Paige and I hate each other. That is obvious. But sometimes I still have to take my boyfriend’s stepdaughter to the assigned rendezvous on exchange day. That always sucks. She never says anything to me, she just glares with unabashed disdain. The not talking doesn’t bother me; I have nothing to say to the cxnt either. But her evil stare is disconcerting. I almost hate to leave the child with her. But the kid always comes back happy. But she secretly tells me that she would rather be with us full time. I wish she could be too. She’s a terrific kid!
The trouble started almost from the moment Joe and I started dating. I was a humble little Goth girl, and he was the big strong policeman who asked me out after a fight! That was a little awkward at first, but as our relationship grew, the oddness became quirky and we fell into a mutual rhythm. The only problem was with his daughter from a previous marriage. Now don’t get me wrong…I loved the kid from the moment I first met her! Who wouldn’t? She was a four-year-old bundle of cute energy! Her mother was the problem. She abandoned Joe and their child about a year after giving birth. She decided that she was too young to be a mother…she had partying to do and a kid would just get in the way. During the divorce, she became hooked on prescription pain pills. But the judge didn’t care. He awarded her custody anyway. It wasn’t until Paige was arrested for DUI and possession of narcotics with the child in her car that Joe was finally awarded custody. But the same ignorant judge gave her very liberal visitation rights. The only good thing was that Paige had to have her mother drive her to the pickup spot (a local fire station).
A couple years passed since her arrest, and Paige decided it was time to get her daughter back into her life. She even came after Joe again. It was too bad for her that Joe was dating me by then. So she decided that she would torment me. Threatening phone calls and notes became commonplace for a few months until Joe had had enough. He took out a restraining order against Paige for his daughter and me. As a result, a new, smarter judge granted Joe sole custody with Paige only getting supervised visits. Paige was furious! She blamed me. And she set her sights on me full bore.
Almost from the start we had problems. The first time we met for her supervised visitation we wound up in an argument that led to pushing and shoving. Joe had to step between us. I had to leave for the rest of the afternoon so she could finish her visit. It progressively got worse. Finally I started leaving just before she would show up. But when I returned, Joe would tell me of the creative new names she would call me and the inventive things she would accuse me of.
This went on for a couple of years and Joe and I grew even closer. I can never explain why we wouldn’t just go ahead and get married. We simply never saw the need to. Things were going well until one day we got a knock on the door. When we answered, a process server serving papers ordering Joe back into custody court met us. It seems Paige wants joint custody again. This time another judge said that Paige has done well with herself since completing her probation and she is now a contributing member of society. He wouldn’t order joint custody, but he did give her alternating weekend visitation. This sucked. We had to make arrangements for pick up and delivery of the poor child once again. I wish the judge had asked her what she wanted to do. The poor kid is confused.
Joe and I had to make arrangements to pick the child up every other Sunday evening. Most of the time, he could do it. But since he’s a detective now, sometimes he just can’t. The duty falls on me. Each time I pick the child up I get the evil glare. Sometimes I even get the finger.
This arrangement went well for a little while. Until one Thursday afternoon I was home cleaning when I heard a knock on the front door. I was expecting a UPS package, so I assumed that’s who it was. I opened the front door without looking through the peephole (stupid, I know) and I came face to face with Paige. Well about as close to face to face as we can get. She is a little shorter than my 5’2”. She may a hair over 5’1”. She can’t weigh 100 lbs, though. I’m definitely heavier at 115 or 120. She starts the conversation off with a insult (imagine that!), “I’m here for my daughter, Bitch.” Stunned, I look at her for a second and ask what the fuck she is talking about. I tell her that she won’t get her until tomorrow. She stares at me for a moment and I see something in her eyes that sends chills down my spine! She’s high! I can’t believe it! This fucking bitch is at my house demanding a child in my care and she’s on drugs! She says in an icy voice, “cxnt, get my child, or I swear to God, I’ll break your fucking neck and bury your worthless ass in the flower garden!”
More stunned than anything, I reply, “Look you fucking whore, she isn’t here right now. Even if she was, I wouldn’t get her for you. You’re fucked up. Get out of her before I call the cops!”
“Call ‘em, Bitch. I’ll still have time to rip your fucking head off before they get her. Now…GET MY FUCKING KID!”
I’m pissed now. I turn around and head for the phone. I say over my shoulder, “Ok, I’m calling the police.” Before I can get another step, she rushes at me and hits me in the back with a full head of steam. She growls, “I’m gonna shove that goddamn phone up your ass, cxnt!”
