Times Like These

It was a few days after Memorial Day, and I was at Brian’s old house getting it ready to be sold. We had left most of the furniture and bought new stuff, because he insisted that we needed to start completely fresh. I thought it was ridiculous, but Brian refused to budge on it. He had just left to meet Zack at the studio to record some guitar tracks, and Matt and Johnny were headed over to help me rearrange furniture. I was going through a few boxes in the floor that had yet to be moved to the house when there was a knock on the front door. “Why the hell are you guys knocking, just open the do-“ I said, opening the door and seeing that it was not Matt or Johnny. “Hey Nikki, I told you I’d find you.” “Jeremy, what the fuck are you doing here.” I said, frozen in terror. “I told you, I was going to find you and your ass was coming back home where you belong. What the fuck are you doing shacking up with this fucking clown when we’re engaged anyway?” He said, towering over me. “We aren’t engaged anymore. Maybe you should ask your pregnant girlfriend why.” I retorted. When his face turned angry I knew I had said too much. “Watch your fucking mouth, bitch.” He warned, walking toward me. I took a few steps backward and tried to close the door in his face, but he grabbed it and flung it open. “Did you think you would just get rid of me that easily?” He asked, continuing to walk toward me until my back hit the wall in the hallway and he was right in my face. “I told you, you’ll never get rid of me. Now we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way. Your choice, but you’re coming back with me.” “I’m not going any fucking where with you, Jeremy.” I said defiantly. “Now get the fuck out of this house.” Before I could think of anything else to say, the back of Jeremy’s hand flew across my face, splitting my lip. “Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?” He roared, slapping me again. “Clearly you need to be taught a lesson.” He turned his back to close the front door, and I took that as my opportunity to run further into the house, until he caught me and slammed me down on the living room floor. “Don’t fucking run from me, or I’ll kill you.” He said, pulling a knife out of his pocket. “What the fuck are you doing? Leave me alone!” I screamed, hoping someone would hear me. The more I screamed, the harder he punched me. He was punching my face, my stomach, my chest, anywhere he could hit. I continued to scream, until he put his hand around my throat and squeezed. “Shut the fuck up, Nichole. I’m here to get what’s mine, and you’re mine. No one else’s.” He said, reaching for the waistband of my shorts. “No, please don’t do this.” I whimpered as tears started rolling down my face. “Please.” “I wasn’t going to do this, but you forced me. You wouldn’t come obediently, so now I have to show you who’s boss.” He said calmly, snatching my shorts off my waist. “No!” I shrieked. As he reached for my underwear I started thrashing around, moving as much as I could so he couldn’t grab them. “Stop fucking moving!” He shouted, jabbing the knife into my thigh. I let out a blood curdling scream before I went completely limp. “That’s more like it. Now be still.” I continued to whimper and beg him to stop as he pulled my underwear down. He was reaching for the button on his jeans when I saw a figure behind him. “What the fuck are you doing to her?” Matt shouted, launching himself at Jeremy and knocking him off of me. “Nichole! Oh my god Nikki are you okay? Oh my god. This is so fucked up.” I heard Johnny say. “Stay right here, I’m going to get you a blanket.” I blinked back tears and tried to find my attacker, but I could only see Matt’s back. “Nick you’re okay. I’ve got you. Help is on the way, I promise.” Johnny said quickly, covering my lower half with a blanket he found from god knows where. “Oh my god, you’re bleeding so much. I have to tie this off.” He said, taking his belt off and tying it on my thigh, causing me to scream out in pain. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” He said repeatedly. “Brian.” I said weakly. “Brian’s on his way. I promise.” Johnny said. “No, don’t let him see me.” I said, a fresh set of tears flowing from my eyes. “Hey, hey. It’s okay. I’ve got you Nick.” The bassist said, pulling my head into his lap. I could feel my body slowly giving out, and at that moment I saw my brother standing over me. “Mark.” I whispered, “I’m so tired.” I said, as I finally faded out of consciousness.

