front door. I had just brushed out my hair after dressing up for my date with Damon Kingston.

I chose a long, informal navy-blue dress and rounded it off with a knitted shawl and a pair of silver heels. The mystery of our date quite excited me, but what I wanted more than anything in the world and from that date, was distraction from Daniel.

I opened the front door and felt my heart begin to race. Damon looked as dapper as they came with his neatly pressed grey suite and blue-striped tie. For a second, I wondered where we would be going and was sure that it must be somewhere snazzy. I was instantly pleased that I had dressed up appropriately. He handed me a bottle of wine and a bunch of carnations.

‘My favorite.’

“You look dapper, Mr. Kingston.”

“And you, Miss Bradshaw ... look ravishing ...”

*Blush*

“Would you like to come in?”

I stepped aside and made way for Damon to enter into my brand-new home, with brand-new things. He glanced around him and smiled.

“You’re kidding? It’s great. Suits you.”

‘Oh no, Mr. Kingston. You suit me.’

‘Ally Bradshaw, don’t be clever. Daniel.’ I was doing all I could to banish him from my every thought. I was trying to get the old me back. The me before Daniel, but somehow, I knew, I was failing miserably. My heart still hurt and Damon’s presence wasn’t enough to create as much as a flutter.

“Can I pour you a glass?”

“Oh, you want to pour me a glass in my house?”

“That’s the gentlemanly thing to do, isn’t it?”

I giggled shyly. He was right. It is.

We both walked into my pristine country styled kitchen. For a second, I wasn’t sure where Bianca had packed my wine glasses. I opened the first set of doors. Nothing. The second set. Nothing. I was beginning to feel stupid and flustered, but when I opened the third set, they were right where I should have looked in the first place. Shiny, brand-new glasses.

I took two glasses down and placed them on the kitchen counter top before I slid them over to Damon.

I giggled again. I was still Ally Bradshaw who cooks, cleans and you know what else.

Damon handed me a glass and lifted his to mine, “Cheers ... to our first date.”

‘Date. Oh no.’

I held up my glass and lightly clinked his.

“Cheers.”

I gulped down the entire glass before placing it down on the counter beside me.

“Are you in a hurry to leave?”

‘Why did I just ask that?’

“Not really?”

I moved closer to him and took his glass from him. After I placed it down next to mine, I slowly undid his tie. Without saying a word, Damon removed the shawl from around my shoulders.

I pulled him closer and kissed him softly. When my lips touched his, I was animated by the fact that his were slightly opened, waiting for me. I kissed him gently before his scent began drowning me, and when I placed my arms around him, I kissed him fiercely and passionately.

Damon lifted me up onto my counter top and pushed himself against me. My hands trailed down to the buttons on his shirt. I undid them one by one as his hands moved over to my thighs.

When his chest was finally exposed, I slid my hands over him and was at once delighted by what I found. He was either clean-shaven or waxed, but there was not a hair on his chest. His chest muscles were protruding and as I lowered my hands, the grooves around his abs revealed how diligently he worked out.

I guided my hands down to his trousers and quickly unzipped them. I smiled when I discovered that there was a never-ending supply of muscles on his body, and I couldn’t wait to discover each one of them.

Damon lifted me slightly and pulled me forward. I folded my legs around him and gently pressed him against me.

Damon whispered hoarsely before it suddenly dawned on me; that was exactly what Daniel meant and handing myself over so easily, was precisely what he would expect from me. I was not that person. I was doing exactly what he predicted I would to do.

I jumped off the counter and stared at Damon. There was something different about him, just like there was with William, Ryan and Mark. He was gentle, kind and sensual. He smelled of musk and his hair smelled of rain.

As I scrutinized every inch of his face, it was Daniel’s eyes burning on me. As though he was standing right in front of me, watching me and watching my every move. Damon placed his arms around me and held me close to him. I was silenced. Ashamed. I couldn’t do it.

