Post by Mimi on Aug 18, 2006 11:05:44 GMT -5
“North, open the goddamn door now,” John demanded as he kicked the door and rattled the door knob. “Open it now,” he screamed, losing his patience. Marlena wasn’t visible to him, only Alex, which made him extremely uncomfortable. Peering through the glass he could see Alex moving on the bed and what looked to be Marlena’s legs tied down in restraints.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing to my wife? Get away from her…Guard, you had better open this door now before I rip your head off,” John screamed as he tried to get to Marlena. “Open the fucking door….Open it now.”
“Open it,” John continued yelling, trying to force the door open with his shoulder.
Suddenly the door opened and Alex North stood on the other side. “I’m having a therapy session with my patient, if you don’t mind,” Alex said smugly, amused by the frantic look on John’s face. He purposely stood in the middle of the door way blocking John’s access. This was going to be much more fun that he thought. John Black had been a major annoyance since the day he arrived in Salem and it was time for some payback. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to come back during visiting hours.” He almost wanted to laugh at his own audacity. Mason was right where he wanted him; he had willingly placed John on the no access list, thinking it was his own idea. Just brilliant. Now all he had to do was get John out of the way, get the information he needed from Marlena and he would be long gone.
“Move it North,” John said he moved to the side of Alex where he could see Marlena. Alex moved right along with him, blocking his access and view.
“Move now,” John demanded, losing his patience.
“Guard,” Alex said calmly to the young rent a cop sitting behind the small standard issue government desk. “This man is not to have access to Ms. Evans…Please call the police and hospital security and make sure that he doesn’t enter the room,” Alex ordered as he firmly stood in the doorway and attempted to close the door.
Marlena saw the door starting to close and began to panic. “Help me John,” she yelled as she bucked against the restraints. It no longer mattered to her if John knew that she was a bigamist, that she had sex with Alex, that she was an awful imperfect person and not whom he thought he married. None of that mattered to her. What started over thirty-five years before needed to come to an end. She needed to get away from Alex and Mason and their questions.
As the puzzle pieces of her past slowly came together, she had a much clearer picture in her mind, as horrifying as it was, as to what the truth was. “John…John,” she screamed again.
The instant John heard Marlena’s cries for help he violently pushed Alex to the side and ran into the room, stopping short at the end of the bed in shock. One of Marlena’s eyes was swollen shut, blood all over her face and chest.
Horrified at the way Marlena looked, John immediately grabbed Alex from behind by his collar and thew him up against the wall, pinning him with one hand. “What the hell did you do to her?” John screamed in his face, unable to control himself. “What the fuck did you do to my wife?” As John stared in anger at Alex’s face he realized that some of the blood on Marlena belonged to Alex as his lip with swollen, split and bleeding. “What did you do to my wife,” John screamed in his face as he shook him.
“Guard, this man is attacking me,” Alex yelled, trying to summon help. As he glanced at Marlena lying pathetically on the bed he was pissed at himself for not getting the information he needed from her before John arrived. Two more minutes and he was sure that he would have gotten what he needed. Now he had to deal with the possibility that she remembered what had happened and would tell John who would ruin all their plans. Goddamn John Black.
“Shut the fuck up you low life scum,” John said as he punched Alex in the face and watched as he fell to the ground. “You think its okay to hit a woman?” John asked as he kicked Alex in the ribs. “Do you?” he screamed again as he kicked him.
“Don’t John, no,” Marlena pleaded knowing that this retribution, although well deserved, wasn’t going to solve anything. So many years, so much violence, no peace.
“No Marlena, that bastard hurt you and he’s going to pay,” John said as he repeatedly kicked Alex. Alex was in a fetal position on the floor, trying to protect his head from the torrent of John’s never-ending blows.
“Coward, why don’t you stand up and fight like a man,” John demanded of him, as he grabbed his arm and tried to pull him into a standing position.
“Stop,” Marlena cried out as she watched John repeatedly punched Alex in the face. “Stop….stop…stop.”
Fury took over his mind and body and he found himself unable to stop punching and kicking Alex. Over and over he beat him with his fists, kicked him with his boots.
“STOP,” Marlena screamed unable to take the scene in front of her any longer. “STOP…STOP…STOP….STOP.” Turning her head to the side, she closed her eyes and silently cried.
