gareth sighed and kissed her head.

_________________
Where do you go when your running away,
The cost of stopping is too great to pay.
~Amanda (saw this written in a washroom stall at a movie theater)

A soft smile traced Calista's lips as she felt Gareth kiss her head.

_________________


AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

"We can get through this."

_________________
Where do you go when your running away,
The cost of stopping is too great to pay.
~Amanda (saw this written in a washroom stall at a movie theater)

Calista started murmuring incoherently in her sleep, starting to become delusional with her fever and acting as if she did not hear a word Gareth had said.

_________________


AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

Gareth sighed.

_________________
Where do you go when your running away,
The cost of stopping is too great to pay.
~Amanda (saw this written in a washroom stall at a movie theater)

A frown crossed over Calista's face and a soft moan escaped from her lips as she could feel Julius reaching for her in her fever-induced dreams.

_________________


AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

Gareth tried to reasure her.

_________________
Where do you go when your running away,
The cost of stopping is too great to pay.
~Amanda (saw this written in a washroom stall at a movie theater)

"No! Don't hurt her! She is merely a child!" Calista screamed as Julius grabbed a little serving girl and tossed her against a wall for dropping a few dishes. Crying out again as the girl's body contacted the wall with a loud thud before she crumpled to the floor in a heap, Calista could just look on in horror. "No!" Calista shrieked as she rushed over to the prone body of the little girl and gently took her in her arms, caressing, cooing and fawning over her as a mother would. "How could you?!" Calista yelled at him, tears streaming down her face. "She is just a girl, an innocent, sweet girl!"
"Do you know how much those dishes cost?"
"Hang the dishes! You may have just killed this girl!"
"Do not raise your voice to me!"
"Oh, you animal...you heartless beast..." Calista intoned, an anger tinting her gentle voice.
"Silence girl, least I slit your throat!"
"Oh and you think I care after all you've done!"
"Silence!" Julius shouted as he stormed at her and grabbing Calista by her blonde hair, roughly wrenched her away from the serving girl before tossing her to the ground and proceeded to pound her with his fists."

Calista groaned as if in pain in her feverish sleep as she imagined her husband's hard knuckles connecting with her cheeks, her jaw, her lips, her ribs and her chest, leaving her a bruised and bloody mess as he beat her into submission for the second time that day.

_________________


AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

Gareth frowned. he stroked her cheek over and over, trying to soothe her dreams.

_________________
Where do you go when your running away,
The cost of stopping is too great to pay.
~Amanda (saw this written in a washroom stall at a movie theater)

Groaning in pain Calista gazed up at her husband with glassy eyes as he continued to beat her. Finally kicking her on her back, Julius wrapped his hands around her delicate neck and squeezed her soft skin with his iron grip.

Gasping for breath, Calista started to twist weakly in Gareth's arms, feeling as if her husband were choking her.

_________________


AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

Gareth loosened his hold a bit, but he continued all else.

_________________
Where do you go when your running away,
The cost of stopping is too great to pay.
~Amanda (saw this written in a washroom stall at a movie theater)

Thrashing about on the ground as Julius squeezed her neck in an iron claw-like grip, Calista gasped as she dug her nails into the sleeves of his dark tunic.
"You are mine to do with what I will," Julius hissed in her ear. "You will never be free of me."
Growing light-headed from lack of air, Calista's arms fell back as her kicks slowly ceased. Giving one last desperate gasp, the young woman's blue eyes rolled back as her body went limp beneath him.

Calista's weak flailing slowly ceased as the woman's breathing suddenly became shallow and strained.

_________________


AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

"Calista!"

_________________
Where do you go when your running away,
The cost of stopping is too great to pay.
~Amanda (saw this written in a washroom stall at a movie theater)

Calista's breathing remained weak as she lay caught in the nightmare of her husband's death hold.

_________________


AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

"Calista, he isn't here. Your husband isn't here."

_________________
Where do you go when your running away,
The cost of stopping is too great to pay.
~Amanda (saw this written in a washroom stall at a movie theater)

Calista did not hear any of what Gareth said to her, her feverish mind only feeling Julius's hands upon her throat.

_________________


AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!