I didn’t want to. There was nothing inside of me that made me want or lust after Damon. There were no pleasure senses that were being activated and there was not even one ripple down my spine. There was no anticipation of explosions about to erupt. There was nothing but excruciating pain, disgust and longing.

Damon Kingston was standing in front of me; a gorgeous, sensual and drop-dead attractive and wealthy man who was doing all the right things and moving in all the right ways. He was warm, caring, gentle and oh so heavenly, but my need of him was silent.

I looked closer at Damon, and when Daniel’s eyes were staring back at me one more time, I realized with a startle that I was pining for him. I wanted to cry. Damon lifted my head slightly and gently kissed me again.

I didn’t know what to say to him. I had no idea of how to handle my sudden and unexpected emotions.

“Damon ... I can’t do this ...”

“I gathered as much ...”

He smiled and barely a second later, his mobile phone rang. I was instantly relieved. When Damon answered his call, the irritation in his voice was evident,

“Kingston.”

‘Oh, thank you for breaking the silence.’

I smiled. He sounded extremely posh, stern, abrupt and nothing like he was just a few minutes ago.

“Are you joking?”

He shook his head violently,

“Fine. But, this is the last time you call me over a weekend. If you get in behind that wheel drunk again, you are going to have to find another attorney!”

“This man should just do his time ... he will never learn.”

“The same one from last night?”

‘Oh no. I don’t be sorry. Saved by a drunk driver!’

“That’s alright. Go sort your client.”

I handed him his tie and when he straightened his jacket, he kissed me one more time.

He turned and walked away from me. I quickly followed him out to the front door and when he walked out, he turned and smiled,

“Sleep tight.”

“You too.”

I waved back before I closed and locked the door behind him. I glanced around me. It was the first night in my new home, and all I could think of was Daniel.

I looked down at my wrist watch and realized that it was almost 9pm. I wanted to see Daniel again. I didn’t want to leave things like we left it. His message haunted me and left me feeling as though I should confront him and compel him to understand that the time had finally come for us to go our separate ways and change direction.

The torment I was feeling at that moment, and the torture I felt each time I was in his presence was tearing me apart. I couldn’t move forward having left Daniel with so much that was unsaid.

More than anything, the agony of witnessing him with another woman was something I never wanted to witness again. The only way for us to get through our disastrous relationship with our hearts in tact was to wholly and entirely disconnect from one another. I wanted to tell Daniel as much. I quickly made my way to my car with a sense of urgency to reach him. I wanted to get to him before my courage failed me.

When I reached Daniel’s apartment after a relatively short drive, I was sure that I heard voices through the other side of the door of his apartment. I was horrified that he was not alone, but I couldn’t leave. When I reached out to knock on his front door, I was abruptly fearful of what I might find on the other side.

I hoped Lucy wasn’t there. I dithered for just a moment longer even though I was certain that my valor would fail me if I didn’t go ahead and face Daniel right then.

Whatever it was that was waiting for me on the other side of that door was a reality I could not hide or scurry from. I knew I had to face whatever it was head on, even though I was instantly dismayed by the very thought of finding Daniel in the arms of Lucy.

My instincts nudged me to turn around and run, but instead, I knocked delicately and waited impatiently for a response. After standing there in silence for a while longer than I should have, I tried the door handle and was surprised to find it open. My heart began to hammer ferociously when I quietly walked in and again, I heard voices and soft moans.

I was convinced that it was coming from his bedroom and I mindlessly made my way over to Daniel’s bedroom, unable to turn around while desperate to know how effortlessly he had discarded me. When I reached his doorway, I reluctantly and anxiously peered around the corner and was horrified and revolted by what I was witnessing.

I moved into the doorway, powerless to comprehend what was taking place right before my very eyes. Daniel was caught up in a passionate embrace with Lucy and judging by the amount of clothing that was left on his body, I was devastatingly swayed that Daniel had unreservedly and without restraint, surrendered himself to another woman.

