πβπππ ππππ ππ'π ππππππ‘ππ
Nino froze at the sound of the child crying. Something must have happened to Joana to warrant her kid to cry like this. She shut out the negative thoughts that took turns in her mind and try to calm down the wailing child.
"Daniel, calm down and tell me what's wrong." Nino heard the child sniff at the other end of the line. "Why are you crying?"
"Mom, mom...she's dying." Daniel intensified his cry as Nino heard sounds like someone was throwing stuffs in the background. "Dadβ¦..dadβ¦is trying to kill her...."
Upon hearing this, she wore the coat she pulled off when she got in and dashed out in the night. It was half-past 9. The thought of her friend in danger troubled her, what if she ends up dying before she arrives? Why do women go through painful traumas in their marriages in the name of making it work? Why can't her friend divorce that dick she's married to?
Adrenaline surged through as she sped out of her room and almost collided with the couch. She hurried out of the house and climbed into her car. The wind harshly swept her coat. Messing up her hair as well. She stirs her car to life and hauled off in the cold night, she magnified the speed of her car as she drove to Joana's place in Beverly Hills which is 9.05 miles away from Los Angeles in the west direction. The cold wind crashed into her face as she drove to her house. Though the night seems free with distance bustling and a few people moving about, fear couldn't help take over her.
She willed herself to be strong. She dialled Joana's number and waited for someone to pick her up but the phone kept ringing. This increased the trepidation in her that her friend might be halfway out of this world. She tightened her grasp on the steering wheel and marched the speed gear. Her jaw clenched when turns into the alley that led to Joana's house. She drove into the surroundings. Killed the engine and stationed the car on the safe side of the road.
She alighted from her car and paved her way into Joana's house. The house lights were on, revealing silhouettes of two figures on each other's throats. She comes closer- making the silhouettes clearer and she saw a figure trying to choke the other to death. She needed not to be told he was trying to kill her.
She thrust the door open violently. Almost ripping the door off. She hurried in and her eyes flickered to Daniel who cowered at one side of the sofas, squirming with fear. He hugged his knees to his chest and tears streamed down his face. Watching the scene before him. Sympathy took over Nino as she peered at the child who was stricken with fear.
She narrowed her eyes to her friend and saw her gasping for breath. Anger took over her as she sprinted toward them. Knocking the man off, he hit his frame against the polished wooden table. Joana flew to the ground, coughing hysterically. Massaging her throat.
"Are you okay Jojo?" Nino rushed to her, kneeling beside her. She held her in her arms, shoving the hair that covered her ( Joana ) face to have a better look on her face. To her despair, her face was covered with bruises. The side of her left eye was badly injured, her cheeks too. The corner of her mouth was bleeding.
'What did he do to you?" Tears welled up in Nino's eyes at the condition of her friend. She lifted the small of her coat and wiped off the blood oozing out from the corner of her mouth. "What has this monster done to you?"
She continued to wipe her face but Jojo stopped her. Her eyes fogged with fear as she looked over her shoulder. "ππππ....ππππβ¦.," she said faintly and weakly lifted a finger, pointing behind her. But before she could turn, it was already late.
She felt his callous hand cup the small of her hair and jerked her away from Joana. He yanked her away with a force that Nino felt pain sipping through her. She winced when he pressed the weight of his grip on her hair.
"Who do you think you are to butt in, huh?" She cringed at the dryness in his voice. It lacked emotion and when she veered around to look at him. His eyes were the colour of rage and homicide.
"I'm her friend," she implies coldly, returning the look in his eyes. "I can't watch you kill my friend."
"She's my wife and I have the right over her, I have the right to do whatever I want with her." Nino managed to get his hand off her hair and when he tried to grab her collar. She ducked and kicked his left leg. He stumbled away and sizzled at her in anger. He lurched towards her to stop her but Nino was too quick to move away from him and swung around, her leg came in contact with his face. Dislocating his jaw.
It made Joana's husband flare up the more and let all hell loose as he descends on her. He lunges at her and grabs her. Pinning her to the wall. His body imprisoned her.
She shuts her eyes in pain and lets out a cough as his hand moved from her arm to her neck. Nino wondered what kind of psycho is this. Who would've thought he's a wolf in sheep's clothing? A dangerous saint? Joana and this guy used to be madly in love back then in school. Although Joana was a college student while he works in a beverage company as an advertiser.
