“ You’re so beautiful.” his soft words echoed lightly in my ears. Though they were gentle, the pain of what he was doing to me had overridden that kindness. The tears came streaming down my face like a broken faucett. He knew my pain. He knew that I did not want to do this. Yet he continued to hurt me. He said that he loved me and wanted me to be his wife. But why would he cause me such pain and sadness if this were true? If he really loved me as he so claimed, wouldn’t he have sensed my pain and fear of this? Maybe he was just ignoring it. Or maybe he liked the fact that I was powerless to him. Whatever the reason, the night resumed with this horror.
No matter how many times I pleaded and begged him to stop, he went on and on. His lips touched mine and I cried more. I did not want his lips. The only kisses I wanted to receive would be from my real husband and children; not from this stranger.
He laughed every time my cries grew. “Honey, why are you so emotional?” he would ask me. “ This isn’t any different than what we do everyday.” He proceeded to kiss me again. I wanted to push him off but he was too strong and the knife he held in his hand was enough motive to just sit there and take it. The kissing did not cease, nor did my cries or the sick laughter protruding from his mouth. It seemed that this act would go on for hours before anyone came for me. But that was if someone had come for me. Which they did not. At least not until the damage was done.
As the night nearly tunred into morning, I could hear a new cry. A new scream. This sound was very familiar. Almost too familiar. It was the screams of a child. A child desprately seeking his mother. “ Michael!” I screamed for my son. “ Michael!”
“Mommy!” he screamed back. My pain, fear and sadness switched from my experience to his. This was the worst pain I ever felt. I needed to be with my son. But this man was all over me! How could I reach him?
“Mommy!” Michael’s screams did not end. They would never end. This nightmare was everlasting. I closed my eyes and wished for all this pain to go away. The stranger looked down at me and laughed manically. “ We’ll tell him that we’re play fighting that’s all.” and he resumed the torture.
I could see the knife in his hand as it glistened in the light. His other hand was over my mouth, muffling my screams. I could hear a heart beating uncontrollably at the same time. Was it my heart? Could it be this man’s? Possibly Michael’s. Whosever heart it was, it felt as if it were going to burst. I couldn’t take this anymore. I wanted it all to end. The stranger seemed to have read my mind. His twisted smile blinded me from seeing him take the knife and jab it right in my stomach.


“ Allyson! Honey, what’s wrong?” Jeremy pleaded.
For a moment, I had no idea where I was. As my eyes adjusted to the night, I could see that I was sitting bolt upright in our bed. My breathing was haywire and so was my heart. I knew that the horrible beat came from me.
“ Allyson,” Jeremy was worried. I had woken him up again with my screams. I was aware that he had to work early and needed a good night’s rest. But that didn’t stop the nightmares.
“ please tell me that you’re alright.” Jeremy was on the brink of tears just as I was. After a brief moment, I finally answered with a “Yes.”
Jeremy took a breath, his hand over his chest. “ You don’t seem alright. Maybe I should take you to the hospital with me.”
“ No, really I’m fine.” I told him. The last thing I wanted was to leave the house. “No, you need medical attention.” Jeremy insisted. “ Look at you! You’re all disoriented, your breathing is off,” he stopped to put his hand on my chest. “ and don’t get me started on your heart rate.”
“ I just need a glass of water.” I said getting out of bed. “ I’ll be back.”
“Allyson,” Jeremy started. I looked at him with curious eyes, though his were worried.
“It was about him again, wasn’t it?”
I did not answer. Of course it was about him! Who else? “ Get ready for work Jerr.”
I left him alone in our room. As I walked down the hall to the bathroom, I stopped by at Michael’s room first to make sure he was okay. I opened his door gently and saw that he was fast asleep. I smiled at how peaceful he looked. So peaceful. I closed his door shut and enterd the bathroom. The first thing I did was open the cabinet and pull out my antidepressant pills. I swallowed one down with a cup of water and splashed the running water on my face. As I replaced the pill bottle, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.
I looked awful. If I were to walk out the door, the neighbors would tell that I did not have pleasant dreams. Though everyone in the entire town knew that I did not have such happy dreams anymore. Ever since that day, the term ’sweet dreams’ is a phrase that I never knew existed. I continued to stare at the mirror. I lifted up my shirt halfway, there was no scar on my stomach where I thought there would be because of the stab wound. But it was clean. I pulled my shirt back down but did not take my eyes off the mirror.

That stranger, even though he was gone, would always be there to haunt me.