“Stop…Stop,” Mason yelled at her as he followed her down the overgrown path, having no idea where he was or where she was going. The low lying trees were covered with Kudzu, vines hanging like wisps off the branches blocking what little moonlight there was.
“Stop, Julie…We’ve got to get out of here…The police are probably coming.” He was having a hard time keeping up with her as she gracefully ducked beneath low lying tree branches and jumped over logs. The silky paleness of her hair and milkiness of her skin as it occasionally caught the moonlight, in contrast to the darkness of the forest, gave her an ethereal presence. She was like a Greek siren calling out to him, ordering him to follow her.
She ran with purpose through the haunted woods towards her house, not caring if Mason was behind her or not. Disappointed with herself for not stopping all of this earlier, she was determined that it would all come to an end tonight. As she cleared the dense overgrowth that blocked the house from even aerial view, she came to a sudden stop.
“Julie, lets get Alex,” Mason suggested as he tried to catch his breath. Watching Julie out of the corner of his eye, he was amazed to see that she was quite calm, eerily so. Looking at the shack in fascination, he was at the same time terrified. He’d heard the stories, even joked about the occupants, but all this was before he met Julie. He knew why the no trespassing signs were posted and had been warned by everyone to stay away from the homestead, to stay away from Julie. Like a typical teenage boy, you couldn’t tell him anything. Caught up in the madness that was Julie’s existence, he wished desperately that he’d listened.
“No,” she said softly as she stared at the house and wondered what she was going to do. “Give me the gun,” she ordered as she reached for his hand.
“No,” he said as he backed up, scared of her. Her eyes were lifeless like always, cheeks sunken in, blood and grey matter splattered on her milky white skin. As he stared at her torn and filthy nightgown the enormity of what had happened sunk in. Unable to process the images in his mind, he silently sat down on the forest floor and handed her the gun.
As she reached out and touched the cold metal she felt empowered for the first time in her life. No one was going to hurt her or her sister again. Looking down at Mason sitting silently on the ground gasping for air and crying she was grateful for his friendship. It wasn’t fair that his life was now as fucked up as hers.
“Stay here,” she whispered as she leaned down and kissed him lightly on the top of his head, “I’ll be right back.” He had done so much for her tonight, it wasn’t fair to involve him in what was her problem. Slowly she walked towards the house, no longer able to feel the shards of stone and glass as they cut into her feet.
As she creeped along the back of the house she heard Samantha crying and the muffled sounds of a man. Opening the back door, she slowly entered.
“Did you show the man a good time?” her father asked as he turned on the kitchen light startling her.
She stared at him, unable to respond, the hand holding the gun behind her back.
“Cat got your tongue?” he asked as he retrieved a six pack of beer from the fridge.
She continued to stare, not sure of what she was going to do. Her legs started shaking, giving away her nervousness.
“What’s your problem girl?” he laughed as he sat down on the ripped vinyl covered chair. “Was he too much of a man for you?” he laughed as he opened a can of beer and drank from it.
“Here you look like you need one,” he said as he tossed her a can. Unable to catch it in time, the can fell to the floor.
“Fucking bitch, you’re wasting good beer,” he said as he ran to catch the can as it slowly hissed and a stream of beer shot up in the air from a puncture in the aluminum.
“Goddammit.” She watched, frozen in place, as he put his lips and mouth to the can and proceeded to suck on it. Knees knocking, she shut her eyes, trying not to remember the many times he did that to her.
“What are you a fucking deaf mute?” He laughed as he slammed the can down on the table smashing it. “Get your ass over here,” he demanded as he patted his lap.
“No,” she said as she shook her head. Never again.
“Bitch, do not disobey me,” he said as he gestured towards his lap once again.
As if in a trance she slowly walked to where her father was and sat down on his lap. “You remind me so much of your mother,” he said as he slowly stroked the side of her face and neck with his fingers. Scared to move, she held the gun tightly to her side. Lower and lower his hands roamed to where they cupped her breasts through the thin material of her nightgown.
“Stop.”
“What did you say to me?” he asked.
“Stop…don’t touch me,” she said softly, unable to look down.
“You fucking belong to me you little whore…don’t forget that…you will do what I fucking tell you to do…You belong to me, don’t you forget it.” He grabbed her face roughly and made her look at him. His dirty jagged fingernails dug into the tender skin of her chin.
“No.” Her voice was louder and more defiant.
