.
I’m hiding in the closet. I’m hiding because I can’t let her find me.
I’ve been scared before…..but never like this.
Never.
Because this time, it’s Kayla looking for me. She’s storming through the apartment we’ve shared for the past three years, screaming my name; spewing threats as she searches for me.
How did it come to this?**************************
(minutes earlier)“Kayla, I swear I didn’t take your bracelet. I know how much it means to you and I would never do that to you. You
have to believe me.”
“I
don’t believe you, Marie.” growled Kayla, her lips tight with fury. “If you didn’t take it, how come I just found it in your jewelry box? Did it walk there by itself?””
“I don’t know, Kayla. I swear I don’t know how it got there, but you have to believe it wasn’t me who took it.”
As I watched the look on Kayla’s face turn from doubt to fury, I grew more and more frightened. What if she decided to fight me? What chance could I possibly have against her?“Jessika warned me about you, Marie. She told me how you broke into her home and stole her necklace a few months ago. She told me that you wound up in jail for doing it. Did you think I wouldn’t find out about that, you little bitch?”
Well, there’s the truth of it, right? The fact is that I did steal Jessika’s necklace. I don’t know how to explain it because there is no logical explanation. I was greedy, I was selfish…..I was a bad friend to Jessie. I’ll never live it down…..and I shouldn’t be allowed to. It was a moment of weakness that has affected my reputation forever. I was ashamed of myself.
But the fact is that I didn’t steal Kayla’s bracelet and put it in my jewelry box. I truly don’t know how it got there…..but why would anyone believe me after what I did to Jessika? Even if I managed to convince Kayla that I’m telling the truth, the fact remains…….how did the bracelet get in my jewelry box?
But my more immediate problem was still standing in front of me, glaring with bad intentions.“I’m going to ask you one more time, Marie. If you don’t tell me why you stole the damn thing, I’m going to smash you to pieces. I don’t want to, but I will. Why did you take my bracelet?”
“Kayla, you
have to believe me. I didn’t do it. Think about it; if I wanted to steal it, why would I put it in my jewelry box, where you could find it so easily? Why wouldn’t I take it out of our apartment and hide it somewhere else? Please don’t hit me, Kayla. I don’t have a chance against you…… and I would never want to fight you, anyway.”
“You should have thought of that before you stole my property, Marie. How can I believe you when I found the evidence for myself? How can I believe you after seeing what you did to Jessie? How can I ever trust you again?”
As she stood before me, Kayla became angrier and angrier. I knew I was in big trouble.“One last chance, Marie….and here it is. You
must admit that you stole my bracelet and you
must apologize for it. You get down on your knees and apologize and I’ll consider letting you go without a beating.”
“Kayla, I would do all that if I really stole your bracelet; but I didn’t. I don’t want you to beat me up, but if I confess to something I didn’t do, how could I ever face you again?” I cried, frantic with fear.
Kayla didn’t answer, but a look of fire had appeared in her eyes and I knew I had no chance of convincing her of my innocence. Seeing no other way out of this, I turned quickly and tried to run from the room just as Kayla’s arms reached toward me, her fingers curled into talons. I had no plan of action except to hightail it out of her way.
Understand, Kayla is 5’9 and weighs 140 pounds, which is 10 inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than me. She’s a magnificent athlete. She and I have fought side by side as tag team partners for years, but only rarely had we fought each other. Those times occurred in controlled competitions; sanctioned wrestling matches with endings by pinfall or submission. In those contests, Kayla had beaten me every time but one. She was too big, strong and skilled for me and I readily accepted it.
But this was worse. This wasn’t a scheduled match; this was mayhem. Kayla wanted to truly hurt me……and she just might do it if I stuck around. So I ran, but as soon as I did, Kayla reached down and caught me by the ankle. She pulled viciously and my entire body sailed backward toward her. She spun me around to face her and as soon as she did, she released my leg and I saw her hands reaching for my neck. Squealing in terror, I got my feet under me and spun away before Kayla could get a grip on me again. I ran to the living room and Kayla followed.
