Find all the parts of this story here.
Chapter 4: Witness
Part 1: Sophie
It was already dark when Sophie arrived home late one Tuesday evening. The weather had been so nice – actually above 65! – that she had taken a long walk around Lake Williamson before getting her groceries and coming home. Now at 7:30, she was tired and hungry, which she found to be an unhelpful state of being.
She filled her arms with her work book bag and three plastic grocery sacks. A little voice in her head reminded her of Sam’s advice to have a free hand, but she just didn’t have enough energy to care. She’d come home to this apartment a million times. She’d be fine this once.
As a concession to his wisdom, she did slide the bag handles onto her wrists and grip her pepper spray in her left hand, keys in her right. There. Now she was armed for… hauling her groceries in? A little bubble of slightly hysterical laughter rose in her gut, but she didn’t want to add to the image of this neighborhood housing the village crazies.
She pushed open the unlocked door and entered the dim lobby as usual, mind already spinning on what she could easily make for dinner. Honestly, it was probably going to be a ramen noodle night. Maybe she’d even use the silly cat bowl Jonathan’s daughter had picked out for her for Christmas. Never trust a toddler to do Christmas shopping.
“Ow!” The woman’s high-pitched cry reached Sophie’s ears before her brain could process where it was coming from.
“That’s what you get for stickin’ your nose where it don’t belong!” snarled an angry man.
Sophie whipped her head around to find a horrifying scene. A man in dirty jeans and a ragged rock band t-shirt had his fist in a woman’s curly, artificially red hair. While it was too dim in the lobby, especially tucked behind the stairs as the people were, to see many details, Sophie discerned the man’s near-black hair. His face was blotchy red in his rage, but beneath that his skin had a sickly, almost yellow pallor.
“I’m sorry!” the red-headed woman wailed. She wore a much cleaner pair of jeans with a too-short top and sparkly stiletto heels. Sophie’s mom probably would have called her a ‘hussy’. All Sophie knew in that moment was that the man was hurting the woman. Instinct kicked in before common sense had even a chance of prevailing.
“Hey!” she yelled as loudly as she could. The man’s head snapped up, eyes sparking fury. His momentary distraction was apparently enough for the woman to yank her hair out of the man’s grip and back away.
“What are you doing?” Sophie challenged with false bravado.
“Denise, get back here!” He lunged for the woman with a snarl as she stepped away, tripping over her heels.
“No!” the redhead screamed, turning around to run. Sophie saw tears tracking down her face. Her mascara had run, and that paired with red lipstick made her face quite a surprise. Sophie stepped sideways into the space the woman had just occupied, placing herself between the angry man and the fleeing redhead.
“Go upstairs,” Sophie commanded her quietly, shocked she could speak with how hard her entire body shook in fear. The redhead scrambled behind her and was on the stairs in seconds.
“What do you think you’re doing?” the man growled at her. Sophie’s mouth went dry as a desert when he prowled closer to her. Now she could see his dark, bloodshot eyes. Fear snaked up her spine and curled up, tight and sick, in her belly.
“I- I…” she stammered. “Stay back!”
The man laughed evilly.
“Now why would I stay away from a pretty little thing like you?” he drawled. Sophie imagined he thought he was trying to sound more pleasant and less threatening. His voice slithered over her with all the comfort of nails on a chalkboard. He was a snake.
“I’m calling the cops,” she argued, although she immediately knew her hands were too full to even try digging her phone out of her crossbody purse.
When he suddenly lunged for her, she instinctively put up her hands to shield her face. The man jumped back as if he’d been electrocuted, but maintained his evil stare.
Confused, Sophie didn’t question the reprieve, but began backing up the stairs. The man’s dead, emotionless stare followed her until she rounded the corner. Then she turned and ran as fast as she could to her corner unit.
Her breath came so quickly and her hands shook like a chihuahua. She tried to curl her fingers into fists and squeeze to get them to calm down. That’s when she noticed she had gripped her keys so tightly they had made tiny cuts in her right palm – and she saw the hot pink pepper spray canister in her left hand.
That’s why he had stopped! Thank you, Lord, for Sam’s advice, Sophie took a moment to pray.
Sam. He would know what to do. But she should probably call 911. She put the pepper spray in her skirt pocket and pulled out her cell phone, initiating the call. Before it connected, she noticed that the redhead was huddled in the corner across from her apartment door.
“Come in,” Sophie whispered, not knowing if the angry man would follow.
“I don’t wanna get ya in trouble,” the woman argued, also whispering.
“911, what is your location?” a male dispatcher asked in a calm, unhurried voice.
“1900 5th Street, apartment 204,” Sophie replied into her phone, then tilted it away from her mouth.
“It’s fine,” Sophie tried to assure the woman and encourage her inside.
“And what’s the emergency?” the dispatcher’s voice came in her ear.
Thankfully, the redhead accepted Sophie’s invitation and stepped into the apartment.
“I need to report an assault,” Sophie’s voice shook, but she was determined to do the right thing.
With a final scan up and down the hall, Sophie stepped in behind the stranger. She twisted the deadbolt home and heaved a huge sigh of relief.