She felt the sting as he slapped her hard across the face. “Do not disobey me Julie… If you’d behave and listen then I wouldn’t have to punish you.”
“I’m sorry,” she apologized, losing her nerve and falling back into old patterns. “I’m really tired and would like to go to bed.”
“Later, I need you to do me another favor.”
Closing her eyes, knowing what that favor was, she started to cry.
“Jules…don’t cry,” he said as he softly stroked her through her gown. “Five minutes with him…the usual….that’s all…a favor for me….a favor for your dad…five minutes.”
“Please don’t make me,” she said, trying to convince him to make this all stop.
“I can’t…I owe him too much money Jules, you know that…Just do what he wants and it will be all over with in five minutes…you don’t have a choice anyway, you know that…once he’s done with you, I’ll make it all better.”
She swallowed hard and her breathing increased as she gripped the gun tighter. She felt his hands move lower and lower on her body, coming to a rest mid thigh. Slowly he lifted the nightgown and moved his fingers up her bare thigh. She felt his hardness poking into her backside as he moved back and forth against her. Biting down on her bottom lip to keep from screaming out, she closed her eyes and tried to block out what was happening to her.
As she felt his hands move higher and higher, she heard her sisters terrified cries in the next room. With an inner resolve she didn’t know she had, Julie slowly brought the gun up to her lap. She wanted him to see the object, wanted him to realize that she was serious, wanted him to leave her alone.
“Stop,” she demanded as she clutched the gun.
“Where the fuck did you get that?” her father asked as he looked down at her hand clutching the gun. “Did you steal it, you little whore?”
“I said stop.”
“You ain’t going to do nothing with that gun…I ought to shoot your sorry ass for bringing it into the house…Why do you have to be so difficult?” He ignored her cries to stop and continued with his molestation.
Slowly she brought the gun up and pointed it past her own head at him. Not being able to see where she was pointing, she stopped when the barrel of the gun came into contact with what she assumed was his neck.
“I am going to kick your ass later for this,” he threatened. “Put the damn gun down now.”
“No.”
“Julie, I mean it…I am going to get the belt out tonight and beat your ass till it’s black and blue.”
“No.”
“Goddammit, you worthless piece of shit…This is all your fault…If you had fucking kept your mouth shut none of this would have happened, you realize that don’t you? You brought this on yourself Julie. This is all your fault.” She was sickened to realize that her defiance was a turn on for him. She felt his free hand move between their bodies and lower his zipper.
“No it’s not,” she whispered as her tears slowly ran down her face. How could he blame her for everything that had happened?
“Yes it is…do you hear your sorry ass sister in there crying? It’s because of you, no one else but you…You’ll never amount to anything.” He removed his hand from between their bodies and opened another can of beer. As he brought it up to his mouth, she felt the condensation from the can slowly drip onto her shoulder, one drop at a time.
“Please stop touching me,” she whispered, not caring if he heard her. “Stop touching me. Stop touching me. Stop touching me,” she screamed in her mind.
“Someone has to teach you, may as well be me…May as well enjoy it Jules…No one will ever love you…not once they know you.”
He was right; no one would ever love her. Closing her eyes, she fired the gun.
“No,” Marlena screamed. Shaking her head, she tried to stop the memories from returning, not wanting to remember. “No,” she whispered. “No.”
“John, stop it,” Roman Brady yelled as he ran into the room and grabbed John’s arm, preventing him from connecting with Alex’s face. The guard held onto Alex’s battered form and helped him out of the room. “Arrest that man,” Alex weakly demanded as he left with the guard, a sly smile on his face. This was going better than planned. John had attacked him and would be arrested, leaving enough time for Peter to come in and marry him and Marlena. By the time John got out of jail, he’d be long gone. It was brilliant.
“You should have let me kill him,” John said as he closed his eyes and brought his swollen fist up to his lips. “Look what he fucking did to her,” John said as he gestured to Marlena, noticing her demeanor for the first time in five minutes. He had been so consumed by hatred and revenge that he failed to notice the vacant look on her face and that her arms and legs were seizing.
“Oh god, Doc,” Roman said as he quickly walked over to where Marlena lay and started undoing her restraints.
“I can’t even look at her like that without wanting to bash his brains in…. What kind of man does that to a woman?” John asked. “Marlena are you okay?” John slowly approached the bed; terrified that something was wrong with her. Her eyes were focused on something that he couldn’t see, her breathing uneven.
