Michael Malone - Weebly

thigh, only watched her as she pulled a towel around
herself. She reached, shivering with pain now, for the
pills above the sink, pills prescribed to keep her heart in
order. She noticed with a dulled astonishment that she
could stand there with him beside her and not go mad,
or die, or let her heart be killed; that between the death
of self and the vilest life, her body was choosing life for
her.
She could even turn to him, seeing his eyes, and
say, "Please. Just go now. Just leave." His eyes were
glassy. She saw that hate and hurt were frozen on his
face like the faces of the damned in a picture. But then
slowly he began to grin, and the grin widened as his
hand shoved inside his pants. Refusal like electric
shocks vitalized her, so that she could push past him,
running, out into the hall and toward the front door. And
when he caught her, she was already kicking out at him.
And when he touched her, she screamed, "No!
You can't!" She hadn't known how hard the sound of
the scream would tear up her throat.
They fought as he hauled her through the entry of
the family room, where from the television news of the