The rush

He grimaced as he heard the voice on the telephone. "Please..? Can you come now?..I.. Need you .. here"
The voice, getting smaller as the words were mentioned, quavered, on the verge of breaking into tears. He felt the conflict build inside him.
"I'm still a bit of a way away", he said, biting his lip. "maybe twenty minutes."
"please.. hurry".. the voice began to break..
He'd been spending his time with her since her breakdown, coaxing, caring, bringing her to her feet. Juggling this double life has begun to take its toll on him. She'd grown more and more reliant on him, and his double life had begun to clash.
He sighed as he turned the corner and thundered the car down the road, eating up the miles effortlessly. He glanced at the car in his mirror as he approached a turn, only to find himself hurtling into a mass of nearly stationary cars. He slammed on the brakes, pressing harder against the throbbing anti locks and heaving the steering wheel to one side giving the car additional stopping distance. He heaved a sigh of relief, only find his head snapping back as the car behind him, unable to stop in time, rammed head on into the rear of his car.
He  saw the front of his car crumple in slow motion as he watched, eerily detached from the carnage, the front ram into the mass of the metal, folding up and the windshield developing a spider web of cracks. Then darkness followed...

The window

She stared at the ground below her. Momentarily, she felt amazed at how much smaller things looked, even though it was just the window of the fifth floor. A soft breeze on her skin made her skin taut, the nervousness giving her a chill.
She became aware of her heart pounding as her eyes focused on an imaginary point on the sidewalk. That point, she thought would be where she would touch the ground first. She imagined herself in slow motion, rushing down to that point, feeling the air against her skin,her senses awry trying to fight the feeling of weightlessness. She'd hit the ground almost flat, her skull crunching against that point. She'd feel a sharp pain momentarily before she would pass out, a flash of light in her eyes, before eternal darkness.
Would her life flash before her eyes? She wondered. If it did, would she regret stepping off the window? She closed her eyes,and felt the metal window frame against her skin. Her senses, fully charged up at the tension, were extra sensitive. The warm air around her felt chilled against her skin. Her ears picked up voices of people going about their daily lives across the street and she smelt the wafting scent of a nearby barbecue.
Her mind flashed back to a fancy restaurant. Grilled lamb rack. Taken aback at the size.Someone getting angry for ordering that. Getting up in a huff, dragged by the hand.Yelled at all the way to the car. Screaming, yelling.The back of the hand..
Tears began to well in her as she recollected this. The lonely crying in the bathroom.The sad look on his face as he came to. The apologies, regrets, all lies until the next flare up.
She opened her eyes again, and watched as a tear rolled off her nose and down to the sidewalk.
Follow that,.. she said.She imagined her tear hitting the sidewalk and smashing into smithereens, not a trace, nothing left. Just like her feelings for him. Nothing left. No more apologies, no more regrets.
She took a deep breath. Its time. But her mind was not done replaying her thoughts. She felt the sadness, the struggle to come to work and pretend everything was alright. She remembered the violent episodes, each bigger than before. The despair. And she remembered the caring voice.The breath against the skin..
She remembered him standing over her desk. The late evenings, long chats. He understood! She remembered how he seemed to understand her needs, how comfortable she was with him. How she naturally trusted him, how complete she felt with him.
She had both feet over the window sill and one hand was all that made the difference. Her hand trembled at the strain. She wanted to let go, away from the pain. Now her mind had deserted her, reminding her of her pillar of strength. She wished he was here, he would help her. Again, despair welled in her. Could she stand going through this loneliness again? The pain?
A twitch in her shoulder reminded her.. Its time! Its time! let go! Let go of all the pain and be in peace! She closed her eyes and began to sob..

