Violence Read Online Free PDF Page A

forward and shook hands with two men leaning against a bar counter.
     
    “Tristan? That you, sweetheart?”
    Karen was standing at the opening of the sliding glass doors when she called out into the darkness that pervaded the pool area and patio. But there was only silence.
    Karen slid the glass door shut and locked it. She stepped over to the land line telephone on a side table next to the sofa and picked up the receiver. She started to dial 911 but thought better.
    It was only moments later when Karen was in the master bedroom closet, reaching up, and feeling under a pile of sweaters on a shelf. Breathing heavy now, she soon found what she was looking for and nervously brought out a .38 Colt semi-automatic pistol.
    Karen backed out of the closet, looking over the gun with unfamiliarity while behind her the door to the master bedroom bathroom edged back. It was Derek. He crept up, snatched the gun from her grasp and covered her mouth with his hand.
     
    “Welcome to the club!” A lanky member in a polo shirt shouted against the din as he gave Anderson a hearty slap on the back while Anderson sat at a table playing cards.
    “Gin!” Anderson exclaimed, his voice cutting through the general boisterous laughter and repartee as he proudly laid his cards out on the table.
    “Lucky son of a bitch!” The balding man who Anderson beat chortled cheerfully as he shook his head and dumped his cards out in front of him.
     
    Derek, .38 in hand, hauled Karen to the sliding glass door in the family room, unlocked it, let in Gabriel and Ruben.
    “Please don’t hurt me. You can take anything you want.” Karen pleaded evenly, bravely trying to push away her fear, but still trembling through every inch of her body.
    “This is crazy!” Ruben blurted out to his cohorts in wan protest.
    Derek pulled off Karen’s nightie and Karen fell on the floor dressed only in her panties. She started to sob now. Derek angrily hoisted her to her feet and stuck the nozzle of the .38 against her temple.
    “We don’t want forcible rape now, do we?” Derek cautioned her, his hot acrid breath in her face. “Scream or struggle and I’ll blow your fucking brains out!”
    Karen almost reflexively went pliant, face suddenly slack, head falling back resignedly with her deadened gaze going someplace only the tortured know. She was already viewing this as an out-of-body experience, straining to block it all out before it even happened.
    “I need a beer. Tell me when you’re done.” Gabriel grunted simply as he turned on an expensive table top compact stereo system, found the station he liked that played classic rock, turned it up loud then headed for the refrigerator in the kitchen.
    Derek unfastened his pants.
     
    Headlights approached the Anderson house in the street outside. Soon, a minivan pulled up and stopped opposite the driveway. A side passenger door opened on the idling rectangular-shaped van and Tristan got out in her party dress.
    “Thanks for the ride.” Tristan said, stumbling slightly on the pavement, still not used to the high heels she was wearing.
    Tristan was thanking the woman behind the wheel of the mini-van. She was the mother of one of Tristan’s friends who got the duty of driving all the girls home from the dance.
    Three other teenage girls inside the minivan, classmates of Tristan, waved and giggled from the other passenger seats as the power-operated side door slid shut again.
    “Whose car is that?” The mother asked Tristan, putting down her driver’s side window.
    Tristan turned to look at the rusted-out vintage LTD parked in front of the house, visible in the glow of the minivan’s headlights. The LTD was a bit incongruous in this neighborhood, even more so at night, but to Tristan it was just a car.
    “I don’t know.” Tristan just shrugged.
    “Do you want me to wait until you get in?” The mother offered with a tinge of concern.
    “No, it’s okay.” Tristan answered.
    The mother smiled, thought for a