You dash toward the door. In an instant, you're skirting the sofa—

—but the stranger intercepts you in a few strides of his long legs. He snatches the back of your pajama top and wrenches you back, throwing you to the floor.

You yelp with pain and surprise, raising your arms instinctively to shield your face as he looms above you. All the angles have changed; when you look up at him now, the light from the street lamp filtering in through the sliding glass door illuminates his features, and your heart stops.

"Wes?" you breathe.

"Nice to see you again, darlin'," he says. He shifts his weight, driving his booted foot painfully into your ribs.

The air is driven out of your body from the brutal blow, and the pain causes you to curl up. You need to get away from him. You scramble onto all fours, but Wes kicks you again, throwing you back to the floor.

"Stop!" you cry. "Please, Wes—"

Another kick lands, and you slide across the floor from the force of his blow, sobbing in pain and fear.

Wes steps over you and drops to his knees, straddling you. You strike anything you can reach with your fists. He deflects the first couple of blows and then seizes one of your wrists in his left hand and your throat in his right.

"Gh—" is the only sound you can make as his hand closes tightly around you, crushing your windpipe. You kick your feet and buck your hips, trying to throw him off you.

He releases your wrist and brings his left hand to your throat as well, squeezing tight. Just when blackness edges in around your vision, he releases you. The air floods painfully into your lungs, but the sweet relief is brief. A vicious blow lands, knocking your head to the side, and then another, and another.

You're too dazed to make any coherent sounds. He takes you by the neck again, lifts your head and slams it back against the floor.

That you fall unconscious is a mercy...

...and you do not wake again.

ENDING ACHIEVED: An Unwelcome Guest

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