------------------------MATT POV-----------------------

Johnny and I were headed over to Brian’s old house to help Nikki move some shit while Brian was at the studio. “Man, she better pay us for this.” Johnny whined, looking out the window. “She’ll probably pay us in beer and pizza.” I chuckled, knowing that my fiancee’s sister loves to feed people. “Hey, I’m down with beer and pizza. I just hope she isn’t one of those crazy people who makes us move things a million times just because she can’t decide whether she likes it or not.” Johnny said as we pulled into the driveway. “Oh, you mean like her sister?” I said with a laugh, recalling how I had to move the couch four times before Dani was satisfied with it. I cut the engine and we both climbed out of my truck. “Wait, did you hear that?” Johnny asked, looking around. “Hear what?” I asked, thinking he was being weird as hell like always. “It sounded like someone screaming.” He replied. I looked around the area and that’s when I heard it, a blood-curdling scream that sounded just like Nichole. “That’s fucking Nikki.” I said to my bassist, taking off toward the door. Luckily it was unlocked, and I quietly opened the door and motioned for Johnny to be quiet as well before we crept into the house. We could hear a man talking and I looked at my friend with raised eyebrows. I was not expecting what I saw when I rounded the corner of the hallway. Nikki was laying in the floor, covered in blood, with a man on top of her. Her shorts and underwear were strewn across the floor, and the man looked like he was trying to unbutton his jeans. At that moment I saw red and hurled myself toward the guy, punching any and every area of his face and neck that I could reach. “What the fuck is your problem?” I shouted at him as I continued to throw punches. The guy got in one good hit before I punched him in the temple with as much strength as I could muster and knocked him out. “What the fuck man.” I said to myself, looking behind me as Johnny had Nick’s head in his lap and was talking to her. “Hey, hey. It’s okay. I’ve got you Nick.” He said, petting her head. I watched as Nichole’s eyes started fluttering and I knew she was about to lose consciousness. “Mark.” She said, my head shot up as Johnny’s did and we looked at each other in confusion. “I’m so tired.” She whispered before her body went limp. “Johnny check her fucking pulse!” I shouted, crawling over to make sure she was still breathing. “It’s there but it’s weak. Help is supposed to be on the way. I called them.” He said sadly. “Did you call Bri?” I asked. Johnny looked at me with his eyes big as saucers. “Fuck.” I said, pulling out my phone and calling my best friend. “Hey man, she putting your big ass muscles to use?” He joked as he answered the phone. “Brian, you need to come back.” I said solemnly, hearing the sirens from the ambulance and police get closer, “That Jeremy dude is here. He beat the shit out of Nick. She’s alive, but barely. The paramedics just got here so maybe you should just meet Johnny at the hospital. I’ll stick around and talk to the cops.” “Wait, what?” He asked in confusion. “What do you mean she’s alive but barely?” “Just get to the hospital. I promise you we will explain everything.” I told him before we disconnected. The paramedics came through and started working on Nikki, while the police asked me to tell him what happened. “I’m her brother in law. We came over to help her move some shit around when we heard screaming coming from the house. When we came in we saw him on top of her, trying to unbutton his pants. So I got him off of her. You can arrest me for assault if you want, but I was just protecting my family.” I said with a shrug. “No, that’s not necessary.” The officer said, “You saved her life. I would have done the same thing for my family. We will take it from here, thank you Mr. Sanders.” He said, shaking my hand. I nodded and walked over to Johnny, who was watching the paramedics load Nikki into the ambulance. “I’m going to ride with her, someone needs to be there with Brian. You need to go clean yourself up and get Dani.” Johnny said, patting my back. “Oh fuck. Dani. She’s going to lose it.” I said, thinking about my fiancée. “Good thing you’ll be there to help her. I’ll call you when I know something if you’re not there by then.” Johnny said, climbing into the ambulance with my unconscious future sister in law. I waited until the paramedics were finished patching Jeremy up and the police loaded him into the back of one of their cars. “Turns out, he went AWOL on Memorial Day, so he’s going to be in a hell of a lot more trouble than he thinks he is.” The officer said, walking up to me and shaking my hand. “I hope your sister in law makes a speedy recovery. We will come by in a few days to see if she can remember anything.” “Thank you, sir.” I said, before locking and closing the door to Brian’s house, making a mental note to have someone come out and clean the floors and walls. I climbed in my truck and headed home to tell Dani the news, not looking forward to it at all.

Notes