Never Again... Chapter 02

Elsa shuddered awake again; she was very cold now. Through the window she could see the first pale light of dawn. Something had woken her; she waited.

The hammering on the front door was loud, she thought, “Why don’t people use the door bell?” but still she did not move.

The hammering came again and then the letter box clacked,

“Elsa! Elsa!

Come on, I know you’re in there!

Come on, open the door!”

She still didn’t move; she actually felt too stiff to move, partly from sitting in such a tucked up position, partly from the injuries that she had recently received.

Elsa jumped as the pallid face appeared at the window, hands cupped against the glass, desperately trying to peer into the gloom of the unlit room. For a second she thought that the roving eyes had come to rest on her, but then the face disappeared; she thought, “Maybe they’ve given up?”

The hammering started on the door again,

“Elsa!

I saw you, on the couch!

You have to move, open the door!

Open the door or I’m calling the police!”

More hammering; Elsa recognised that they must have driven down after they had tried to telephone... and to be here now they must have driven very quickly.

Elsa considered her options, she thought to herself, “It’s early, they’re making a lot of noise, they might wake the neighbours.”

She realised that ignoring this problem wouldn’t make it go away and decided to move. The combination of pain and pins-and-needles caused her to cry out...

“Elsa!

I heard you, are you alright?

Open the door!!!”

Elsa continued to move, but slowly, stretching out her aching limbs and back. She was also aware of numerous points on her body that were stinging or sore. Her hair hung in lank strands across her face hiding some parts of the world; those that she could see seemed to be out of focus.

She started to walk but rather than going directly to the front door she turned and went back through the dining room and kitchen. Going back through the kitchen to the hall would avoid crossing directly over the foot of the stairs.

Still there was a hammering on the front door and a yelling through the letter box.

The dawn light was growing stronger; colour was starting to flow back into the world.

Elsa opened the door between the kitchen and the hall, her eyes fixed on the glass panes in the front door and the frantically bobbing heads that she could just make out through the frosting. She refused to look down or around. She focussed on those brightening rectangles of light directly ahead.

As she took a tentative step forward her foot struck metal; it skittered across the tiled hall floor from where Elsa had dropped the gun, her hand shaking, what seemed like so very long ago. She paused, a myriad terrifying images and memories flooding through her mind...

She remembered him coming home late again, drunk... dinner lukewarm in the cooling oven... red flashing anger... then her pain... her staggering, crawling upstairs, the image of the cigar box clear in her mind, her grandfather’s service revolver...

Elsa took another faltering step forward; her legs felt weak, as though they would betray her at any moment...

She remembered him laughing at her as she stood trembling in front of him... the first click of the hammer against an empty chamber... more braying laughter... but her grandfather had always warned her to keep the first chamber empty to avoid misfires...

Elsa took another step forward...

She remembered the second click as the hammer was re-cocked; the deafening explosion as the hammer fell against a loaded chamber; the shocked scream...

Elsa took another step, nearly at the foot of the stairs on her right, but still staring steadfastly forward...

She remembered the acrid smoke from the cordite stinging her eyes... the smell of burning and blood... four more blasts and the muffled thud as he fell to the floor...

Elsa’s right foot tracked through the congealed pool around him, but still she refused to look down...

She could now reach for the front door...

Her fingers rested on the handle as she considered one last time whether to open it...

***

Mark stopped hammering on the door and shouting though the letterbox as he finally saw a shape moving through the semi-opaque glass. Karen claimed she had definitely seen Elsa sat on the couch in the front room whilst she had been goggling through the window. Now she was crowding right behind him on the front step.

They had waited as the shadow slowly moved toward the door, now they both took a step back as the figure behind the door reached for the handle and opened it wide.

Mark and Karen staggered back in horror at what they saw through the open doorway.

The body of Elsa’s personal ogre lay at the foot of the stairs surrounded by a dark pool; the walls were splashed with more blood.

They could not see clearly what had happened but it was clear that there were several huge exit wounds. There was no way he was going to get out of this situation.

Mark was the first to speak, “Elsa?”

Karen, “Elsa, what happened?”

At first Elsa continued to hide behind the bulk of the now open door.

Neither Mark no Karen were keen to take a forward step into the gloomy hall, especially not if that meant moving any closer to the tangled shape lying on the floor within.

Then Elsa stepped around the door and into view, instantly answering their questions.

Mark inhaled sharply; Karen gasped; both paused, both disbelieving their eyes. Elsa tried to speak, but nothing came out...

Karen moved, finally coming out of the daze of shock. She wrapped her arms around Elsa and hugged her close.

Elsa felt a tear trickle down her cheek; a sign of weakness that she would never have shown to him. Then another followed as she started at first to cry and then to sob...

She was finally completing the release of the stranglehold on her emotions that had begun so very many hours ago...