Of course, he did. What else did I think they were doing at night? Still, it hurt. Badly. The expression on his face was one that I knew well, and it finally established the reality that I had ultimately lost him forever.

I couldn’t move and stood unresponsively and as though frozen in time, unable to move a limb while the wretched tears were cutting in my eyes. My legs had grown weak and the familiar, yet restricting lump in my throat had grown enormously while the mere movement of swallowing past my tears was unattainable.

At that very moment, I was certain that there was not much more in the entire universe that could measure up to the excruciating distress that I was feeling at that very second. There was nothing, other than death, that could make my heart endure the agonizing and unbearable ache it was feeling as I stood watching Daniel.

I couldn’t move an inch of me even though I was desperate to summarily escape the drama that was unfolding before my very eyes. It was a vision that I was sure I could in no way at all, survive, and it carelessly and fluently destroyed my soul.

Every part of my body had begun to shudder. I was at once overcome with intense repugnance, accompanied by a hollow twinge which felt as though it was shredding my belly into a thousand pieces.

I intuitively placed my hand in front of my mouth in a desperate attempt to remain quiet, but my tears were streaming unreservedly down my cheeks.

I was powerless to impede the valley of tears that had opened up inside of me. My heart was hammering at an intense rate and I could barely breathe. I had no clue; no idea whatsoever that seeing him with Lucy like that, would upset me so immensely. I gasped for breath while continually swallowing past the confining lump in my throat,

“Danny?”

‘Oh no.’ Why did I say that out loud?

The look of horror on Daniel’s face was what finally broke me. He at once pushed Lucy back when he saw me standing there. I knew without any doubt that Daniel could tell that my heart was being ripped out from inside of me.

He couldn’t take his eyes off me and I was quite sure that he noticed the raw emotion on my face. There was no denying the fact that Daniel was instantly appalled that I had walked in on them.

He instantaneously jolted from his bed before he hurriedly pulled his jeans back on without taking his eyes off of me even for a moment. Lucy had pulled the sheets up to cover herself; still unclear as to why I was standing there.

Daniel let out a sigh and dejectedly ran his hands through his hair. From where I was standing, it looked as though the entire world had crash landed on his shoulders.

“Your front door ... was ... it was open ... shit Daniel. This hurts. How could you? How could you? How can this be so easy for you? This hurts ... so much, Danny.”

I cried out to him through my tears, debilitated and incapable of moving. “Ally ... I don’t know what to say to you?”

I turned to face Lucy woozy who I hated with all my heart, and with every inch of my being even though it was not her fault.

“You can have him ... I don’t want him anymore. I never wanted him anyways!”

At long last, I finally felt the ability to move and I hastily turned away from them, wanting to escape the apartment while knowing at once that it was an enormous error in judgement to have pitched up unannounced.

The piercing pain in my heart just confirmed the truth that Daniel Sotherby meant what he had said; he no longer loved me. I missed my chance. He wanted Lucy. He chose Lucy.

I had no need or desire to turn back to him. A flood gate of tears opened up inside of me all over again and when Daniel caught up to me, he grabbed me by my arm and abruptly turned me around to face him. He held firmly onto my arm and stared blankly into my eyes.

I could do nothing more than glare at him, but what caught me off-guard was the apparent pity in his eyes. I can’t stand pity. I never could. The idea that someone pitied me, reviled me and that very fact made me insanely livid at Daniel.

“I know ... I have no right to be here. I have no right to be so crushed right now ... I know. I just don’t want to hear it. I don’t want you to say it.”

Daniel pulled me closer to him, but nothing could make me un-see what my eyes had captured and imprisoned my mind with only moments ago.

“It should make you happy seeing me like this ... because that’s what you wanted! I mean nothing to you anymore, do I? You tore me apart the other night at Joe’s just like you wanted to, and now ... now this! You are no better than I am Daniel!”

