Dream Mare

6. No Mercy!

Two weeks passed and I started to realize how close Luna and I were becoming. I had to admit that I really enjoyed her company. I enjoyed hearing stories about her home, her friends and family. I enjoyed how everywhere we went people would stare at her as if in awe, and then she would start blushing madly. I had only known her for about a month but she'd become possibly the closest friend I've ever had.

One day I got a call from Viktor saying that he wanted to meet up for drinks at a bar about fifteen minutes from my apartment. When I told Luna, she insisted that I go.

"Luna--" I protested.

"Don't even attempt to get out of this." she said as she pushed me out the door and into the hallway. "You've been worrying yourself to death over me for the past month. You need to do something besides foalsit me every day." Her serious expression turned into a smile. "Have a nice time." she said before closing the door. I sighed before beginning my descent down the stairwell.

Normally I wouldn't hesitate to go have drinks with a friend. But for some reason I'd had this feeling all day, like something bad was going to happen. I had that feeling the entire twenty minute drive to the bar. Viktor met me in the parking lot and we headed inside.

A couple of drinks later, Vic and I were laughing it up. I wasn't doing much drinking since I was never a fan of getting piss-ass drunk. Vic however, had drank 5 shots of vodka and was still sober somehow. At one point that feeling struck me again, worse than ever.

Something's wrong!

"I've gotta go!"

Vic looked at me with confusion. What are you talking about?"

"Something's wrong with Luna. I can feel it. I gotta get home."

I raced out of the bar and was speeding down the road a few minutes later. I felt like I was having a panic attack. It didn't take long for me to reach the complex. But when I did, I saw something that confirmed my worst nightmare.

Frank's car.

Nonononononono!

I took the stairs two at a time. When I reached my front door I could see the door was ajar. I entered and could hear muffled screaming coming from the bedroom. When I entered the bedroom, Frank had one hand over Luna's mouth while the other was fumbling with the zipper to his pants.

My vision went red.

I grabbed the baseball bat I kept behind the door.

I raised it above my head, and swung downwards.

THWACK!

The bat made contact with his head.

THWACK!

With each blow I could hear bones cracking inside of Frank's body. When my vision finally cleared, Frank was a bloody broken mess. Luna was still on the bed, crying. I dropped the bat and hugged her as tight as I could.

About five minutes later the cops arrived and handcuffed me (lucky me) and threw me in the back of a squad car. While they were asking Luna a shitload of questions, I had some time to think. First, I thought about how much they really needed to hose down the back seat because it smelled like vomit and cognac. Then I started thinking about what had just happened. What if I had gotten there a few minutes later? That bastard would've probably already had his way with Luna and I wouldn't have been able to stop it.

"You alright son?"

I looked up to see that a police officer had been sitting in the drivers seat, looking back at me through the rear view mirror. He had black hair that was turning the slightest bit of gray, and a mustache that made him look a little bit like Nicholas Cage.

"I'm fine." I mumbled.

"Look kid, if your pissed about being handcuffed may I remind you that you're the one covered in blood, and I'm willing to bet that it doesn't belong to you."

I looked down to see that I had failed to notice the droplets of blood that had stained my jacket, shirt, and jeans, as well as the drops that covered the back of my hands.

"Oh God!" I leaned forward as a sudden wave of nausea hit me. It occurred to me how close I had come to killing another human being.

"I'd rather you didn't throw up back there."

"I had no choice." I said after regaining my composure. "He was gonna rape her. What was I supposed to do? Just watch?"

The cop blinked at me in the rear view mirror.

"Look son, I can't say that I blame you for what you did. A man will go to great lengths to protect what he loves."

Love

"I don't love her. She's just a friend who needed some help." I replied.

He chuckled.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that son. But just remember, I've got an eye for that sort of thing.

After Luna told them what had happened and they let me go, an ambulance arrived and carted Frank off to Bellevue. I would later learn that I had broken six of his ribs, his femur, his tibia, his humerus, and his clavicle, as well as cracked his C4 vertebral disc, gave him a severe concussion, and cracked his skull open. "But he would live" they told me. I honestly was a little relieved,. Frank was a goddamn monster and he needed to go away. But I wasn't going to be the one finish him off. I always told myself that I would never take another human being's life.

That night, I slept in my own bed for the first time in month. I planned to sleep on the couch as usual, but Luna insisted that I slept with her. As I closed my eyes, I felt Luna's arms wrap around my midsection.

"I'll always be there for you Luna." I whispered as sleep finally took me.