Now Paige is small. But she is scary looking. She has shoulder length hair dyed platinum with black highlights. She has skin as pale as milk, and she has the coldest ice blue eyes I have ever seen! When I twist around to look at her, her blue eyes contain a cold fire that scares me even more…I wonder if it’s the drugs, her hatred for me, or maybe a combination of both. She is wearing a one piece ankle length black dress over flip-flops. She looks like the hippy version of the Wicked Witch of the West.
After she tackles me to the floor, I try to scramble away from her, but she gets her fingers into the waist of my blue jeans. I have to stop crawling away for fear she’ll pull my pants off me! She uses this leverage to half mount me. I scream, “Get off me and get the fuck out of my house!” Then she is on top of me punching me in the face and head.
Damn, she’s small but her punches hurt! I try to cover my face, but she lowers her attack to my breasts and belly. I writhe and buck trying to dislodge the smaller girl, but she is in full hate fireball mode! Finally, I get my hands wrapped in her hair and pull her head towards me. I wrestle her off balance and I’m finally able to roll out from under her.
Paige in now facing me on her hands and knees. To my utter amazement, she reaches behind her and pulls off her flip-flops one at a time. Then she flings them at me with all her might! I dodge the first one but the second one catches me square in the face! The blow isn’t bad, but it hit my nose just right to make my eyes water. Paige uses this distraction to launch another attack. Through my blurry vision I can see her charging me. I roll to one side as she lunges. She misses me but she is able to grab my t-shirt on her way by. I hear a loud ripping sound as the front of my shirt goes from medium to x-large. “You fucking bitch!” I yell at her, and then I launch my own attack! I grab her black dress and yank her towards me. When she’s in range, I punch her twice in the face and once in the throat. The punch to the throat isn’t very effective, but one of the ones to the face draws blood from her lower lip. This enrages her and she starts clawing at my eyes! I yelp in a mixture of pain and fear and fall backwards away from her claws. I still have my grip on her dress, and I hear a satisfying ripping sound as I fall backwards. Paige wrestles free from me and scrambles away.
We roll up on our knees and face each other while trying to catch our breaths. Paige touches a finger to her swollen, busted lip and looks at it for a moment as if she can’t focus on the spot of blood. The she lifts her icy eyes to mine and in a low growling voice that would make Linda Blair proud she says, “You just had your death warrant signed. I’m going to enjoy strangling you.”
My blood runs ice cold, but I can’t break her stare. The realization hits me that she is sincere…she actually means to kill me. That’s why she came here on drugs. She has already planned her defense. Then she does something that absolutely terrifies me: She rises to her feet and pulls her torn dress over her head. She isn’t wearing a bra or panties. And she has a new tattoo…Joe’s name over a heart with a knife through it. The realization hits me that it isn’t just me she is here to destroy…her sights are set on Joe too!
Eyeing me with a smirk on her face, Paige walks over to my cordless phone and picks it up. She says, “I see the fear in your eyes. You want this don’t you? I can smell your fear, bitch. It intoxicates me. The only way you’re going to get it is by walking over my dead body. Are you up for that?” She tosses the phone over her shoulder and down the hallway. She is between it and me. “Its time we finished this, bitch. Woman to women. If you lose, your whole imaginary family loses. I get to raise my daughter alone. I won’t have to worry about meddling little cxnts like you interfering.” Her smile grows more evil as she recognizes the fear on my face. “Well? What about it cxnt? Your only way out is to kill me. Let’s get it over with.”
I look at the phone lying on the floor about ten feet beyond her. If I can just get to it, I can call for help. She’s gone crazy! I lunge off the floor and make my run for the phone, but I am met by a barefoot in the side of the head. I crash to the floor about five feet from the phone, but I make it no farther, Paige is on me like a flash! She pulls the hem of my stretched shirt over my face and starts punching me mercilessly. Fear is a powerful motivator, and right now I’m scared to death! I’ve been in fights before, but I lost most of them. And the stakes were never this high. If I lose, the two people I love the most in the world will walk into an ambush. I can’t let that happen.