“Ally no. I never wanted you to ...I would never do this to you. Despite what you think, I don’t hate you. I’m so sorry ... it’s not what I wanted. I am so sorry.”

I abruptly swabbed at the tears from my eyes before I turned away from him once again.

Before I reached the front door, I turned back one more time, “I came here because I needed to talk to you ... one last time. I needed to tell you that a clean break from each other is what we need, but then, I wanted to tell you that I loved you. With all my heart, Daniel ... I love you. I wanted you to hear me say it ... and then I wanted you to look me in the eye and tell me that you don’t love me. I wanted to beg for a second chance ... but now, I am just glad I saw this tonight, and I hate you for it Daniel. You’re a coward Daniel, making this all about me when it’s actually you ... and what you wanted. You should just have told me the truth. You Daniel ... you were the biggest mistake I ever made; not Mark Warren. Not William Walker. Not Ryan Henderson. Just you.”

I shouted out before finally slamming the door behind me. When I rushed through the enormous glass doors of the mall, I ran across the road in a frantic attempt to reach my car and get away from him.

It had begun to pour with rain, and by the time I made it to my car, the rain had come crashing down on me. I was frantic to unlock my car when I felt somebody grab onto my arm. I turned around and noticed Daniel and that the rain was pouring relentlessly down on him.

“Ally, it’s always been you, it has always, always been you. When I saw you standing there ... I realized that and the pain I could see in your eyes, tore into my soul. You have to hear me Ally. Just listen to what I am saying and give me a chance to tell you how I feel.”

Through the tears, I glared angrily at him as we both stood in the middle of the road with the rain crashing down on both of us.

“So, Daniel, you’re saying that you deserve a chance to explain, but I never did? I was scared that if I didn’t come here tonight, I’d never have the courage to tell you and to ask you for another chance. But ... but, if I’d known about Lucy and how quickly she’d be back in your bed ... I wouldn’t have come here tonight. I hate that I’m standing here ... telling you this. I hate that I am facing you with this and I hate what I saw with you and Lucy. I hate everything about us. I hate that this is happening. I hate that you gave me an us and a we once, and how quickly you snatched it back from me ...”

Daniel gasped for air and stared at me with pure mystification and perplexity in his eyes.

“Ally. Up there ... with me and Lucy ... it was you on my mind. It was all I could do to keep from going insane. Whenever I closed my eyes, I saw you ... I love you, Ally.”

Daniel released my arm and ran his hands through his wet hair once again. I glared at him with total repugnance and could in no way at all, comprehend how he could just say something like that and so carelessly.

“I should have known you’d say something like that and leave my heart in such a mess. Daniel ... screw you, from the bottom of my heart ... screw you!”

I tried the key to my car one more time and to my instant relief, it unlocked straight away. I did not turn to look back at Daniel, but by the time I had pulled away, I had burst into tears again. My heart was cataclysmic, and my entire body began to quiver ruthlessly.

A SHORT WHILE AFTER I reached my house on Weeping Willow Drive, I poured myself a cup of tea before I made myself comfortable in one of my brand-new living room chairs. The tears were still gushing from eyes each time I thought of Daniel, and each time I pictured him with Lucy, it felt as though I was going insane.

My heart was broken. I wished so much that I could turn back the time. I wished that I could go back to the very first day I met Daniel. I wished with all my heart that I never went back to his apartment that night.

When I turned on the television, I could barely discard the idea that I was never to see Daniel again. It felt so wrong. It hurt. So badly. While still trying to figure out what exactly went wrong between us, there was an urgent knock on my front door.

I glanced down at my wrist watch, and when I noticed that it was almost midnight, I was sure that it was Damon. I didn’t want to see him. Not then, not the next day, and not ever. I didn’t want to see another man in my life, again. I was done.

Still, I was unpredictably panic-stricken and thought that perhaps, something might have happened to my parents, or to Daniel. Perhaps it was a bearer of bad news. Perhaps it was Daniel. I slowly got up from my chair as my heart began to thump irregularly in my chest. When there was a second loud knock, I walked over to the front door as though in a wandering haze.

