A Will To Change (Hope) by Beth Rinyu

apartment building was from the night that I dropped her off. The only thing I didn't know was which apartment was hers. I decided to ask the lady, who was walking her ugly little dog that looked more like a rat on a leash, that was coming out of the building. I pretended her dog was the cutest thing that I had ever seen in hopes that she would give me the information I needed. The last thing I wanted to do was punch the wrong guy in the face. After I was done gushing over her dog, I asked, “Hey, could you tell me which apartment is Gabby Spencer’s? I wrote it down and can't find the paper.”
    “Oh, yeah. Gabby is in two nineteen, right across the hall from me.”
    “Thanks,” I said. It paid to be nice to her mangy little dog.
    I took the stairs instead of the elevator, taking in each door number, finally stopping and knocking on 219. I waited a few minutes before knocking again. I knew the motherfucker was there. It was only 8 am and I was sure he was sleeping it off. It took everything inside of me to not haul off and sucker punch him when the door finally opened.
    “Can I help you?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.
    “Yeah. You want step out here and fight like a man, or do you want me to come in there?”
    “Who the hell are you?”
    “I'm a very good friend of Gabby's, jerkoff.”
    His eyes widened. “I don't know what the hell that bitch told you, but I was drunk.”
    “She didn’t have to tell me anything, cock sucker. Did you see what you did to her, or where you too drunk to even remember?” I moved in closer. “So now it’s time to see how tough you really are and fight a man, instead of punching around some little girl who's half your size.”
    “You need to get out of here before I call the police.” 
    “Go right ahead. I know half of them in this city. I'm sure they would all like to see exactly what you did to Gabby last night.”
    He stared at me blankly. “What the fuck do you want from me? An apology to Gabby?”
    “No. I want you to take your best shot. You're such a tough guy? Try hitting a man instead of a woman and let's see how tough you really are.”
    “Well, that's not happening. What, so you can tell your cop buddies that I assaulted you?”
    I shook my head and smiled. “What's the matter? You’re not a big tough guy when it comes to someone your own size?” I grabbed his shirt, pulling him out into the hallway and throwing him up against the wall. My forearm was pressed roughly into his trachea. ”Gabby is going to get her stuff from here today and you will not be here. Do you understand?” He nodded as he gasped for air. “I so want to fuck you up right now, but I promised Gabby I wouldn't.” I looked at him in disgust. It was taking everything in me not to seriously hurt him, but I saw Gabby's face in my mind begging me not to. I loosened my grip and started to walk away.
    “You can have that little whore. She’s all yours.” He just couldn’t leave well enough alone and I was a little thankful for it. The satisfaction of my fist meeting the side of his face was the greatest feeling in the world. “Now you know how Gabby feels,” I said, looking down at him on the ground before walking away.
     

 

     
    My eye was throbbing as I tried my best to open it. I finally focused in with my good eye, sitting up in bed, trying to figure out where I was. Once I had woken up a little more, I remembered everything about last night and how horrible it was. I don’t know what I would have done if it weren’t for Will. I looked at the clock and was shocked to see that it was 9:07. I never slept this late. I stretched my body one last time before getting out of bed and stumbling into the bathroom. The sight of my eye in the mirror made my stomach drop. I couldn’t believe that I let him do this to me. I was not some battered defenseless woman, but looking in the mirror, that’s exactly how I appeared. I was so thankful to be off from work today, but didn’t know how