She stood in front of her apartment door for probably five minutes so she could muster enough courage to face the man that caused her so much fear. She knew that she was about to step inside a place that only the worst could occur. She flipped open her cell phone and dialed Jim’s number so she could apologize for the way she acted. When she reflected over their concluding conversation, she regretted the words she spoke. She needed him to be her friend now more then ever. At the same time that she was calling Jim, she finally she placed her hand on the doorknob and slowly opened the door. As soon as she took her first cautious step inside she heard:

“Pam.”

She felt all of her senses vanish from her body and felt as if she couldn’t move or talk. The phone fell from her hand to the floor. The lights to the apartment went on and she saw Roy nearing her. He reached behind her and slammed the door. She looked up at him and his giant body made her feel even smaller.

“Where were you last night?”

She didn’t respond. She was too petrified to speak.

“Where were you last night??” He repeated with a louder and more forceful tone to his voice. When she still didn’t answer, he began to yell. “God dammit Pam, why didn’t you come home?! And where are your clothes? Those aren’t yours!”

She unconsciously closed her hand around the hem of the t-shirt Jim had loaned her to sleep in. Crap, she thought, I’m dead now! I forgot to change back into my work clothes. God, how could I be so stupid?!

“Pam!”

“I—” She gulped and took a deep breath. “I was at Jim’s.” As soon as the words left her mouth she saw Roy’s face lose any hint of composure. He grunted in frustration and knocked the vase of flowers off of the living room table.

“Fuck you, Pam! You had sex with him, didn’t you? Go burn in fucking hell!”

Pam felt the tears burning at her eyes. She held them in and wanted to stay strong and handle this; she knew from bitter experience that giving into them now would only fuel Roy’s anger.

He turned to face her and his face was red and she saw the veins poking out from his neck. He stormed towards her and slammed her against the wall which caused her to fall to the floor. She was too terrified to stand up even when Roy exited out of the room in a fury and soon returned with the teapot Jim gave Pam in his hands. He raised his arm back.

“Roy, no!”

He then threw the teapot on the floor and it shattered to numerous tiny pieces. This caused Pam’s tears to finally fall. She loved that teapot even though it was such a minor gift. It meant so much to her and it was one of the few things she had from the man she truly had feelings for.

She bent down on her knees and reached for one of the blue pieces of her now demolished teapot.

“How dare you?” she said with her teeth gritted together and anger present in her voice.

Roy then forcefully kicked her in the stomach and she fell onto her back where she landed on a few razor edged pieces of the broken teapot. She winced when she felt the sharpness slice into her back and immediately felt the cold blood trickle down her spine. She wanted to scream so somebody, anybody, could hear that she was suffering. She wanted to dial 911, but there was no way she could get to a phone and call the emergency number without him noticing.

Then, he tightly grabbed her forearm, pulled her into a standing position and lugged her into the bathroom where he reached for the bathtub faucet and turned on the hot water. She looked at the running water with fear. He had done bad things to her in the past but he never abused her like this.

“You don’t deserve to be alive anymore after what you did.” He hesitated before continuing on with his statement and as Pam looked in his eyes, she saw a hint of sadness. “I’m going to kill you.” Then it hit her. The sadness in his eyes was from the love he still felt to her. Even though she never had sex with Jim it broke his heart to know that she had somebody else to confide in instead of himself. Murder just so happened to be his way of revenge.

She still had the little piece left over from the teapot in her left hand. She wouldn't let it go for anything because she wanted to have a little bit of Jim with her during this dark hour. It was as if she wanted to hold onto him as long as she could.

He let go of her arm but reached for her neck and started choking her. She felt the blood leave her face and was unable to get a single breath out. Soon after, the sounds of Roy cussing her out faded away and she couldn’t hear anything nor could she swallow. He finally let go of his tight grasp and she grabbed onto the sink to keep her balance. She was coughing incessantly and fighting to get a single breath in.

The next thing she knew, the room started spinning and her stomach felt as if it was enlarging. She felt the sour taste in the back of her throat and then she leaned over and vomit gushed out of her body and onto the bathroom tile.

She felt incredibly limp as if everything inside of her came out with the vomit. She couldn’t gain the strength to move. Roy kicked her back so she fell straight onto the vomit. As revolting as it was, she still felt too weak to fight back or move to a different spot on the floor. Only one thought went through her head. I’m going to die. She felt him grab onto her back with one hand while the other held onto the back of her head. Then, he thrust her head into the scorching hot water. Her lungs began to burn and it felt as if there was a burning fire raging through them. From time to time she would almost lose consciousness but then she would get a flashback of her last conversation with Jim and how she would give anything to take it back. She yearned to be safely in his arms with all memories of the immoral man that abused her behind her. These thoughts and desires caused her to fight to hold out longer. She even started praying until her mind emptied and the only thing she felt was the hot water flowing around her face.

She felt as if she was under the water for an eternity until suddenly Roy jerked her out of the water and she limply fell to the floor. She was still grasping onto the little piece of glass from her precious teapot. She then felt two firm hands reach under her and pick her up and heard a faint and familiar voice say, “Everything's alright now, I’m going to protect you.” She thought it was an angel. Then, she blacked out.