Margaret Allie Brandon (Jasper's Mate Story)

Chapter 9

Margaret's POV:

I had watched as Randy and his current girl, Becca I think was her name, climbed out of his truck. Since it was Friday, he had stopped at the bar on the way home and I could tell they were both already drunk. I moved away from the window as they got closer to the house, holding my breath as they walked in. I heard her nasally laugh as he whispered something and then laughed with her.

I heard the familiar sound of clinking bottles from the fridge before their footsteps walked past my room and into his. I let out the breath I had been holding and sat down on the side of the bed, wondering how much longer my luck would hold out. Jasper and I presented this Tuesday and it would suck to have to present after one of Randy's beatings.

I started to sketch in my sketchbook for a while before I heard them leave the house. I let out a slow sigh of relief when I heard the roar of his truck pull away from the drive. If I'm lucky he'll be gone until Monday. I saw it was already nearing midnight, so I forced myself to put my sketchbook down until tomorrow.

I changed into some pjs and I felt my eyes close after staring up at my ceiling for what seemed like hours. I thought for a moment that I heard the window open from across the room. But if it's someone coming to murder me or rob me I don't care anymore. I felt myself falling into a dream that I knew would foretell Jasper's death but there isn't any way to stop it. I just have to wait it out.

******************Dream******************

I find myself in a dark wooded area with a town off in the distance, the dim lights barely visible in the dark, and Jasper sitting on top of a horse in front of three women. I hear him greet them in a voice with a larger accent than he has now, and then I see the uniform he's wearing. It looks like a Confederate Army Officer's uniform, so it must be a reenactment of some sort.

I see him offer to help the three ladies, not really understanding what they were talking about amongst themselves, only catching one of their names....Maria. I watched as she approached him and took his hand and then suddenly he's been ripped from his horse and is screaming as she draws closer to his neck. I scream with him as I feel the pain searing through my own neck before the burning starts.

I watch as he screams for three days and nights in absolute pain, living through the pain with him as he begins begging for death whenever any of the women come into view. I screamed and begged with him as it felt as if my very soul was being scorched. I watched and felt as his heartbeat began to slow down before I felt him die and the scene turned black.

************Dream Over********************

I woke up with a scream mixing with a gasp as I felt the pain that Jasper would experience when he died. It was the worst pain I had ever experienced in a person's death in my dreams and the feeling of fire burning me from the inside out lingered on my skin as I sat in bed, the scream dying from my throat as I was released from the dream.

As I sat up on the bed, the pain in my stomach from the bruises but that isn't what grabs my attention the most. In the corner of my room, I see Jasper standing there with a guilty look on his face, the look of a kid who got his hand caught in the candy jar. I was going to ask what he was doing when I heard Randy's footsteps rushing towards my room.

I realized that he must have come home while I was asleep, and fear started to eat away at me as his footsteps stopped outside my door. I looked to the open window and then back at Jasper before I saw that he was gone. I could only hope that he was a figment of my imagination and that he hadn't actually been in my room. Though as Randy banged on the door to my room, there was a part of me that hoped it hadn't been an illusion and that I would be somehow saved tonight, but it wasn't to be.

"Open the fucking door right now!" (Randy)

I thought of Jasper's golden eyes for a moment, before they disappeared from my mind and were replaced with a sense of utter dread. I felt myself say a silent prayer before I grabbed the handle of the door, unlocking it as I did. I had barely opened it when Randy yanked me outside by my arm. He was dragging me to the living room before he flung me down on to the ground. I raised my arms waiting for the hit to come but it was stalled as he started yelling and screaming at me.

"I am trying to sleep after a week of hard work and this is the thanks I get for letting you stay under my fucking roof??!!? Screaming and waking me up like that!?!?!" (Ran)

"N-no sir, I'm s-sorry." (Mag)

"Sorry doesn't cut this time you little bitch!!!" (Ran)

I felt him grab my hair and yank me up, a cry coming from my mouth as he did. I felt him let go of me before I felt his ring hit my shoulder as he punched me. I heard his laugh, the same as before only this time close enough to my face where I could smell the alcohol. Randy threw me against the wall before pulling me up by my hair again.

"I was going to leave you alone this weekend, wasn't even going to beat you before I left for a trip with my new girl next week. But now, now I will give you a reason to remember why you should behave and be an angel while I'm gone next week. You got that you little bitch?!?" (Ran)

"Y-yes sir." (Mag)

I felt my back slam against the wall again as a slight cry left my mouth, while a laugh left his. I heard the jingle of his belt before he forced me to face the wall. I heard it swoosh through the air before it hit my back, making me cry out again as he laughed. I counted to 12 in my head as it was his 'lucky' number but this time he kept going until he got to 24. I thought it might be over after that but then I heard his footsteps walking towards me. 

I tried to brace myself even as my back screamed out in pain, but I could never brace myself enough for his foot kicking into my stomach. He laughed as tears fell from my face before he pulled me up by my hair again, slamming me against the wall as he did. I opened my eyes to see his own glaring back at me with an evil grin on his face.

"You better thank God I'm feeling merciful tonight. Clean up this mess and then go back to bed. If I so much as hear a sound from you the rest of the weekend or until I leave Wednesday I will make this look like child's play. Got that bitch?" (Ran)

"Y-yes sir." (Mag)

I stayed standing against the wall as he walked out of the living room and back into his bedroom, the door slamming shut before I felt my knees give out. I collapsed onto the floor and cried for a few moments before I forced myself to get a towel from the kitchen. I hadn't known what mess he was talking about for a few moments until I saw my blood on the floor and then felt it seeping through my t-shirt.

I cleaned up the floor and the wall before I wrung the towel out into the sink and took it with me. I peeled my shirt off my back and twisted as best as I could to see the damage in the mirror in my room. I winced as I saw the belt lashes all bleeding and the green bruise on my stomach turning back into a purple one.

I laid back down on my bed, placing the towel onto my back before pulling a sheet over my body wishing I was anywhere but here. I felt more tears leave my eyes as the pain now hit me full force. He said he would be gone next week from Wednesday through the weekend so if I could just make it until then I might catch a break.