A scream born in the depths of Dante’s seventh layer erupts from my throat and I try to grab whatever I can on my completely naked foe. The fingers of one hand find her hair and I wrap my whole hand in it all the way to the scalp. The fingers of my other hand find the bare nipple of her tiny but supple breast. I grab it and twist as hard as I can. Paige howls in shocked pain, and she stops punching me long enough to move away from me. My shirt is still over my face, and I go ahead and take it off so she can’t grab it again. She has now rolled back up to her knees, and she launches yet another attack at me. But this time I’m ready. I catch her squarely in the lower belly with my barefoot. She doubles up from the blow, and I grab her hair again and force her face first into the floor! I think to myself, “Now it’s my turn you crazy fucking whore!”
I straddle her back with my denim-covered thighs and I wrap my hands deep into her platinum hair. I violently slam her head face first into the carpet. I’m intent on ending this now. With each blow I scream, “Not my family you goddamn bitch! Leave us the fuck alone!” After a few moments I feel a large sigh escape from the trapped woman’s lungs and her body goes limp. I ram her head into the carpet a few more times for good measure. Then I roll off her. I can’t believe this just happened! I feel like I’m in a dream. I finally gather enough of my composure to stand up and painfully stagger to the phone.
I reach the phone and breathe a sigh of relief. Damn, I’m glad this is over! I pick up the phone and start to click it on as I turn back to the living room. I am in mid turn when I see a blonde blur and I’m struck by a forearm in the chest. I fall backwards and the phone flies from my hand and tumbles to the floor against the far end of the hallway. Her blow knocked me flat on my butt, and I lunge backwards toward the phone. She wraps her arms around my waist but I can tell her power is waning. But so is mine. I slither out of her grasp and reach for the phone, but she sinks her fingers inside my waistband. I struggle toward the phone, and she struggle to keep me away from it. The result is my pants and panties being pulled down around my ankles.
I try to stand, but my pants are now around my feet. Paige manages to get to her feet, and I fall towards her and tackle her to the ground. We roll around for a few moments clawing, punching and scratching at each other. I finally manage to wrestle away from her and make a break for the kitchen. My plan is now to run out the screen door and out onto the rear patio. Hopefully one of my neighbors will be out back and they will call the police. I almost make it to the backdoor, but just as I do I’m tackled from behind and we both crash through the screen mesh and tumble out onto the wooden deck. Now I’m hurt. I’m hurt bad. I have to have a couple broken ribs. Paige fared a little better, but not much. She staggers to her feet and limps back inside the destroyed kitchen screen. It takes me a moment to realize what she’s doing, and the reality doesn’t hit me until I see her raise the long wicked blade of the butcher knife! I stand up and start screaming for anybody who can hear to help me! Several of my neighbors look to see what’s going on and start running toward us when they see her charge me with the large kitchen knife. But they aren’t going to make it in time! I reflexively drop to my knees and try to ball up but I know this is the end.
I never see it happen…one of the neighbors told me what happened later. But as Paige charged at me, she never saw her daughter’s softball lying on the deck. Her foot landed on top of it in full stride. She lost her balance, crashed into the deck railing, then her momentum carried her over the rail and she fell fifteen feet to the ground below....landing on her back with a sickening thud. Unfortunately, before she went over the railing, she managed to strike out with her knife and she buried it about an inch into my shoulder. I passed out from the pain as I heard sirens approaching.
My world was now a blur of pain, lights, sounds, rainbows, kaleidoscopes, mythical animals, and deep fear. I began to wonder if I had died from the stab wound. I cry to myself when I think of how I may never see my little family again. I think that I would be better off dead if something had happened to them. Maybe I should be proud that I saved them. Or maybe I should be sad that I had to watch another woman die at my hand. I cry and cry until I have no tears left.
I wake up in a hospital bed. My shoulder and ribs are filled with fiery coals. I try to sit up but collapse back onto the bed gasping in pain. A nurse rushes into the room and injects more pain medication into my IV and I start to drift again. The last thing I see before fading completely into the darkness is Joe’s face. I read his lips as he says, “I love you.”
A few days later, Joe tells me the whole story. Paige survived her fall and is in the jail ward in this same hospital. He tells me they found a suicide note in her car after she was hauled away. Her plan was to kill me then ambush, and kill, him when he came home. He said she made no mention of their daughter. According to toxicology reports she had enough methamphetamine in her system to “kill a billy goat.” I think to myself, “I wish she had enough in her to kill her sorry ass before she got to my house.”
Joe informed me that Paige has a broken back but will probably walk again. He leans over and kisses me on the forehead because he has to get back to work. Before he leaves, he asks me to marry him.