I hesitated for just a moment before I finally opened the door. When I saw him standing there, I could at once detect the stale smell of alcohol on Michael’s breath.

“Michael? What are you doing here?”

“Are you alone?”

I was at once irritated by the intrusion, “Yes. And you probably know that? Are you stalking me, Michael?”

“We’ve been through this before. You can’t just drop in whenever you want to anymore, Michael!”

“Excuse me, Michael ... I did not invite you in! I don’t want you here! How many times do we have to go through this?”

I slammed the front door, and tempestuously, followed him into my kitchen hoping that he would leave at once.

“Oh, get over yourself, Ally! I had no clue you were even going to be here!”

I raised my voice heatedly and desperately tried to swallow my retort. I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth, determined to remain silent or at the very least, polite.

I could feel the blood rush to my face like an acid burning away at me as I fiercely attempted to suppress my rage. Michael had lost his balance at least twice when he walked over to me. He lifted my chin with his one hand, and ran his fingers down my sweater with the other,

“Stop that!”

I pushed his hands away and retreated slightly.

“Your little escapades are the talk of the town. From Willow County right into Water Hills.”

“Whatever, Michael. My doing’s and screwing’s are of no concern to you.”

“You will always be my wife; Ally and I’ll be damned if I stand by and watch you humiliate me day after day.”

I was in no way at all, prepared for a confrontation with Michael, and for the first time since I met him, I was overcome by an indiscreet fear; one I had never known before.

When I looked into his eyes, they were narrowed, cold and piercing. There was something in Michael’s eyes that I had never seen before and it scared me almost to death.

My heart began to hammer erratically when I realized that I had come face to face with my enemy, one I had not anticipated. Not in a million years.

There was a deadness, a kind of a stillness that had replaced the white of his eyes. There was nothing in his eyes that cautioned or alerted me to what was rushing through his mind, but when I noticed his clenched jaw, I just knew that I was in trouble.

“What must I stop, Ally? You were a slut in college and you are a slut now! You think you are so much better than me, don’t you? You think the world is your oyster, but you know what? The ink isn’t even dry on our divorce papers.”

His voice was filled with emotion and raw anger. His unmoving gaze was led by slow, robotic breathing sounds. When he grabbed my hands, I at once realized how vulnerable and indignant I had become.

“Don’t fight it, Ally ... don’t fight me, unless you like it a little rough lately ...”

It was as though Michael had turned into a wild animal. The veins in his neck and chest were bulging as he dragged me into my bedroom and heaved me onto the floor.

With the force he sent me down with, I knocked my head on the cold tiles. I must have lost consciousness almost at once and when I opened my lethargic eyes again, I could barely breath.

When my eyes were finally fully opened, I realized that Michael was on top of me. I could smell his sweat and I could smell the stale odor of alcohol hanging in the air. My heart rate accelerated uncontrollably and when I tried to control my breathing, I realized that he had invaded me, and my body.

Michael stared at me for a moment, before he carried on thrusting himself into me, “Yeah ... I know ... because I can. Because I want to show you what a real man is. You don’t mind opening your legs for strange men, why not your husband?”

A sudden gush of pain jolted throughout my body. As I tried to fight back, my arms lost tension and my legs began to weaken. I began hitting and punching him with all my might, but it hardly made him flinch.

I grabbed at his hair and when he looked at me again, I began gouging at his eyes. It enraged Michael even more, and when he grabbed my hands with one hand, he landed a perfect blow to my face with the other.

For the second time that night, I closed my eyes and slipped into a darkness I had never known before. When I opened my eyes again, I frantically searched for him but he was nowhere to be seen. I hurriedly rose to my feet and ran out into the living room.

I had no sooner reached for my mobile phone, when Michael came out of nowhere and completely blindsided me when he grabbed me by my hair. ‘What has gotten into him?’

