It felt like Her lungs would explode at any minute now. She had been running for what seemed like hours but probably wasn’t more than few minutes. Her pursuer would have caught Her long ago if it hadn’t been for the knife that She had jammed in His thigh earlier that night. She looked back over her shoulder hoping that the loss of blood would slow Him down but in horror she saw that the distance between them had not grown any longer. She was so tired and every muscle in her body begged Her to stop and take Her chances. He could not do anything to Her that was worse than taking another agonizing step. But She knew better. She knew of the many methods He had to torture her and was afraid that there were still some that he was saving for a special occasion like this one. She felt that She could not continue with the same pace for much longer and it was then that the ice cold panic started to creep in. She lost her concentration and stumbled when She looked over her shoulder the second time. This time he was much closer and she let out a muffled scream. He noticed and screamed at her.
‘I’m gonna get you bitch. Just you wait’
He was badly wounded so She originally ran faster than Him but her low stamina was slowing Her down. She thought that He would catch her in about thirty seconds and then He would bee doomed. He had been police officer for twenty five years and he knew well how to hurt people.

The first time he beat Her she left Him. She was raised to believe that violence could never be part of any marriage. Her anger had been like the chocolate inside of an M&M piece. The shell had been broken and the chocolate was flowing out. It took Him many days to convince her to come back. She did so reluctantly and did not regret it because he was very sweet and caring. But that was going to change. After She had given birth to their first child the loss of sleep and seemingly never ending periods of their daughter crying resulted in Him becoming more and more cranky. Little Emily had been a premie and she never seemed to feel good. This day was particularly bad and Emily had been crying for hours. When He came home from work He went straight to the kitchen and took out a bottle of scotch, poured himself a glass and set down in the living room with the newspaper.
‘You know it wouldn’t kill you to get off your ass and help a little when she’s not feeling like this and I’m busy taking care of her.’ She shouted at him irritated.
He got up off his chair and walked slowly towards her. For the untrained eye He seemed completely calm but She knew that face. She automatically started to walk backwards and eventually hit the wall behind Her. He reached forward and grabbed Emily which was still crying and this time more piercing. He gently put her into her crib and then turned back towards his wife. Fast as a lightning He grabbed her throat and drove her violently against the wall.
‘I don’t spend every fucking day dealing with some motherfucking dope dealing punks to pay for your food and clothes to come home and get shouted at by my own ungrateful wife’
He said these words with clenched teeth and now the veins in His forehead were bulging with anger. She tried to make a noise but his strong fingers blocked all sound. She thought about their daughter who was crying now with all her strength like she understood what was going on despite her short life of four months.
‘Now instead of complain like a little bitch you are going the do what you are supposed to do, you got that?’
She was having really hard time breathing so She nodded and He released Her instantly but first He dealt Her a heavy blow in her stomach with His left hand. It felt as if the little air that was left in Her lungs had been sucked out. Everything went black before Her eyes and she fell to her knees and tried to catch Her breath. When She finally managed to do so and looked up He was back in his chair reading the newspaper and bringing the glass of scotch to his lips. When She came to her senses again the first thing She did was to rush to the crib where Emily was crying like she was being penetrated by burning pins. She picked her up and comforted her. That night she planned to leave him but her plans always stranded on the same things. She was just too dependent on him. It would have been so much easier if She didn’t have a baby. But even if she didn’t need to take care of Emily it would still be pretty hard. In a city where the population was close to four millions She only knew one person. She had no money except the money she got from Him and she had no experience of working outside the home. Of course She could easily take Emily and walk out the door but where would She go to? And if that wasn’t enough of a problem She was sure that he would be able to track her down sooner or later. At last She decided to sacrifice her own happiness for Emily. She feared deeply for her safety in case She would make a run for it and it would simply not be worth the risk. She said to herself that if she would do everything in her power to keep Him happy. He would not have the need to hurt Her and the happiness of seeing Her daughter grow up in a healthy way would be rewarding enough. The shell would be so strong that the chocolate would always stay in place.
This plan both worked and didn’t work. He didn’t beat her because she always seemed to please him. She managed to keep the house clean, Emily quiet, the dinner was always ready when He came home and the insides of their house looked like an IKEA catalog. He didn’t seem completely happy though. It was as if he always tried to find something to complain about but when He didn’t find anything he was somewhat disappointed, not that He would ever say something like that. She felt the tension between them rise over the next few days but lastly He found a way to relieve it.
Their sex life had never been great or fantastic. There were times were it was pretty good but He seemed to get most of the good part. But after being together for three years it had grown rather dull and sometimes there were weeks without any sex life at all. But when the tension was growing more than He could handle He diverted all of it to his sex drive. At first She was a little scared but soon She found herself being pretty happy about it. The rough sex seemed was much better than the beatings because She was starting to enjoy it too. It was a guilty pleasure though and she always felt a little bad because of it. But compared to punches in the stomach and near choking it wasn’t hard to choose.
