Burnt Upon the Pyre of Love (Pt. 2)

       With all the strength she could muster, Caroline fought to keep from collapsing face down on the linoleum flooring of her bathroom, for giving in and allowing her straining muscles to go lax would plant her face first in her own vomit. Her entire body shook uncontrollably, a result of the severe nausea, fear, and grief that now wracked her body. She was a mess, a physical and emotional train wreck.

       The bathroom door was all that barred pure evil from Caroline, but a wicked presence hung around the space she occupied. The air seemed to have chilled, though she knew that to be absurd, she just couldn’t shake the thought. Absurd, crazy, impossible seemed to be popular words tonight, at least in this little corner of Hell. Impossible was the fact that Caroline’s cruel, abusive, criminally insane ex-boyfriend Ronnie Akers was a few inches away from her. Absurd was what he presented to Caroline as if giving a bouquet of her favorite roses. Crazy, that was the whole damn mess.

       “You should’ve seen your face,” Ronnie whooped between bouts of laughter. “It was totally priceless. One second you’re all like, evening officer and in the next you’re screaming your goddamn head off. Good lord, if your eyes woulda gotten any wider they would’ve rolled right out your head."

       How Caroline wished this all to be a dream, a bad dream that had occurred when she fell asleep in the shower waiting for Ben to return. The pain in her stomach and chest told her this impossible scenario was indeed reality. And that Ben would never be returning. Her stomach gave another lurch when she remembered the heart, Ben’s heart, held firmly in Ronnie’s hand.

       Strength shone through the pain and her shaking arms managed to push Caroline up to sit on her knees.

       “Hey! Everything okay in there?” Ronnie asked, his voice sounding highly amused. “Need some help?”

       “Fuck you!” Caroline choked out through the saliva lingering in the back of her throat.

       “Would you please?” Ronnie laughed. “It’d be awful sweet of you. Just open the door and we’ll get caught up.”

       “Fuck you!” Caroline yelled, it was all she could say. She repeated it in her head like a mantra as she rocked back and forth clutching her thighs with her hands.

       “Well, your vocabulary has really diminished since you’ve been gone,” Ronnie laughed; Caroline could tell he was getting a real thrill out of taunting her. “But it’s alright; I don’t blame you for it. I blame it on that Ben guy.”

       The pain fled from her body and in a white-hot instant she sprang from the bathroom floor and hammered the door with the bottom of her fists.

       “Don’t you ever say his name again, you bastard.” Caroline commanded, screaming in a rage she had never known before.

       The amusement hadn’t quit for Ronnie just yet, the fun only just begun. “Or what? What will you do?”

       “I’ll cut your rotten tongue out, you son of a bitch! That’s what the fuck I’ll do,” Caroline hissed, slapping the wooden door with her palms.

       Ronnie didn’t wait for her to finish before he began to repeat Ben’s name over and over again, like a school yard bully picking at and teasing its younger prey.

       Caroline hammered the door once more, screaming and promising Ronnie a thousand horrible deaths; promises she meant to keep. Placing her back to the door, Caroline slid down its length to sit upon the floor. The linoleum was cold against her backside, the steam having long since left the room.

       “Goddamn, you didn’t used to talk dirty like this,” Ronnie laughed as he pressed his face against the other side of the door. “I must say I really like it, it’s turning me on like crazy, Baby. How bout you unlock the door and come take care of me. Any way you see fit. All you got to do is unlock the door.”

       Caroline slammed her back against the door, Ronnie cursed from the other side. She’d either hurt or startled the prick which gave her a little satisfaction.

       “Alright, I’m through fucking playing with you,” Ronnie sternly spoke. “Open the door now, bitch.”

       The door gave a lurch as Ronnie punched or kicked against it. Caroline felt the blow in her shoulder blades, leading her to reason it had probably been a kick. She pushed herself away from the door and turned to face it.

       Although she wanted more than anything to open the door and tear Ronnie’s ugly face off, she knew such an action would not be in her best interest. On many occasions she had rebelled against this creep of an ex-boyfriend. She had fought him with every ounce of strength she could muster. The thing was, Ronnie was a lot tougher than his average build let on.

