Rose breathed deeply. This was now turning into something serious. She had to get herself to a hospital, quick. Not to mention Brian. Was he dead? Rose mustered no courage to even peek around the corner. All she knew was that she had dealt Brian a lethal blow around the head region, and that she had dug one in his ribs just for good measure.

''Oh shit, Oh shit!'' Rose kicked the door in aggravation and began to wonder whether, if she had acted sooner, if any of this would have happened. she now regretted her negligence towards the same problem she had been faced with earlier that year. She began to remember her friends crowding round her with negative faces, remarking to each other what a bastard he was for doing it again. But Rose hadn't taken any notice whatsoever of her friends' concern and proceeded to block the - in her view - minuscule worry from entering the decisive realms of her mind.

Okay, Brian had hit her, a couple of times. Well five, but surely that wasn't a lot. Yes, he was often in one of his 'moods' at the time but even Brian had explained that he had accidentally did these things, and Rose had eaten up every word Brian had fed her. But Rose's friends weren't having any of it. Rose could distinctly remember Sasha, after receiving the news, exclaiming,

''What a little shit! I've always said he was bad news.'' Rose could then see as clear as day the face that was pulled by Sasha when seeing Rose's 'wound' as her girlfriends had over exaggerated it. Now however, Rose was beginning to contemplate that night when her friends tended to her limp frozen body, and their innumerable attempts to convince Rose that Brian was a sick bloke. Were they right? Had Rose been kidding herself the whole time that Brian and her were hunky-dory? Or would the violence stop if she just left it alone? Rose was stuck between two options, and she was stuck alright, stuck tight.

Now though as Rose sat in the kitchen quivering, she had come to her senses, or what was left of them after the initial flurry of Brian's fists in her face. She could still feel the blood trickling carelessly down her face and onto the floor. Rose had experienced occurrences such as this before. The violent spouts of maliciousness that Brian spat out had never been like this though. Before there had been instances where Brian's incontrollable fury had got the better of her, and Rose had been restricted to trembling from fright and shear terror. Rose still could not stir a limb. She took a gulp of air. She heard a sound. He had awoken. His shadow could now be seen at Rose's feet. He was lurching towards her direction. She could sense his anger. He could smell the fear on her garments. Rose screwed up her face. It was too late to run. She had fought back and these were the consequences. Afterwards she would go straight to the police. After Brian had his fun with her she would flee to her parents. She would never see Brian again. That would be it. Rose detected a flavour of relief. She would just have to face Brian one more time. Then, no more. Brian stalked around the corner and into the kitchen. Rose was still tied up in her protective shell. Breathing. Not deeply. Just normally. Normally, because of the new life she would have away from Brian. He was close now. Very close. Rose could almost see life without Brian. This was it. One more time of this and she was free from unbearable torment. Brian now loomed over her.

''There you are''.

Rose never got  to see her life without Brian. That night, Brian lost his temper to the extreme and Rose lost her life because of it.