“No one will love me…no one will love me,” she whispered over and over between gasps of breaths.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing to my wife? Get away from her…Guard, you had better open this door now before I rip your head off,” John screamed as he tried to get to Marlena. “Open the fucking door….Open it now.”
“Open it,” John continued yelling, trying to force the door open with his shoulder.
Suddenly the door opened and Alex North stood on the other side. “I’m having a therapy session with my patient, if you don’t mind,” Alex said smugly, amused by the frantic look on John’s face. He purposely stood in the middle of the door way blocking John’s access. This was going to be much more fun that he thought. John Black had been a major annoyance since the day he arrived in Salem and it was time for some payback. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to come back during visiting hours.” He almost wanted to laugh at his own audacity. Mason was right where he wanted him; he had willingly placed John on the no access list, thinking it was his own idea. Just brilliant. Now all he had to do was get John out of the way, get the information he needed from Marlena and he would be long gone.
“Move it North,” John said he moved to the side of Alex where he could see Marlena. Alex moved right along with him, blocking his access and view.
“Move now,” John demanded, losing his patience.
“Guard,” Alex said calmly to the young rent a cop sitting behind the small standard issue government desk. “This man is not to have access to Ms. Evans…Please call the police and hospital security and make sure that he doesn’t enter the room,” Alex ordered as he firmly stood in the doorway and attempted to close the door.
Marlena saw the door starting to close and began to panic. “Help me John,” she yelled as she bucked against the restraints. It no longer mattered to her if John knew that she was a bigamist, that she had sex with Alex, that she was an awful imperfect person and not whom he thought he married. None of that mattered to her. What started over thirty-five years before needed to come to an end. She needed to get away from Alex and Mason and their questions.
As the puzzle pieces of her past slowly came together, she had a much clearer picture in her mind, as horrifying as it was, as to what the truth was. “John…John,” she screamed again.
The instant John heard Marlena’s cries for help he violently pushed Alex to the side and ran into the room, stopping short at the end of the bed in shock. One of Marlena’s eyes was swollen shut, blood all over her face and chest.
Horrified at the way Marlena looked, John immediately grabbed Alex from behind by his collar and thew him up against the wall, pinning him with one hand. “What the hell did you do to her?” John screamed in his face, unable to control himself. “What the fuck did you do to my wife?” As John stared in anger at Alex’s face he realized that some of the blood on Marlena belonged to Alex as his lip with swollen, split and bleeding. “What did you do to my wife,” John screamed in his face as he shook him.
“Guard, this man is attacking me,” Alex yelled, trying to summon help. As he glanced at Marlena lying pathetically on the bed he was pissed at himself for not getting the information he needed from her before John arrived. Two more minutes and he was sure that he would have gotten what he needed. Now he had to deal with the possibility that she remembered what had happened and would tell John who would ruin all their plans. Goddamn John Black.
“Shut the fuck up you low life scum,” John said as he punched Alex in the face and watched as he fell to the ground. “You think its okay to hit a woman?” John asked as he kicked Alex in the ribs. “Do you?” he screamed again as he kicked him.
“Don’t John, no,” Marlena pleaded knowing that this retribution, although well deserved, wasn’t going to solve anything. So many years, so much violence, no peace.
“No Marlena, that bastard hurt you and he’s going to pay,” John said as he repeatedly kicked Alex. Alex was in a fetal position on the floor, trying to protect his head from the torrent of John’s never-ending blows.
“Coward, why don’t you stand up and fight like a man,” John demanded of him, as he grabbed his arm and tried to pull him into a standing position.
“Stop,” Marlena cried out as she watched John repeatedly punched Alex in the face. “Stop….stop…stop.”
Fury took over his mind and body and he found himself unable to stop punching and kicking Alex. Over and over he beat him with his fists, kicked him with his boots.
“STOP,” Marlena screamed unable to take the scene in front of her any longer. “STOP…STOP…STOP….STOP.” Turning her head to the side, she closed her eyes and silently cried.
“Stop…Stop,” Mason yelled at her as he followed her down the overgrown path, having no idea where he was or where she was going. The low lying trees were covered with Kudzu, vines hanging like wisps off the branches blocking what little moonlight there was.