Her life didn’t seem so miserable now. She found a lot of happiness in the smiles of her daughter and she did the chores in a better mood than before she decided to make the best of the situation. But that was going to change.
She was feeling quite well the next few weeks and despite Her withdrawal from society she had even made friends with the woman from next doors. They even decided to go see a movie together, Father of the Bride. Joan from next door told her that nothing lit her on fire as much as seeing Don Taylor on the silver screen.
‘Honey this will only take about one and a half hour and she will probably be sleeping the whole time. Please, I never do anything fun outside this house’
He reluctantly agreed but didn’t bother to spend many words on her. She went to the movies as planned but her mother senses were tingling the whole time. She was worrying sick the whole time and faked sickness during the intermission and told Joan that She would take an early bus home. She ran all the way from the bus stop to her house but when she came to Her house however she was suddenly afraid to go any nearer, scared of what she might find inside. She slowly walk towards the front door, opened it and walked in. She took off her coat and put her purse down by the telephone table and proceeded into the bedroom. She didn’t know instantly the details of what happened but it didn’t really matter, all what mattered was what she saw. She saw Him standing beside the bed, a glass of scotch on the dresser. There were drops of sweat rolling down his forehead and he was so occupied with looking at what was in the bed that he didn’t even noticed her standing in the doorway. She said to herself that she wouldn’t scream, no matter what but it was too late. A small cry had escaped her lips before she even knew and then He saw her. The first thing She noticed in His eyes was confusion but that was only for few seconds and then the look shifted to a more calm and determined look. It was a cold look and She could feel the chills running up and down her spine. Suddenly a little glimpse of hope returned to Her and she ran to the bed and picked Emily up. She held her tightly and all the hope she had left in her vanished. Emily was dead. She started to scram, this time full power and the screams were in combination with crying. The hard candy shell had finally been broken to million pieces and the chocolate inside was so much more than she could imagine it could hold. She turned around and walked back to the front doors where the phone was. She picked up the phone and started to dial 911. She got to 9 but then He ripped the phone out of Her hand and hung up. She looked up and suddenly she realized what His plan was. She was a little surprised to find that Her desire to live had never been stronger now that She was so close to death. She had rather expected that She would simply give up and die hoping that there was a better place beyond this one. But now She felt like She had gone feral. He was standing between her and the front door so She raced to the back of the house hoping to escape through the backdoor. But He was much quicker and She was still carrying Emily. She felt his weight as he hurled himself at her. She dropped the body of the baby and tried to fight Him but He was much stronger. She tried to head Him in the nose but His hands were already wrapped around Her neck. Having experienced this before She knew that His years of working as a cop had made him so strong that it would be impossible for Her to force His hands off of Her. Instead She thrust Her knee upward as fast as She could. She obviously hit the spot according to the agony His face was showing the muffled ‘unnnghh’ sound that came from Him. He lifted His hands to cover His genitals but before he made it She hit him again and again in the same spot. Now She was able to push him off her and She was certain that She would escape. But She underestimated Him because despite the crippling pain He was standing up and following Her down to the back of the house. An idea crossed her mind and She turned to the left into the kitchen. She closed the kitchen door behind Her and heard Him say.
‘Honey, just come and I promise I won’t hurt you. Let’s settle this like adults.’
If her knowledge of him wasn’t enough for Her to not believe him the sound of His voice was mixed with insanity. It reminded her of Jack Nicholson in the end of The Shining. He opened The door but She was ready for him. She jabbed the knife blindly at Him through Her tears of turmoil. She hit him in the thigh. If she would have been able to sit down and wonder if that were a good thing or a bad thing the conclusion would be a hard one to get to. Stabbing Him in the neck and killing him would increase Her chances of escaping alive but She also would have been glad that it turned out like this because She didn’t want blood on her fingers and there were enough murders in this world already. But She had no time to wonder about those things. He was in shock and She used it to get by Him and ran back to the front door and out. Behind Her She heard the heavy breathing of Him and the painful scream as He pulled the knife out.

When the baby wouldn’t stop crying He had picked it up. Being a little drunk and pissed off He started to shake it. Not knowing that an infant’s body is very fragile the shaking was more then little Emily could handle. The whiplash caused the first cervical vertebra to penetrate the medulla oblongata, killing her instantly.
It was starting to become clear what was going to happen to Her. It was in the middle of the night and in a good urban neighborhood everybody was fast asleep by now. He was so close to her now that She could hear his heavy breathing. It was impossible now to loose him so She turned around to fight him for the last time. She was able to kick him in His wound and that discouraged him but only a little. He wasted no time and punched Her in the face as hard as He could. The bolt of pain ripped through Her head and made Her loose all balance. He followed with two more punches that almost knocked Her unconscious. He outweighed Her by thirty kilos and it was easy for Him now that She was so woozy to tackle Her down. He locked his fingers around Her throat and the last thing she saw was her husbands face, stripped of all humanity and sanity.