When Olivia saw it, she acted on reflex. Since Eddie was seated on the carpet when it happened, she used her foot. Hard. She wasn’t sure, since her immediate focus was on Ellie, but she thought he had to have been knocked out. When she reached the bedroom and put the toddler in the crib, however, she could hear the man’s feet thunder through the corridor. She wasn’t sure what to do, at first. Then, she realized he would break the door if she locked it, and exited. He was rushing towards her.

Eddie’s arms, fists and cheeks were so tightly clenched they were shaking. The narrow eyes were glaring at her, and the scowl was the biggest she’d ever seen. The exposed teeth had a jagged look. It looked like a beastly maw on some ferocious animal. As he ran he lifted his clenched fist.

‘Did you just kick me in the face, bitch?!’

She stood firm, and when the fist hit, it was the wall, where her face had been a split second before. He howled, and then he lunged again.

‘Did you just KICK ME IN THE FACE?!’

She, calm, avoided the attack again by almost lazily jumping sideways. She was astonished to discover how much slower than her he was. Eddie, again, hit the wall.

Normally, his anger would’ve brought Olivia to her knees, pleas and tears in her wide open eyes, but today was different. He’d made it different. Her brows were lowered, and her eyes shot daggers back at him. There was a deep cut on his forehead. Pleased, a malicious grin formed on her mouth. Then, she snarled and plunged, the unleashed hate for him fueling her. Eddie’s mouth opened in surprise, and he fell. There was a roar of pain and anger when he landed on the aluminum shoe rack.

‘THAT’S for my daughter, motherfucker!’

Olivia didn’t continue her attack. She, instead, opted to lure him away. Back through the corridor, back into the living room. She was about to turn the bolt on the hardwood door from the inside when he slammed his body between it and the frame. It knocked her backwards, she fell and landed on the glass plate table. It shattered in a thousand pieces, and she shrieked. He roared and jumped her before she had a chance to prepare for the attack, and she felt his fist slamming into the right side of her face. Stars dancing in front of her eyes, blood was flowing down the cheek, another wound had erupted in her mouth. She had no chance to spit it out, for he began immediately to choke her. There were words in between the snarls.

‘Kick me?…push me onto the rack?…hurts like hell…show you who’s boss…bitch…’

The grip was hard, and she knew she would soon pass out if she didn’t do anything about it. So she lifted her knee in a swift movement. His entire body shook, and a big convulsion in his abdomen sent saliva all over her face as he retched without vomiting. She’d hit him in the crotch. He fell over, screaming when the glass entered his already injured back.

Olivia jumped up from the floor, and put all her weight into a body check upon his stomach. He yelled his loudest cry yet, and she heard, for the first time; moans, groans, and wails. She planted her knees on his arms and started doing what he had done to her. Not done yet, he ripped his arms loose, and started hitting her back. He roared and growled, but was unable to get up. She felt in her fists a strength she hadn’t known she had, and heard his nose breaking. Her husband looked groggy now. She started returning the choking favor, snarling through gritted teeth. His arms were flailing, she felt his knees slam into her back several times, but she just kept at it.

‘I hate you! I’LL KILL YOU!’

Slowly, steadily, the force in the movement of Eddie’s limbs subdued, and, finally, he went completely limp. She spat all the blood she had accumulated right in his face, and rose. Then, she checked his pulse. It was still there, but he would likely be out for a while. Adrenaline leaving her, she started to ache all over. Glass had ruptured her skin on what felt like a hundred different places, she hobbled her way to the bathroom. She’d gotten an idea.

The look in the mirror wasn’t a pretty sight.

The blonde shoulder length hair was unkempt from sweat, dirt, and running her fingers through it many, many times during the day. Now, overwhelmed by emotions, tears joined the blood, spit, and sweat on her face. They blended in with the blood on the cheek, watering it out as it flowed and dripped at the floor and her singlet. He’d returned the cuts she’d given him; there was one at the right brow as big as the one on the cheek underneath it. The two cuts were bleeding heavily; the skin on the right side was almost entirely covered by tear-stained blood. Her back hurt like hell.

She hadn’t, however, time to feel sorry for herself, so she ripped their makeshift clothesline off its hangers. She heard a groan from the living room. Her brows shot up, and her arms went rigid. Then, she hobbled back as fast as she could.

Please, don’t let it be too late.

‘Awake, are we?’

Eddie tried to push himself up, but his back collapsed again. He gave a sharp, high-pitched cry; the back of his t-shirt was drenched in blood. His skin was even more pierced by the pieces of glass than hers. Olivia rushed down and dropped herself down. She put her full weight into her elbow, and planted it square in his back. She ignored the pain. Eddie was unable to do so.

‘FUCK!’ he roared. Then, his voice trembled and faltered, and there was nothing but a low, guttural growl to be heard.

‘Hurts, doesn’t it?’

The sound was replaced by a flaring retort.

‘When I’m through with you, you’ll be walking sideways for a months, you numb cunt!’

She “drop-elbowed” his neck this time, and, after some gurgling sounds, he passed out again.