“Stop, Julie…We’ve got to get out of here…The police are probably coming.” He was having a hard time keeping up with her as she gracefully ducked beneath low lying tree branches and jumped over logs. The silky paleness of her hair and milkiness of her skin as it occasionally caught the moonlight, in contrast to the darkness of the forest, gave her an ethereal presence. She was like a Greek siren calling out to him, ordering him to follow her.
She ran with purpose through the haunted woods towards her house, not caring if Mason was behind her or not. Disappointed with herself for not stopping all of this earlier, she was determined that it would all come to an end tonight. As she cleared the dense overgrowth that blocked the house from even aerial view, she came to a sudden stop.
“Julie, lets get Alex,” Mason suggested as he tried to catch his breath. Watching Julie out of the corner of his eye, he was amazed to see that she was quite calm, eerily so. Looking at the shack in fascination, he was at the same time terrified. He’d heard the stories, even joked about the occupants, but all this was before he met Julie. He knew why the no trespassing signs were posted and had been warned by everyone to stay away from the homestead, to stay away from Julie. Like a typical teenage boy, you couldn’t tell him anything. Caught up in the madness that was Julie’s existence, he wished desperately that he’d listened.
“No,” she said softly as she stared at the house and wondered what she was going to do. “Give me the gun,” she ordered as she reached for his hand.
“No,” he said as he backed up, scared of her. Her eyes were lifeless like always, cheeks sunken in, blood and grey matter splattered on her milky white skin. As he stared at her torn and filthy nightgown the enormity of what had happened sunk in. Unable to process the images in his mind, he silently sat down on the forest floor and handed her the gun.
As she reached out and touched the cold metal she felt empowered for the first time in her life. No one was going to hurt her or her sister again. Looking down at Mason sitting silently on the ground gasping for air and crying she was grateful for his friendship. It wasn’t fair that his life was now as fucked up as hers.
“Stay here,” she whispered as she leaned down and kissed him lightly on the top of his head, “I’ll be right back.” He had done so much for her tonight, it wasn’t fair to involve him in what was her problem. Slowly she walked towards the house, no longer able to feel the shards of stone and glass as they cut into her feet.
As she creeped along the back of the house she heard Samantha crying and the muffled sounds of a man. Opening the back door, she slowly entered.
“Did you show the man a good time?” her father asked as he turned on the kitchen light startling her.
She stared at him, unable to respond, the hand holding the gun behind her back.
“Cat got your tongue?” he asked as he retrieved a six pack of beer from the fridge.
She continued to stare, not sure of what she was going to do. Her legs started shaking, giving away her nervousness.
“What’s your problem girl?” he laughed as he sat down on the ripped vinyl covered chair. “Was he too much of a man for you?” he laughed as he opened a can of beer and drank from it.
“Here you look like you need one,” he said as he tossed her a can. Unable to catch it in time, the can fell to the floor.
“Fucking bitch, you’re wasting good beer,” he said as he ran to catch the can as it slowly hissed and a stream of beer shot up in the air from a puncture in the aluminum.
“Goddammit.” She watched, frozen in place, as he put his lips and mouth to the can and proceeded to suck on it. Knees knocking, she shut her eyes, trying not to remember the many times he did that to her.
“What are you a fucking deaf mute?” He laughed as he slammed the can down on the table smashing it. “Get your ass over here,” he demanded as he patted his lap.
“No,” she said as she shook her head. Never again.
“Bitch, do not disobey me,” he said as he gestured towards his lap once again.
As if in a trance she slowly walked to where her father was and sat down on his lap. “You remind me so much of your mother,” he said as he slowly stroked the side of her face and neck with his fingers. Scared to move, she held the gun tightly to her side. Lower and lower his hands roamed to where they cupped her breasts through the thin material of her nightgown.
“Stop.”
“What did you say to me?” he asked.
“Stop…don’t touch me,” she said softly, unable to look down.
“You fucking belong to me you little whore…don’t forget that…you will do what I fucking tell you to do…You belong to me, don’t you forget it.” He grabbed her face roughly and made her look at him. His dirty jagged fingernails dug into the tender skin of her chin.
“No.” Her voice was louder and more defiant.
She felt the sting as he slapped her hard across the face. “Do not disobey me Julie… If you’d behave and listen then I wouldn’t have to punish you.”