The Morning After

She felt warm sunlight on her face and she stirred. She turned over and felt a hand next to her; she gave a low moan and wiggled over till she could place her head on the crook of the shoulder. She cuddled up to the body, warm and comforting, and she rubbed her cheek on the skin, feeling safe. And fingers began to stroke her hair, and she began to feel the stirring again inside her. As the fingers played with her hair and stroked the back of her neck, she began to yearn for more and the fingers moved slowly but surely down the neck along her spine. She arched her back and pressed herself against the skin as a burning built up inside her. Her eyes still shut, she began to realize that this was not something she was used to, and the skin smelt strangely familiar and yet at the same time, not.
She opened her eyes, and gasped in surprise. Instinctively, she pulled the covers over her and sat up. She relaxed when events of the last night rushed into her stream of consciousness. She realized she was fully clothed, and she began to carefully string her thoughts together.
She remembered the party, and the fight, and her boyfriend had stormed off and left her. She remembered the anger, the throwing herself into the party and letting every bit of the anger go. There were loud music, flashing lights, the exhaustion, and.. the face..
"You were there, weren't you?" she asked.
He had sat up on the corner of the bed. He nodded. He had seen her almost making a fool of herself in the middle of the dance floor and had caught her as she lost her balance. She had been really upset and had broken down into a bundle of shuddering, sobbing nerves in his arms. Not having a place to go, he had taken her to his home, into his bed.
He'd gotten up in the early hours to hear her crying in her sleep, and gotten into bed with her and cradled her till she calmed down. And with her in his arms and soundly asleep, he, too began to roll off into slumber..

Calm before the storm

He got up from his chair and stretched. He walked around his table towards his door. It had been a long morning filled with video conference after another, and frankly, he'd felt tired. Standing up sort of stretched his aching muscles and that made him feel like taking a short stroll.

He opened his door and scanned the sea of cubicles spread out in from of him. As he was about to step out, he caught a familiar figure at one of the cubicles.

She stared intently at her pc screen, typing away. He admired for a moment; she held her head high, and, instead of slouching in her seat like the others, she sat with her back straight and shoulders back. Every once in a while she would cock her head to one side, thinking; and when in paticularly deep thought, she would press her index finger to her bottom lip, sometimes tapping it, and when she found the answer the finger would straighten, and she would nod to herself and continue typing away.

"See something you like?" came a voice next to him. He turned and found his secretary looking at him with a smile at the corner of her mouth. She was a tall elderly woman, greying at the temples who wore her hair pulled back into a bun at the back of her head. She tended to mother him at times, but she was sensible and he didn't mind. He gave an embarrased smile as he realized he was leaning against the door frame, weight on one leg and arms casually crossed.

"The new girl's caught your fancy eh? Everyone's talking about it; thought you should know."

The words took a while to sink in as he watched his secretary walk away. He figured it wouldn't be too difficult for people to figure that out. After all, he did spend more time explaining things to her than to the others.

He'd found her to be more intelligent than the others and she was quick to ask things whenever things were not clear, and her work always came out with a little extra. Because of that he found it worth his time to spend a little more time with her than anyone else, and he'd also begun to look forward to the little exchanges.

Together

Her eyes followed the food as the waiter placed it on the table. She looked up at him, gave a smile of gratitude and let her eyes trail the waiter as he walked away.

She heard him say something above the droning background. It was early evening and the dinner crowds were building up. She ignored him and looked away, as disappointment began to build within her.

She took a deep breath and decided to take a different tack. She turned to face him. "I realized its been a long while since we spent time together..", she began, "..and I thought it be nice to be here together." She swallowed air as she gathered her thoughts. "..But its obvious you have other things on your mind, and I'm not very welcomed here..." her voice trailed off as she felt tears welling up. "..I just wanted to be with you.. and.. maybe you'd want to be with me, too.."

He took her hands and pressed them first to his lips and then against his cheeks. "i'm sorry..I'm sorry," he stammered. He'd had an exhausting week, he said, and its all built up and consumed his mind. He hadn't realized that was all he'd been talking about.

"I want this moment with you to be special, too" he said, "It's not fair that I talk about all this".

He got up and moved over to her side of her table. "From this moment on, lets talk about us".

He put his arm around her waist and leaned back against the seat, resting on her shoulder as she ate. He shifted his focus on her. The glint in his eye soon returned and before long, they were in each other's company once more.

She enjoyed his presence, and as the chattering on the background began to dissipate, so did their voices, until they were merely whispering at each other, interspersed with little kisses and rubbing of cheeks.