He dragged me back into my bedroom. There was blood trickling down my legs. I had no idea where it was coming from. My stomach tightened and all that I could think of was how Michael had thrusted me into a lock-up of utter fear and total bewilderment.

“You are going to jail for this, Michael!”

“Been there. Done that. Thanks to you.”

My physical pain was at once replaced by what felt like a raging sea of anger that was building up inside of me. All I could think of was the tornado Michael had brought with him, and the path of destruction and sorrow he was about to leave behind.

He was ready to kill me. He shoved me back down onto my bedroom floor and began stabbing me with the same kitchen knife I had used earlier on in the evening.

I could feel the iciness of the knife as it met my flesh, and I could barely ignore the sound it made as the blade was twisted into me over and over again.

I could feel each muscle contract as each nerve began to twitch. I was desperate to defend myself by guarding my body with my hands, but Michael continued to jab at me until I finally surrendered, collapsed and laid my head down on my bedroom floor.

Michael furiously glanced around him and became panicky when he noticed the trail of blood on my floor, and the blood spatters on my walls. He stared down at me as the blood oozed from almost every opening of my body. Still holding the knife in his hands, he wiped the blood of the blade against my bed cover and hurriedly bolted from my bedroom. I mustered up all the strength I had left inside of me to turn onto my side, and pull my legs up against me, until my knees touched the warmth of my chin.

I reached for my mobile phone that was lying next to me in a pool of blood. I clench it, desperate for Michael not to see it. It was my only hope.

I was crippled by fear as I stared apprehensively out in front of me. I terrifyingly searched for a shadow that had cruelly infested my home and infected my life only a few minutes earlier.

I could hear the echo of his footsteps as though he was trampling holes through my floor with each angry step he took. I listened closely as I held my breath to what sounded like a zipper being pulled up.

I was at once disturbingly aware of a warmth that had begun to seep through my hands. As I lay desperate to identify the warm wetness that was flowing through my fingers, I suddenly heard the slamming of what I was sure was my front door.

The violent way in which a door had been battered and shut, echoed down the hall, and right into my bedroom where I was laying motionlessly on the floor, submerged in a pool of my own blood.

I took my mobile phone and lifted it just enough to catch a glimpse of the screen. I pressed the green button twice, and hoped that whoever I had called last, would answer and know instinctively that I was in trouble.

Daniel. It was Daniel’s soothing voice. The last voice I would ever hear. It was the last voice I ever wanted to hear.

I called out to him, but no sound came from my mouth. There was nothing more I could do but hope that he didn’t find me there in a pool of my own blood; battered, beaten and stabbed.

I dropped the phone and fought desperately to keep my eyes open as they grew heftier with each passing moment and with each breath I struggled to take.

As my tears slowly dribbled from my eyes, I laid quietly on my bedroom floor, unable to make a sound and powerless to move.

As the blood cascaded around me, the stench in the air began to sicken me. My body contorted violently when I detected the continuous flow of my own blood all around me.

I could not bear the horrific smell that had begun to immensely frighten and terrorize me. The whiff of death wholly plunged me into a kind of reek I had never inhaled or smelled before.

The waves of panic that had begun to overwhelm me, sent a panic-filled shudder down my spine. I was suddenly cold and sleepy. I moved my toes slightly, and was at once aware of a throbbing, burning sensation in my legs that travelled right down to my feet and into the very tips of my toes.

The warmth that had seeped out below me and soaked into my body, had become ice-cold. I was once again gravely aware of how distressingly weighty and sluggish my eyes had become.

The intense discomfort throughout my body became almost too much to endure when I couldn’t determine precisely where my soreness was coming from. I could not identify a single segment of my body that was not aching. I wanted to surrender to the pain; to break down and scream out in agony, but even that seemed almost too excruciating to do.