“I’m sorry,” she apologized, losing her nerve and falling back into old patterns. “I’m really tired and would like to go to bed.”
“Later, I need you to do me another favor.”
Closing her eyes, knowing what that favor was, she started to cry.
“Jules…don’t cry,” he said as he softly stroked her through her gown. “Five minutes with him…the usual….that’s all…a favor for me….a favor for your dad…five minutes.”
“Please don’t make me,” she said, trying to convince him to make this all stop.
“I can’t…I owe him too much money Jules, you know that…Just do what he wants and it will be all over with in five minutes…you don’t have a choice anyway, you know that…once he’s done with you, I’ll make it all better.”
She swallowed hard and her breathing increased as she gripped the gun tighter. She felt his hands move lower and lower on her body, coming to a rest mid thigh. Slowly he lifted the nightgown and moved his fingers up her bare thigh. She felt his hardness poking into her backside as he moved back and forth against her. Biting down on her bottom lip to keep from screaming out, she closed her eyes and tried to block out what was happening to her.
As she felt his hands move higher and higher, she heard her sisters terrified cries in the next room. With an inner resolve she didn’t know she had, Julie slowly brought the gun up to her lap. She wanted him to see the object, wanted him to realize that she was serious, wanted him to leave her alone.
“Stop,” she demanded as she clutched the gun.
“Where the fuck did you get that?” her father asked as he looked down at her hand clutching the gun. “Did you steal it, you little whore?”
“I said stop.”
“You ain’t going to do nothing with that gun…I ought to shoot your sorry ass for bringing it into the house…Why do you have to be so difficult?” He ignored her cries to stop and continued with his molestation.
Slowly she brought the gun up and pointed it past her own head at him. Not being able to see where she was pointing, she stopped when the barrel of the gun came into contact with what she assumed was his neck.
“I am going to kick your ass later for this,” he threatened. “Put the damn gun down now.”
“No.”
“Julie, I mean it…I am going to get the belt out tonight and beat your ass till it’s black and blue.”
“No.”
“Goddammit, you worthless piece of shit…This is all your fault…If you had fucking kept your mouth shut none of this would have happened, you realize that don’t you? You brought this on yourself Julie. This is all your fault.” She was sickened to realize that her defiance was a turn on for him. She felt his free hand move between their bodies and lower his zipper.
“No it’s not,” she whispered as her tears slowly ran down her face. How could he blame her for everything that had happened?
“Yes it is…do you hear your sorry ass sister in there crying? It’s because of you, no one else but you…You’ll never amount to anything.” He removed his hand from between their bodies and opened another can of beer. As he brought it up to his mouth, she felt the condensation from the can slowly drip onto her shoulder, one drop at a time.
“Please stop touching me,” she whispered, not caring if he heard her. “Stop touching me. Stop touching me. Stop touching me,” she screamed in her mind.
“Someone has to teach you, may as well be me…May as well enjoy it Jules…No one will ever love you…not once they know you.”
He was right; no one would ever love her. Closing her eyes, she fired the gun.
“No,” Marlena screamed. Shaking her head, she tried to stop the memories from returning, not wanting to remember. “No,” she whispered. “No.”
“John, stop it,” Roman Brady yelled as he ran into the room and grabbed John’s arm, preventing him from connecting with Alex’s face. The guard held onto Alex’s battered form and helped him out of the room. “Arrest that man,” Alex weakly demanded as he left with the guard, a sly smile on his face. This was going better than planned. John had attacked him and would be arrested, leaving enough time for Peter to come in and marry him and Marlena. By the time John got out of jail, he’d be long gone. It was brilliant.
“You should have let me kill him,” John said as he closed his eyes and brought his swollen fist up to his lips. “Look what he fucking did to her,” John said as he gestured to Marlena, noticing her demeanor for the first time in five minutes. He had been so consumed by hatred and revenge that he failed to notice the vacant look on her face and that her arms and legs were seizing.
“Oh god, Doc,” Roman said as he quickly walked over to where Marlena lay and started undoing her restraints.
“I can’t even look at her like that without wanting to bash his brains in…. What kind of man does that to a woman?” John asked. “Marlena are you okay?” John slowly approached the bed; terrified that something was wrong with her. Her eyes were focused on something that he couldn’t see, her breathing uneven.
“No one will love me…no one will love me,” she whispered over and over between gasps of breaths.