       He was used to being kicked around by his father and brothers, used to taking pool sticks and beer bottles across his skull in bar fights, and slugging it out with fellow low-lifes such as himself- drug dealers and other criminals. Hell, Caroline had watched Ronnie beat a guy that outweighed him by fifty pounds senseless in their living room once. Their. That was a term she used loosely when referring to her and Ronnie.

       Caroline knew she could open the door, throw herself at Ronnie, land a few good punches but that would be all she wrote. It had happened too many times before. Too many times had Ronnie knocked her flat out with one good punch, if she was lucky. The other times he held back a little and gave her body one hell of a thrashing. Though it’d been many years since then, time hadn’t dulled the memory of how those fists felt slamming into her stomach, or how her back screamed in agony when his foot stomped into her spine.

       The tears were relentless. How he had found her didn’t seem to matter really for he had indeed located her. After so many years of being rid of him he was back, and holding her husband’s heart in his hand. And here she was, weak and powerless before him like so many times before. All that had changed was his cruel nature, his ability to exert harm on Caroline and others had increased dramatically.

       The door shuttered once more, the walls of the bathroom shook causing a plastic sailboat to slip from its nail and crash on the floor.

       “Caroline,” Ronnie yelled. “You better open this door right fucking now. I’ll kick this motherfucker to splinters, you know I will. And you also know I won’t be happy about having to do such a thing when you could just OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!”

       As he screamed the last four words of the sentence, Ronnie struck the bathroom door for added effect. Caroline cowered further away, until the bathtub was against her rump. No way was she about to just allow Ronnie access to her, but she knew the door was not at all thick or strong enough to keep him out for long. She’d soon be face to face with him.

        Face to face with Ronnie, the thought raised major gooseflesh across her body. Caroline rose from her crouch, her knees hurting from being sat on for so long. She frantically took in her surroundings. On the sink sat a bar of hand soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, lotions, deodorant, and some of Ben’s cologne. Underneath the sink she knew was only toilet tissue, tampons, bath soap, alcohol, peroxide and mouthwash. On the ledge of the bathtub was a Schick razor that was perhaps her best bet.

       On the back of the toilet was a basket full of Bath and Body Works sprays and two glass tins that held cotton balls and Q-tips. There was no formidable weapon in her immediate vicinity. If she could manage to open the door, rush past Ronnie and make it to the bedroom, Ben had a .38 revolver in the bedside table. She’d blow the bastard to hell and gone then. If only she could, but Caroline knew the revolver might as well have been a galaxy away. She would never reach it in time.

       “Have it your way,” Ronnie hollered. The door shook violently; tubes of lotion rattled on the sink and fell to the floor. A weapon, her mind screamed. Something, anything but her fists would do. Maybe she could blind him with a squirt of hairspray, or sling rubbing alcohol into his eyes. That would give her enough time to get to the gun.

       Weighing her limited amount of options, Caroline was opting more for the razor when a better idea presented itself. She remembered one time when the handle on the toilet wouldn’t work. Ben had to remove the lid and reattach a chain inside of it. Quickly, Caroline placed herself in front of the commode. With one swift motion she knocked the basket and tins to the floor; the glass containers immediately shattering.

       Caroline cursed at her thoughtlessness. How she forgot she was barefoot was beyond her but she had. Glass on the floor only made her matters worse. Carefully stepping away from the toilet, and ever mindful of Ronnie’s incessant pounding, she snatched the wet towels from beside the tub and, as best she could, placed them over the spiky shards.

       “Here’s Ronnie!” And at that the door shot open, splinters of wood burst forth sailing past Caroline and into the bathtub. A huge chunk of the door frame landed near her feet, displaced by the lock as it tore through it.

       Instead of rushing into the room Ronnie stood back as if observing the situation. Caroline made good on the time he had unknowingly gave her and quickly gripped the toilet lid in her hands. The thick slab of porcelain had a reassuring weight. If she was careful and didn’t get reckless she could drop Ronnie in one blow. That would give her time to get to the pistol. Forget the pistol; why not just keep clubbing this thing over his head?

       She clutched the make shift club over her right shoulder, mirroring the stance of a baseball player holding a bat. Caroline tried her best to look firm, to stand with resolve, but when her eyes met the menacing green pupils of Ronnie, she shuddered noticeably. Her knees, weak with fear, caused her whole body to shake like a leaf on a tree in a windstorm. Ronnie shot her a twisted grin as he winked at her.