Before they even realized it, the waiter came with the check, as the till was closing. As the lights began to dim, they walked out, holding hands and their arms around each other. He felt the burden of the week lift off his shoulders, and her smile was once again curled in the corners of her mouth.

Reluctantly, he shut the car door, and as she wound down the windscreen to say goodbye, he bent down an kissed her. And she pulled his face near and kissed him over and over, until what seemed an eternity.

He stood there as she fired the engine. And he stood there as he watched her disappear into the night.

Healing

He was only vaguely aware of the creaking of the foldaway sofa bed that had become his bed in recent weeks. He slept soundly.

It's been a few weeks since he found her at the hotel. He'd spend the days with her, taking her out, supporting her recovery. Her wounds had healed and the bruises were all but gone. He'd spend late afternoons with her at the park, reading her stories keeping her mind busy. She seemed to be recovering well. Despite that, he found himself realizing that she was not the same person he'd come to love. Since the incident, she'd been staying with him, but although she wasn't avoiding him, she was somewhat distant. He knew that it was probably what she'd been through, but the unrequited longing and missing togetherness began to take its toll on him.

He tossed to his side, trying to forget the thought. He remembered all that he missed; the warm hugs, the kisses. Tender lips on his fingers, smooth soft skin.

He began to drift into sleep, not hearing the click of the door softly closing.
He had drifted into a dream that he felt her climb behind him, her warm body against his. Gentle, soft breathing in his ear, the breath warm. He stirred as he felt her arm wrap around him, soft hands stroking his face and move down his arms.
It wasn't till morning that he awoke in her arms. It wasn't a dream after all.

Loneliness

She let out a long sigh and tried very hard to stifle the sobs beginning to well up in her. She covered her face with her hands and propped it on her elbows. She felt so alone, and in the hotel room, there wasn't very much to comfort her.
She'd run away from home, and checked into this hotel not knowing where else to go. She dared not go home in case that beast of a man would still be lurking around the house.
The bruises have started to heal, but she would break down in tears every time she saw them in the mirror.
And in her hotel room, she felt afraid of going out, so she stayed in the room all day. She did step out the first time, but seeing people down the hall began to frighten her and it became too much for her to bear. Her frightened mind began to imagine each man she saw to be him and her heart would beat so hard out of fear she would not be able to breathe.
At night, she would be engulfed in the loneliness, being in the cold, cold bed alone, wishing for the company of the one person who could make her feel better. He'd been calling a few times and the relief in hearing his voice was far too much for her to bear, and she would hang up in a gush of sobs, unable to say a word. But he had since stopped calling, and bitterness began to fill her.
And she cowered in a corner of the room in fear every time she hears voices outside, trying to conceal her sobs and not make a sound, lest should it be him to come looking once again ready to rain blows on her.
"This is the room, sir" said the manager. He looked nervously at the security guards and at the stranger in front of him. "Once again I wish to remind you that the safety of our guests is of our utmost concern and that it is against our policy to divulge information of our guests"
The stranger looked at the manager and with a tinge of impatience said,"I assure you, that this is genuine, and that it would do your reputation no good if you do not heed me." And he reached out and rang the door bell, and waited.
The doorbell pierced the silence in the room and she dashed into the corner. He's found her! She cowered in the corner, arms around her knees, shaking with fear and rocking herself to and fro to calm herself. She tried to not cry, but the tears blurred her vision as the door bell rang and rang. And she tried very hard to muffle her sobs as she heard the voices outside get more agitated; and she heard the key being turned in the lock and the door straining against the chain. Suddenly the door burst open and she screamed as the light from outside burst in the darkened room, blinding her.
And she did not know how long she screamed as she felt a pair of arms come around her and held her tight, a voice began to form words in her ears.
And she tried to struggle, but to no avail, and she gave up and burst into a torrent of sobs as she realized it was the comforting voice she had been longing for; and those hands, running through her hair and stroking her back, were the warm ones that gave her the comfort when she always needed.
The stranger sat on the floor and cradled her head on his shoulders and stroked her gently as he motioned to the hotel manager and guards away.