My breathing had become severely labored, as I distraughtly gasped for air to fill my lungs. With each breath I fought to take, I was sure that my airways were severely restricting my ability to breath, and that my lungs could no longer take in even a single breath of fresh air.

My legs were cold and shaking irrepressibly. I realized in horror that I was completely naked from the waist down. Again, I tried to move, but I could barely move a finger, or lift an arm.

With every bit of strength left inside of me, I turned onto my back, and stared up at the ceiling, still frantic not to surrender to the darkness that was threatening to overpower me. I turned my head and stared at the doorway of my bedroom.

I whispered softly before I slowly turned away from the doorway and allowed my eyes to rest on the ceiling once again. I felt another sharp twinge come from my belly. When I could no longer control my agony; when the fear began to cripple and wholly engulf me, I was finally able to cry out in grueling pain when I realized that the warmth was nothing more than my own blood seeping from my stomach. I had, only moments before, been gutted with my own kitchen knife, and left for dead by a man I had known for most of my life.

My eyes were barely open. My eyesight was blurred as my tears began to blind me.

When my breaths grew shorter, all I could think of was that there would be no more talks with Daniel; not a single birthday to share or even one more dinner together.

How I wished I had made the most of our date at The Red Velvet. How I wished to turn back time. I was trapped between the four walls of my bedroom, lingering between life and death as I grew impatient for my one final breath to come.

The pain that had flowed through my body like hot lava only seconds ago, had made way for an icy numbness. The corner of my eyes were filled with blackness as it ruthlessly began to spread, almost like a virus, through the white of my eyes. I could hear myself breath and I was horrified by the ragged, shallow gasps I was taking.

I had just closed my eyes when I heard my front door open one more time. I no longer cared if it was Michael, or if he was coming back to finish me off. I closed my eyes tightly and was horrified by the thought that Daniel might be the one to find me laying there.

The tears began to dribble from my eyes and down my cheeks when I began thinking of how finding me there would forever change and taint my beloved Daniel Sotherby, especially after what he had just been through with Mark Warren.

It was all my fault. Again. I was destroying Daniel. I was destroying his life. In the world I was slowly disappearing from, I could hear him calling out to me. His voice seemed far off, almost as an echo in the distance. I couldn’t help but smile as I lay there listening to the far-removed sound of his calming voice.

When his voice grew louder, I realized that I was not dreaming, but that Daniel had come to save me, again.

The drive from Daniel’s apartment to my house was twenty minutes at the most. I knew that, and it surprised me that it had been at least that long since I had dialed his number. I wondered about it, unable to lift my arms or open my eyes. The hooded veil of death was hanging over me as I fought desperately to call out to Daniel. As though out of nowhere, I felt a warm hand on my cheek before he lifted me into his arms.

The tears began to gush unapologetically from my eyes, as he frantically called out my name. I could only imagine that Daniel was horrified to find me lying in a pool of my own blood, in what was supposed to be the safety of my new home.

With every ounce of strength inside of me, I opened my eyes. It took me a few seconds to find his eyes and focus on them before mine would close one final time.

The image of him bending over me was blurry, but I could not mistake the deep horror and sadness looking back at me.

I stared at him, as he frantically tugged at a blanket from my bed and placed it on my open belly wound.

Daniel stuttered when he spoke to the operator at his own fire station and could barely give out my address. He was immediately relieved that she had recognized him, and when she assured him that an ambulance had been dispatched, he tossed his mobile phone onto the floor.

“Ally ... help is on its way. Just please ... don’t close your eyes! You cannot close your eyes. You cannot leave me. Don’t you ever leave me ... understand?”

His voice was becoming distant again, as the numbness of sleep slowly overpowered me. In desperation, I sucked in another breath of air that felt like coals of fire had landed in my lungs.

A misty veil began covering my eyes and was slowly blinding me. I could feel the faint beating of my heart against my rib cage slow down and grow weaker with each breath I took.

I knew that I was dying, and with the last bit of air I could breathe in, I opened my eyes one last time,