       “Hello, gorgeous,” he gently spoke, blowing Caroline a kiss as he did so. “Happy to see me?"

       Caroline said nothing. Ronnie took a step forward and she shook the porcelain slab as a warning. The warning was unheeded as Ronnie stepped forth once more, the distance between the two shortening. Now the anxiety of being in his presence was tinged with the fear of what Caroline would soon have to do. Soon he would lunge and she would strike. In that moment she would either vanquish Ronnie once and for all or…

       She dared not think what befall her if she should foul up. Ronnie had killed Ben to get to her, the devil himself probably couldn’t fathom what Ronnie had in store for Caroline. The thoughts made her even more nervous, which would only heighten her chances for messing up. Clutching the porcelain so hard it hurt, Caroline took a shaky breath to steel herself to what was coming.

       “It’s okay,” Ronnie grinned. “You don’t have to tell me how excited you are to see me again, there’s all the proof I need.”

       He pointed towards Caroline with his blood swathed index finger. With a quick glance down she saw what it was he was talking about. During the commotion, the sash of the robe had loosened slightly allowing the garment to pull from her chest. One of Caroline’s small breasts was visible to the pig. The fear and excitement had the hairs of her body standing on end, as well as her nipples.

       Being exposed to him wasn’t a big worry at the moment. She only chanced a second’s peek to see what he was talking about. Now Caroline gazed at him with firm resolve. She’d swipe that smug grin from his filthy face if it was the last thing she ever did.

       “Alright Babe, why don’t you put your little toy down before you get hurt?”

       “What, and ruin the fun of you trying to take it from me?”

       “Sweetie, you know it’s in your best interest to put that down on your own doing. You really don’t want me to make you.”

       “Oh yes I do. I’m dying for you to try. Come on Ronnie, what’s a matter, you to chicken shit scared to come and get it from me?”

       Caroline watched his lips twitch in the corners; her taunting had definitely angered him. However, he bit back on it and only shook his head.

       “Stupid girl, you never were too bright. You forgot one important thing.”

       “Oh yeah, and what’s that?”

       “You forgot to consider what kind of weapon, or weapons, I might have.”

       Though Caroline hated to admit it, Ronnie had her there and he knew it. He grinned from ear to ear, his yellowing teeth beaming in the white light. She had indeed neglected such a thought and suddenly the weight of the toilet lid didn’t seem so reassuring. If Ronnie had a gun then her slab of porcelain was far outweighed by the bullets. A crazy contemplation, but a firearm made a primitive weapon like a club obsolete.

       “I can tell by your face you forgot to think of that little gem.”

       Caroline watched as Ronnie stepped back into the doorway and knelt down to pick something up out of the hall. He quickly put his hand behind his back as he stood upright. Caroline hadn’t gotten the slightest peek at the retrieved object. It could be a 12-gauge shotgun back there and Caroline would be none the wiser until it had unloaded her guts in one merciless shot.

       He walked towards her once again, arm held behind his back. Caroline knew this was it, the moment she dreaded most was finally upon her. Gun or no gun, she would take her swing and pray to God it connected before Ronnie could get a shot off.

       Wait. Who was to say it was indeed a gun Ronnie had behind him? He’d never mentioned anything about a firearm. Caroline was the way that had jumped to such a conclusion, but the question of what if nagged at her.

       “Draw!” Ronnie yelled, causing Caroline to flinch. She had expected this moment and not expected it all at the same time.

       His right arm came from behind his back as it had earlier and Caroline hesitated to see what he held. Deep inside she knew her attack should have already been sprung. To move in now would be in vain, he’d have her dead bang in an instant. Once the arm was out in front of him, Ronnie’s mystery item became known.

       Once more it was Ben’s heart. Caroline seethed with anger. Screaming in rage she cocked the white slab further back and stepped forward. What happened next caught Caroline off guard.

       Ronnie pitched the heart underhanded towards her. Dropping the porcelain slab, Caroline stopped dead in her tracks and twisted her torso to avoid the thrown heart. Ronnie was quick to capitalize on this grave mistake. The heart missed her head by inches, but Ronnie’s shove was painfully accurate and even more painful was the wall of bathtub when Caroline’s face slammed into it.