Infernal Love Flame

The Last Argument

"All the good girls go to hell, cause even God herself. Has enemies." Billie Eilish's song 'all the good girls go to hell', had loudly blasted on Jordyn's car radio system. It was one of those hard nights after being off from work. She had just worked for more than twelve hours of her shift at a plant and her feet were aching along with her shoulders. She couldn't wait to get home just to smoke a blunt, turn up a short bottle of Jack and fight her boyfriend.

Jaide popped the miles per hour speed on the dashboard at 120, jumping from one lane and into the next as the heavy raindrops showered down onto the windshield. Still emotional from earlier, Jaide took a long and hard pull from her cigarette, quickly flickering its ashes into the dirty cup holder.

After five years of constantly fighting to keep her relationship with her boyfriend and working her ass off at a warehouse plant to still get the same pay and not be promoted, Jaide has had enough! First her boyfriend cheats on her with a girl from the night shift that she had to fire out of spite and then the Human Resources deny her application because of her recent late attendance.

The only thing that was worth showing for it all was being able to pay bills and not be broke and not having any kids from her boyfriend. "Ah! Shit!" Jaide hissed. She takes her eyes off the road and looks down and dust the cigarette ashes from her lap.

At the alarming sound of a horn blaring, Jaide looks up and gains focus on the road again. She sighed in relief and continued driving.

The rain was still coming down when Jaide made it to her home. Lamar's car was parked in the driveway instead of in their two car garage. Turning the car off, Jaide sighed and then opened the door. She stuffed her phone down into her pocket and got out of the car. The rain poured down onto her.

Jaide's hair and clothes were drenched in water when she made it to the door. She suddenly stopped. She didn't unlock the door. Instead, Jaide made her way to the backyard and laid along the wooden boards of the patio. She closed her eyes, the rain coming down hard onto her face and body.

She hadn't realized that the rain had doused down into a soft drizzle or that she had fallen asleep. It was probably close to an hour later when she opened her eyes. Jaide slowly rose up from laying down and then squeezed the water from her hair and the tail of her shirt. Her hair was puffy and her skin was moist and soft from the rain. Jaide gently shivered when she made her way across the yard.

After unlocking the back door, Jaide entered the house. She kicked her shoes off and threw them to the side. Before she could take another step, the lights flickered on.

Lamar stands on the other side of the kitchen wearing her robe and house slippers. "What the hell happened to you?" he asked her with a tone. "Nevermind that. Did you get me a beer?"

Frustrated again, her brows pressed together. "Are you serious, Lamar? You've been here all damn day long! You could've got up and got it yourself," she roared at him. Jaide takes a deep breath and collects herself.

"Lamar, I can't do this anymore with you. You're selfish and a cheater on top of that!"

"So what you're saying? You're breaking up with me?" he asked her.

The two of them stood across the kitchen floor, staring each other down. "Yes, I'm breaking up with you, Lamar. I'm packing my things and going." She started walking towards him.

"Wait, baby just talk to me. Let's work this out," he quickly walked after her. Jaide spun around on her heels and yelled at him, "I'm tired of working this out with you! It gets me nowhere."

"Let's try again -" he grabbed her by the hands.

Jaide pulled her hands from his and shouted, "No! I should've left your behind when I first caught you cheating." She turned and continued walking away.

A few pairs of clothes and hygiene products; she grabbed what she could and stuffed it all into a medium sized luggage bag. Lamar remained in the living room, filling the room with the smell of cigarette smoke. Lighting one herself, Jaide pulled and then exhaled from her cigarette before leaving the bedroom.

Just for the night, she took one more look at the bed; a bed that felt empty to her in the past few months even though Lamar laid next to her. She took another hard pull from the cigarette and walked away.

The rain outside had now slacked into sprinkles as she exited the house. Just as Jaide loaded her luggage bag into the trunk of the car, Lamar came storming from the house. He now had his clothes on and was fully dressed with the exception of he still had on her house slippers. Without warning, he snatched the other end of the luggage bag.

"Let it go!" Jaide yelled at him.

"No! Get back in the house!" he ordered her.

She refused and roughly shoved Lamar away. As he stumbled back in his steps, the bottom of his house slipped scraping against the wet driveway, Jordyn shut the trunk door!

"Damnit, Jaide!" Lamar charged towards her. She had embraced herself but she wasn't ready for the worst to happen.

There was a sharp and blunt pain in her lower abdomen. Lamar was close to her body with one of his arms around her waist. She didn't feel real pain until he pulled away. Jaide had grabbed his left shoulder while she lost her balance, her eyes went down to see him holding a blade.

"Jaide...Come on. Let's get in the house and get you help. I-I-I'm so sorry," he tried to convince her.

Sobs escaped from her mouth and she released him, finding her balance against the rear of the car. "Jaide, baby! Please! Please, come in the house," he begged her with the knife still in his hand.

Crying and in pain, she moved fast! Jaide quickly climbed into the rear passenger seat. Lamar grabbed her by the leg. She lifted her free leg and then kicked him hard in the face. Lamar groaned and fell back, holding his nose. She shut the door and locked them all with the key fob from the inside.

She couldn't believe he stabbed her! Jaide glanced down at the wound in her lower abdomen and tried to think of which organ could be right there. The blood stain on her shirt was growing bigger and her shirt getting wetter. She was in great agony and no longer felt too good.

With a bloody mouth and the knife still in his hand, Lamar beat on the other side of the window. Jaide forced herself to crawl into the driver's seat and cranked the car to life.

Tightly pressing against her bleeding wound, it was a struggle to drive away. Lamar briefly chased after the back of the car until he couldn't anymore. She was losing her breath as if something was squeezing her heart from the inside. Her thoughts were disoriented. Jaide knew that if she took her other hand off the steering wheel or at least close her eyes, it would be over with for her forever.

Crying, she pulled over and threw herself out of the car. The heavy rain had come back again and it poured down onto her as she laid against the pavement on her back, losing focus and sight of her vision. She turned her head to see a pair of bright and blurry headlights from down the road. Trying to hang on to her life, she watched as a man slowly emerged from the large vehicle and walked over to her. Tired, she closed her eyes shut and then deeply exhaled.