‘I’m gonna tie you up now, Eddie,’ she said to her unconscious husband. ‘This former girl scout’s gonna tie you up, and if you resist in any way…’

So she hog-tied him without any interference whatsoever, but every move, every twist of the knot, hurt. After gagging him, however, she felt suddenly an immense pleasure numbing her pain; being in complete control over the man who’d made her life hell for years felt almost orgasmic.

Then, she became suddenly aware of her daughter’s cries. She practically flew through the corridor.

The face of the little girl was all tears, the cries were loud, and she was rocking the bars in her crib frantically. She looked even more scared when she saw her mother, at first. Then, when Olivia got a little closer, the little girl seemed to decide that the beat-up woman was indeed her mother. The toddler stretched her little arms towards her, and she picked her up.

‘Oh, Ellie, it’s okay,’ she said, hugging and rocking her two-year old while seating herself on the bed. There was a red mark on the baby’s chin, Olivia suspected, with motherly horror, that it would become a bruise. There was no open trauma, but the mother cried nonetheless. Her girl had to have been in agony since she saved her from the fight.

‘M-mommy’s here, sweetie.’

Olivia kissed her daughter, and wiped her tears and the blood of the toddler’s parents. Slowly, but steadily, the cries turned into sobs, before they finally faded out. Not long after that, the mother heard the girl’s breaths become slow and deep. The little one had worn herself completely out. She wasn’t the only one.

She sat down in the rocking chair by the window. It was painful. The tears continued running. It wasn’t really due to fear, anger, sadness, not due to any single emotion. It was due to all of them flooding her simultaneously. It felt like a plug had been pulled out inside - releasing her from the mental prison of their toxic relationship. And as the tears ran, the overwhelming sensation left her, slowly. Olivia felt drained now, empty. Exhausted in every way. Her fear of Eddie had dissipated, but the fear of the situation was very real.

What now?

She didn’t know. She only knew she needed to start with another shower.

Two minutes later, she found herself in a fetus position under the flowing water, rocking slowly back and forth. She was constantly flinching, the water felt like knives. There were no tears left, but she cried nonetheless, sorta like when one has food poisoning and keeps vomiting after the stomach is empty. The way she felt now was as bad as that nausea. What would happen to her now? And, much more importantly, what would happen to Ellie? Would she be deemed fit to take care of her daughter? Would Eddie go to jail? That seemed to her as likely as it seemed unlikely that he would get life. And when he got out…psychopaths were completely unpredictable.

The fear woke a cold resolve in her, and she slapped herself on both chins, clenched the teeth again, and snarled.

‘Get your act together, Olivia!’

She stepped out of the shower and started pacing the bathroom floor. She needed a plan, but her mind was as empty as her face was (again) full of blood. It ran into her eyes. She started washing up, found tissues and bandaids. She would certainly have to get stitches later. It took quite some time; going over all the body meticulously. Attending to the back was really hard. Finally finishing up, she glanced over at her dirty clothes, and as she decided that they were a lost cause, the idea that could solve it all came to her.

But was it good enough? She started pacing again, and, while she dressed, looked at it from every angle she could think of. She couldn’t see any flaws.

She looked at herself in the mirror, and froze. The sleeves on her blue shirt up and the resolve in her expression - her appearance reminded her of something…

I know I’ve got a bandana somewhere…in the hall, isn’t it…?

Olivia dug through the commode in the hall, and then -

Ah! Found it!

Flexing her biceps, she positioned again herself in front of the mirror. She felt a smug smile spreading over her face.

I make a fine Rosie…despite the blonde hair. I even look like I’ve been to war.

‘I can do it!’

The mother was amazed to hear herself giggle. She returned to the man on the floor, lighted a cigarette, exhaled, and kicked him in his wrecked back in case he hadn’t woken. Also, just because. He moaned.

‘Man, Eddie,’ she said, grinning. ‘You look like shit.’

The bruise and cut-covered face glared back at her, but that made her feel only better. He’d told her the exact same thing earlier that day. You look like shit, Olivia. She’d been on her knees by her big flower bed, gardening in the sweltering July day. Everyone else was off on vacation, but with her deadbeat husband unemployed, it was a no go for them. The toddler had been running around her, laughing. Olivia had been too exhausted (and scared) to retort, and the three of them had gone indoors.

Eddie had always been indifferent when it came to his child, but he’d agreed (reluctantly) to entertain her while the mother took a shower. There was a football game he wanted to see. She had thought, for the millionth time, that it had to end, that she had to leave him. And then, after the shower, entering the living room, she’d seen the slap. He’d been immersed in the game, and his daughter had been a nuisance.

‘Not that you didn’t look always look like shit, but, you know.’

He’d never been much of a looker. The features weren’t really very visible at the moment, but it had been a round and plump one with small, watery eyes. Nose big and flat, wide mouth. Greenish, sickly skin. Black curls. He had looked kinda like a toad, really. Well, like a toad with a chimp’s body; with his stocky build - five-seven like his spouse - and overlong limbs. Not so much when he smiled, not when she first met him anyway; she hadn’t noticed the unfavorable looks then. His charisma, charm, and magnetism had covered it somehow. The affectionate persona he’d presented then was all she had been able to see. And the spell had actually lasted years.