I tried to run out the front door, but it was closed and Kayla was too close behind me to get it open before she could grab me. Still, there was no alternative but to try for the door. I burst forward as fast as I could but she had me before I could get the door unlocked. Pulling me backward by the collar of my dress, Kayla whipped me across the room, throwing me off-balance and causing me to smack back-first against the living room wall. It hurt, and I slid to the rug. I looked up from my sitting position and saw Kayla with smoke practically coming out of her ears.“How dare you?” she shrieked. “How fuckin’
dare you? Why don’t you take your punishment like an adult, you little shit? How can you try to run away from me?”
“What else am I supposed to do, Kayla? Fight you? You know damn well that you’ll kill me.”
“Then, apologize and admit your guilt!” thundered Kayla. “I’m giving you a way out of this, Marie…..all you have to do is get on your knees and admit your guilt!”
“And I’m telling you again, Kayla.” I cried, the futility of my pleas ringing in my own ears. “I’d get on my knees if I had taken your damn bracelet, but I didn’t. But if you refuse to believe me, then let’s do this and get it over with.”
Kayla stopped and stared at me. For a moment, I thought she was going to smile in appreciation of my willingness to fight her. Kayla has always been a warrior and I had the feeling that, although she was furious at me, she still admired me for the spirit I had always shown when fighting at her side.
But, it wasn’t to be. The smile never appeared on her lips. Instead, she snarled in hate as she looked at me, apparently remembering what had caused this rift between us in the first place. Kayla beckoned me with her hands to stand up…..and when I did, we went at each other. There just didn’t seem to be any other way out of this.
We raised our fists and met in the center of the living room. I felt there was no way I could defeat her, so I was hoping to at least gain her admiration through battle. We went at each other hard. We threw punches in bunches, we battled toe-to-toe for ten full minutes…… and she was destroying me.
How do I describe a fight between Kayla and myself? Her arms were too long, she was too tall for me, she was too strong and she was too athletic. Does that cover it all?
At any rate, Kayla punched me out, landing powerful shots to my face and chest while I attempted to bang on her body. It was useless; she drew blood from my mouth, nose and left eyebrow and bludgeoned me around the room at will. A sharp punch to the forehead dropped me to the living room floor.
I got to my feet again and stared at Kayla across the living room floor. I was breathing hard from the beating I had taken and realized that a direct confrontation with Kayla was going to get me killed. Instead, I raced toward her and she prepared to lock up with me. At the last second, I used my speed to drop my shoulder and ram it directly into her private parts. I had a good head of steam gathered when I hit and the move completely surprised Kayla, causing her to topple backward onto the sofa. I wasted no time in mounting her, trying to keep her back pinned to the couch cushion as I rammed home punches to her head. Her legs were kicking wildly and I connected with several shots. She was still too strong for me, though, and used her powerful arms to thrust me backward, sending me sprawling to the living room floor again. Kayla rose swiftly and tried to stomp me into submission. It was working; she drove her foot into my stomach and chest, causing me tons of pain. It might have spelled the end if I hadn’t been able to grab her by the ankle, using my arms to twist it in one direction while using the rest of my body to force her knee in a different direction. She howled with pain and crumbled to the floor. I again used my speed to climb on Kayla’s prone body and straddle her, raining down the hardest punches to her face I could manage.
Even here, though, she was too much for me, using her longer arms to pound my face and upper body with sharp punches. I didn’t want to be forced off her; I did everything I could do maintain my position on top, but she was simply too strong. A solid punch in the mouth drove me off Kayla and left me flat on my back, a couple of feet from her.