What changed him? Who would have thought he was an abuser? She opened her eyes and met his ferocious gaze. And he was bent on squeezing the life out of her. She battled to remove his hands from her neck but it was abortive. "You should have thought twice before getting yourself into this."
"Joana is my friend and I care about her," Nino forced the words out. "If you are done with her, release her then turn her into your boxing bag. "What sortβ¦..mmmmβ¦"
She let out a moan when he ignites the pressure of his hands on her neck. She coughed, feeling herself dying. If she had to do this to save her friend from this eternal torture, she will. Her chest tightened as her attack kicked. She gasped as she battled to free herself. She was losing herself.
Her vision became vague, all she could see was the manslaughter in his eyes and the wicked grin on his face. She slowly channelled her eyes to the little boy beside the sofa. He was still clutching his knees.
"Helpβ¦..meβ¦.help ππΈ," she mumbled faintly and stopped battling him. Even when Joana drew herself up and charge toward him. He knocked her off with his other hand. This caused her to bump her head hard on the table and pass out.
Nino looked at the child as her last hope but she could see the dread look in his eyes and he was reluctant to stand up. She gave up the struggle, dropping her hands to her sides. She gradually close her eyes as she began to lose consciousness but from the corner of her eyes, she saw a figure sprint towards them like a π ππππ ππ πππβπ‘. Bouncing Joana's husband off her. Relief washed through her when she could no longer feel his weight on her neck but her asthmatic attack was getting the better of her.
"Who are you again?" She heard Joana's house yell at the other figure who attacked him. "Did she recruit you two to gang up on me?" She heard him yell. She shifted her gaze to the other being and...if that wasn't her imagination. She saw Toro making his way toward Joana's husband.
Where did he appear from? She tried to keep her eyes open as she battled with herself. She gasped more and more, hitting her chest. Watching the two men before her. But something deep in her lit up at the sight of him, he always appear from nowhere to help her. When she almost lost hope. A smile found its way to her lips. Watching the forbidding frame of the man who lives in her house.
"Does it make you a man when you hit women?" She saw Toro dodge the blow he threw his way, he caught his hands and twisted his fingers. Desmond shrieked in pain. Nino was horrified to see him do that. She always envisioned him as a silent man but seeing him do that to Joana's husband left her aghast.
"You have no right to intrude in my marriage affairs," Desmond barked when he lurched another punch towards him but Toro bucked when his gaze sighted the fork lying beside a plate in the kitchen adjacent to the sitting area. He dragged him by his cloth towards the kitchen.
"Who the fuck are you?" Desmond's eyes became three times wide. Eyes bulging out of their sockets as Toro picked up the fork and twirls it in his hold.
"Me?" Toro gave him a wicked grin. Nino stared at them. The attitude he was exhibiting tonight gave her doubts about who he might truly be but she couldn't keep up anymore when she could no longer feel half of her body. Her body touched the cold floor as she gasp more for breath.
"No need to know who I am, cause this is the last time you'd be seeing me but you see her." He pointed the fork in Nino's direction. "She belongs to me and anyone who tries to meddle or lay hands on something that belongs to me will pay a heavy price, just like you did."
Daniel was still crouched beside the sofa but crawled out when he saw Nino fighting for her life. He scurried close to her and tapped her cheek. "Nino, Nino. Are you okay?"
"My inhalerβ¦.," she tries to mumble the words out though they came out as a whisper. He leans close to her, placing his ear near her mouth. "Myβ¦.inhaβ¦.it's in the car."
Without asking where it was, the little boy of 8 years old dashed out of the door in search of the inhaler.
Nino swerved her head to Toro and Desmond when she heard Desmond let out a pained shriek. She coughed in horror at the sight of the fork piercing through his palm on the table, blood gushing out. She coughed harder when she saw the tip of the fork beneath the table. Did he do that to him?
"Next time, you will think twice before laying your hands on a woman." Came the foreboding voice of Toro. The evil psycho grin was still plastered on his face.
She was on the verge of shutting her eyes completely when Daniel rushed in with the inhaler in his hand. He lowered himself to her and removes the inhaler's cap. Helping her squeeze the air into her mouth.