Chapter 34
Elle
I was scrambling at my leg, trying to untie the material that had held me there for days, as Brad and Crash grappled to the side of the bed.
My hands were shaking violently, unable to get a grip, unable to pull the fabric loose. I could see Crash's hands at Brad's neck, Brad scratching and clawing at Crash's face, drawing blood from his nose and cheeks.
They tumbled out of the door onto the landing at the top of the stairs as I continued to try to untie the knots. I felt a surge of hope run through me as Crash knelt atop Brad, but he was thrown off, flying to the left and out of my view.
I saw Brad stand and crouch, rushing in towards him and out of my eyeline. I turned my eyes back on the knot, ripping at it and gradually loosening it. I could hear heavy groans and grunts from outside the room, a loud thud hitting the wall.
I rushed frantically now, my leg almost free, and finally managed to pull it out, the ankle red and bleeding. My entire body ached as I climbed from the bed, my legs struggling to support me.
I could hear the sound of gasping on the landing as I rounded the door, seeing Brad's hands wrapped around Crash's neck as he struggled to release his grip. I looked down to see the crowbar on the floor and picked it up. Without thinking, I swung it as hard as I could down onto Brad's arms.
He roared in pain and I saw his grip immediately relent, his hands retracting from Crash's neck as he gulped in air. Brad stumbled back slightly as Crash kicked out at him. He flew backwards, his body sent cracking into the banister at the top of the landing.
It was weak, and he broke straight through it, his body going clattering down towards the main hall at the bottom of the house. I heard him hit the floor below with a heavy thud and loud crack as Crash jumped to this feat and rushed forwards, his eyes peering over the side at the body stricken below.
Brad's neck was bend awkwardly out of place, his body twisted in an unnatural position. I couldn't look, turning my head from the sight as Crash moved straight in and hugged me, his arms wrapping around my body once again.
His chest was breathing heavily, his right arm unable to grip properly at my back. I cried again, tears rushing from my eyes.
“It's over,” he said, his voice so beautiful to my ears, “he won't be able to hurt you again.”
I could hear myself speaking through my sobs, the words gushing out. “You found me. You saved me. I can't believe you saved me.”
His left hand was stroking at my hair as he spoke, trying to calm me down. “Shhhh, it's OK. It's OK, it's all over now, it's finished.”
The emotions were flooding from my body and I couldn't stop them. I looked up into his face. He looked completely drained, his eyes heavy with bags, his skin pale.
“You came for me,” I said again, gazing up at him.
He smiled weakly, grimacing slightly at the pain in his arm. “Of course. I told you I'd always be there to help you and I will. Always.”
I wanted to kiss him, tell him what he meant to me, how much I cared for him, but I couldn't. I was too drained, too physically and emotionally exhausted.
I dropped my head back into his shoulder, resting it on his warm body, my eyes looking down at Brad's body on the floor below.
He hadn't moved, his body lying motionless. I felt a brief urge to rush down and check his pulse, see if he was alive, help him.
But that urge turned to anger as I looked on at him. He'd stalked me, kidnapped me, held me hostage and tried to rape me.
No, he was dead. And he deserved to be dead.
Epilogue
Elle
I stood in the graveyard, the rain trickling down from grey skies onto my black umbrella.
“I wish I'd got to meet him,” I said, looking on at the gravestone.
“So do I. I think he would have liked you.”
“Really?” I asked, turning to Crash.
He smiled. “Of course. How could he not?”
We huddled together under the umbrella and looked at the flowers sat perched up against the white stone.
“I'm gonna make him proud Elle. I know he's looking down on me, on all of us. I'm gonna take this family forward, like he always wanted.”
I smiled up at him, his eyes set forward, a deep longing inside him to impress his father, to do well by his family.
We stood for a moment in silence before turning and slowly walking back towards his car. It had been 3 months now since he'd rescued me from Brad, 3 months since that burden had been lifted from my shoulders forever.
When the ambulance turned up they'd said that he'd died on impact, his neck and spinal column snapped. At least it was a quick death, unlike the life he'd have led in jail, always on his toes, always watching his back. When thedust settled I was happy, at least, that his own torment was over.
The police investigation into the death didn't last long. All the evidence and character reports quickly built a picture of Brad being psychologically unhinged. It turned out that he had suffered from mild schizophrenia and depression for years, but kept it all hidden until our break up.
After that, it had all been released, his mind degenerating further as he turned to narcotics and alcohol to keep the pain at bay. There had been no one there to help him, no close friends to support him through it all, so heturned to the only person he really felt attached to - me.
I felt ashamed by my thoughts at his death. Despite all he'd done to me, I still felt slightly responsible, as if I could have done more to help him, rather than turn my back on him completely. It ate away at me for weeks after, a guilt set deep in my body that I wasn't sure I'd ever fully get over.
Crash took my hand in his as we continued walking through the graveyard. His touch was always reassuring to me now, knowing he'd always be there to protect me.
He stopped suddenly, turning me towards him and kissing me.
His eyes looked deep and emotional, almost like he was welling up, but not quite. No, Crash would never cry.
“There are lots of things about me that you still don't know,” he said, out of the blue.
“And I'm sure there's lots about you that I don't know,” he continued. I wasn't quite sure where he was going with this.
His eyes lost their assuredness as he looked around, suddenly slightly uncomfortable.
“I've never been one for words, um, I guess I'm something of a blunt object...”
He still looked everywhere but into my eyes.
“...I guess what I'm trying to say is that I usually talk through my actions...but some things need to be said.”
I could feel my heart-beat beginning to rise as his eyes eventually found mine.
“What I really want to say is....” he paused again, fighting the words out of his mouth.
“I...love you Elle.”
He looked away again, all of his calm and composure and everything else thrown from the window.
I smiled as I laughed inside. It was a laugh of amusement by the way he said it, but one of elation as well.
I reached up and took his face, pulling it in and kissing it as he often did with me.
“I guess my actions speak louder than words too,” I said, smiling.
He knew I felt the same.