We both rose to our feet, a little slower than before, and met at room center again. I wrapped my arms around Kayla and tried to wrestle her, but it was futile. She grabbed my shoulders and spun me across the room again, slamming me back-first into a hutch cabinet. It didn’t hurt too badly and when she rushed at me, I was able to drape my arms backward against the hutch and raise my legs. Timing it well, I slammed my feet into Kayla’s chest, thrusting her backward and dropping her to the rug, breathless. I tried to take advantage by rushing to mount her before she could get off her back, but she was ready for me and used her arms and legs to monkey flip me into a lamp that shattered under the impact. Again, I wasn’t badly hurt, but the fight was taking a toll on both of us. Kayla lay on her back, waiting to see badly I was hurt by her last maneuver.
We were both winded, having expended a lot of energy in a short time. I was battered and bruised from being tossed into furniture, but still had the speed to rise before Kayla and try to stomp her before she could get up. I landed a few kicks but she got to a sitting position and used both her powerful arms against my chest to thrust me away from her. Her great strength caused me to sail backward, where I rammed viciously into the TV, knocking it off its stand to the floor. There were twin explosions; the picture tube shattering…..and my body imploding. My back was screaming in pain and the breath had been knocked from me. Seeing that I was badly hurt, Kayla took her time in walking over to me. She followed with five brutal punches to my stomach and chest that left me gasping on the floor, finished.
I couldn’t fight anymore. Kayla had beaten me and we both knew it. I sat, gasping in exhaustion, pain and defeat as I stared at Kayla, who had risen to her feet and stood across the room, looking at me with hatred, her hands still curled into fists.“I detest this, Marie. You have no idea how much I hate this. The idea of beating you up is so repugnant to me that I feel sick to my stomach. You don’t even have a clue.”
“Yes, I do, Kayla.” I stammered, defeated but still defiant. “Only I know that I’m innocent. You don’t believe me….and no one else will, either. No one, that is, except for the person who stole your bracelet and put it in my jewelry box. I’ll spend the rest of my freakin’ life trying to find out who did that…..and caused this to happen between us.”
“You want to find out who stole my bracelet, try looking in the mirror, you little bitch. I’m giving you one last chance to admit your guilt before I come over there and break your fuckin’ legs.”
“I can’t do it, Kayla.” I sobbed. “I can’t admit to something that I didn’t………”
As I spoke, I noticed something from my position on the living room floor. I could see the bedroom from where I sat……and saw that the window was open. Believe me, I had no problem ending this by running away. First, I had no chance of beating Kayla in a fight. Second, just the fact that she was looking at me with such hatred was enough to make me want to bail.
So, before Kayla could turn and see what I had in mind, I jumped up as fast as my aching body would allow and ran for the bedroom. The move caught Kayla by surprise; she reached futilely for me as I sped by, grabbing a snatch of my dress, which ripped off in her hand. Fortunately, we live in a first floor apartment and I was able to climb out the window before Kayla could reach the bedroom.
Man, when she finds out I’m innocent, we’ll have a happy reunion, won’t we?
Sure, we will.
As I ran, I sobbed in pain and loss.*******************************
As Kayla stood at the open bedroom window, her eyes were fixed only on Marie as she fled down the street. If she had cast her eyes toward the front of the apartment building, Kayla would have seen a car sitting at the curb, with two smiling young women sitting inside.
“Jonica, why did you put the bracelet in Marie’s jewelry box?” asked Gemma. “Why didn’t you take it out of the house so we could have it for ourselves? In fact, why didn’t you just take the jewelry box, too?”
“Are you kidding, Gemma?” cooed Jonica, grinning broadly. “And miss the look on Kayla’s face as she watched Marie run away? Was that priceless?”
“And how about the look of terror on Marie’s face as she ran?” laughed Gemma. “You’re right, Joni. I wouldn’t have missed that for the world.”
“We fucked that relationship up pretty good, didn’t we?” sighed Jonica.
“A good day’s work!”
The two lovely girls smiled into each other’s eyes, simultaneously moving their hands under the hem of each other’s dress.