Eddie started violently squirming, and was making muffled, angry noises. Then, there was a sharper cry as he squirmed more glass into his skin, and he stopped. The man’s anger, the anger that had made him look ferocious, now made him look pathetic, pitiful. The dripping from the many cuts had formed a red pool under his face. Like a wounded animal, the aggression grew only stronger behind the literal river of hurt. More dangerous than ever - if let loose.

‘Save your breath, honey,’ she said, yawning.

She stood up, bent her knees down in front of him, and exhaled straight into his face. The coughs were loud, the wounds were stinging. More snarling, tears from smoke.

Finishing the cigarette, she rose and grabbed Eddie’s right ear. It was just big enough to drag him by. She stopped by the broken table. Eddie was screaming from the pain. She didn’t know if she could do what she knew she had to. She closed her eyes, drew her breath several times, and focused on Ellie. Then, she opened them again, and just went for it. Shock went through her, and she put her hands in front of her mouth, seeing what she had done. She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but she felt an ounce of sadness. She had loved him, once. Or at least, she thought she had. After, she sat there for a while. She knew what she had to do next, but needed a little break from it all. A mental break. Slapping herself in the face again, she continued. She finished the preparations, and bid Eddie goodbye.

‘See you. Got stuff to do, you know.’

She closed the living room door as she walked out. Ellie was sleeping, Eddie was under control, the plan was proceeding nicely. Olivia could focus on the next step. She headed back to the bathroom. She started washing up, found tissues and bandaids. She would certainly have to get stitches later. It took quite some time; going over all the body meticulously. Attending to the back was really hard. She finished up. Then, she called 911.

-Ring-ring-ring-ri-click.

Okay, here we go.

The cop wondered what he might help her with, and Olivia started her tale.

‘Y-yeah, I want to r-report a case of d-domestic violence.’

Her voice trembled.

‘U-huh? Is anyone hurt?’

‘Yeah,’ she answered. ‘And I didn’t mean for it to get this bad!’

‘Calm down, miss,’ answered the cop. ‘Take it from the beginning. What happened, exactly?’

‘W-well, it started when my husband attacked our baby d-daughter…’

Olivia went through how she’d snapped, spared no nasty detail, and made sure to sound even more distressed than she was throughout the entire call. She told them what had happened.

‘…and n-now I don’t know what to do! Please help me!’

The cop sounded slightly confounded. Olivia couldn’t discern if he didn’t believe her, or if he just found the story weird. Few cases of domestic violence did, after all, end with the woman overpowering the man.

‘It’ll be alright, miss. I’ll send an ambulance and a couple of guys over.’

‘Oh, thank you, thank you!’

Hanging up, Olivia felt more conflicted still. Aggressive, fearless, violent, sadistic, vengeful, and now calculating. None of these things were her, none of these things were meek Olivia Simmons. The maternal instinct had made her feral - and she found it enthralling, liberating - while simultaneously shook by what had happened to Ellie.

Everything in order. Now we wait. She returned to the living room.

‘We’re having guests over. We should look our best, don’t you think?’

She didn’t even know why she had said it, and suddenly, she started crying, a response to all the trauma. She’d known the man for a long time, his very conscious shadow self almost as long. And today, him hitting Ellie seemed to have started a chain reaction; the last straw for her had unleashed a beast beyond what she’d known.

And she hated him now. How she hated him now. The meek Olivia hadn’t dared do anything about it, but no more. She felt her tears running, but didn’t do anything about it. She guessed it would fit the narrative well. She sat and waited for what felt like a long time, but, finally, the door bell rang. She humped over to the door, and opened it. The medic jumped backwards when he saw her face.

‘Jesus Christ!’

The officer did a jolting movement backwards, just like the medic.

‘Y-yeah,’ she said, ‘he b-beat me up badly.’

She was black and blue, the right eye was almost closed. The wounds had opened again; fresh blood running past the clots from before. It dropped down on her shirt; forming dark, wet spots. Together with the many smaller wounds on the arms, it made for quite a sight…

Crying didn’t prove hard.

‘I-I…I didn’t mean t-to. He hit her.’

‘Where is he?’

‘H-he’s in the living room,’ she answered. ‘I should come w-’

The medic nodded. ‘If you’re sure you’re up for it.’ Olivia nodded, her lower lip trembling. ‘I was just so f-furious, and-and…before I knew it…’ She cried again, wailing.

The medic patted her on the back, and they continued into the living room ‘I understand.’

There, on the floor, lay Eddie. A pool of blood next to his neck, a piece of glass sticking out of it. Olivia turned away, pushed her face into the medic’s uniform, and sobbed, violently.

‘I…I just had to get him away from Ellie. W-we fought and he f-fell and the glass…’ She sobbed more, unable to continue, hoping her acting was convincing enough.

She saw that the officer had come in behind them, and jumped. The medic and the officer exchanged a glance. Then, the former spoke.

‘You and your daughter may come with me now,’ the medic said.