“Well fuckin’ hurry up and get back down here,” he yelled.
Elaine swallowed and closed the door as quietly as possible. She turned back to Hannah and heard rustling in the darkness. Then she felt a cold chain brush her arm, and then another, and another. Hannah was holding out something for her to take and when Elaine reached for it, she felt a tangle of necklaces. Hannah was holding out her jewelry for Elaine to take and the realization cracked Elaine’s black heart in two.
“Take them,” Hannah said, forcing them out to her friend. “Take them. They should be worth a little.”
Elaine shook her head as the sadness in her gut shifted to her chest. She felt the tears stain her cheeks before she could stop them. She didn’t want to be this person. She didn’t want to steal from Hannah.
“Elaine,” Hannah whispered. “Take them. We’ll figure this out.”
Elaine wiped the tears from her cheeks as she tried to think of what to do. There had to be a way out. She didn’t want Hannah’s jewelry, she didn’t want Hannah’s TV. She wanted freedom; she wanted a new life.
“Elaine. We’ll figure it out,” Hannah repeated, tugging her friend into a tight hug and shoving the necklaces into her hand. The cold metal burned Elaine’s palm as she cried into Hannah’s hair. Hannah gripped her tighter, holding her up and soothing her.
“This isn’t you. I know this isn’t you right now,” Hannah assured her. “Now go.”
The more Hannah tried to soothe her, the more inconsolable Elaine became. She wanted Hannah to pull her out of the nightmare, to take her hand and drag her out of the darkness. She opened her mouth to plead for help, but it was too late. Donny had crested the top of the stairs before she could get the words out. Elaine heard his footsteps in the hallway and she lunged to lock the bathroom door just before Donny’s boot kicked it open. The door slammed against the wall, punching a hole in the drywall.
Elaine backed up, trying to conceal Hannah behind her as Donny stood silhouetted by the light from the hallway.
“You fucking whore,” he yelled, bounding forward and shoving Elaine into the wall. She winced as sharp pain radiated through her shoulder.
“Was this your plan all along?” he asked, crowding over her. His spit flew into her eyes and his boot held down her chest, threatening to break her ribs. “Get yourself a little witness so you could pin the robbery on us and then slip away like a little rat?”
She tried to push away from the wall, but Donny reached down and yanked her up by the throat. His meaty fingers closed in around her windpipe and her vision blurred. Black shadows loomed in the corners of her eyes as she fought him off, scraping at his fingers and kicking at him as hard as she could.
“LET HER GO,” Hannah screamed, holding out her cell phone to show that she’d placed a call to 911. The call rang twice before a dispatcher picked up on the other end.
“911, what city?” the dispatcher spoke from the receiver.
“LET HER GO AND LEAVE,” Hannah yelled.
Donny’s grip loosened around Elaine’s throat as he turned his sights on Hannah.
She braced herself and held the phone out toward him with a shaky hand.
“Leave right now and I’ll hang up the phone,” she declared with a confident voice.
“Hello? 911, what’s your emergency?” the dispatcher repeated.
Hannah held the phone to her ear, frantically trying to get out their address. “Send the police to 145—”
Donny backhanded the phone out of her grasp. It flew against the bathroom mirror, splintering the cheap glass into a million pieces. Shards rained down over them as Donny shoved Hannah to the ground. He pinned her stomach down with his knee as he reached for her neck.
Elaine coughed and forced breath back into her lungs, trying to regain the strength to save her friend. Hannah’s phone was lying a few feet away from her. She reached out for it, slicing her hand on the shards of glass as she pressed buttons, trying to reconnect the call. The screen was black and cracked down the center, too broken to be fixed.
Hannah struggled and screamed, trying to land a solid punch to Donny’s face as he strangled her. She thrashed like a fish out of water, clawing at his eyes and digging her nails into his face.
Elaine grabbed a half-empty perfume bottle on the bathroom counter and chunked it at the back of Donny’s head. She jumped onto his back, hammering her fists into his head, trying desperately to pull his attention back to her. She scratched at his eyes and screamed at him through her sobs.
“GET OFF HER!”
She could handle his blows, she could take his punishment, but she couldn’t watch Hannah’s face turn purple beneath Donny’s grip.
“Please, Donny, please,” she begged, pounding against him. “STOP!”
She felt a pair of hands yank her off him and felt Carl overpower her. She recognized his arm around her throat and his mouth against her ear. His dark words warned her to stay put, to cooperate and make it easy.