'Nick. Wake up baby. It's morning.' I whispered while moving the strands of hair away from his eyes. I was about to kiss him when he suddenly opened his eyes. He smiled rubbing his eyes and yawning.

'Good morning hun. Sleep well?' I asked. Nick nodded.

'I had a dream.' He said.

'Dreams are for fools who have no real life what so ever.' I stated. 'But for youI'll gladly make an exception.'

'Thank youI dreamtthat you.and mewhere ehmaking eh.love.' he stuttered. I grinned.

'But I guessdreams don't come true' he added sheepishly.

'Says who?' I asked.

'It's by the same guy who said that dreaming is for fools.' I looked at his angelic face and couldn't stop myself from smiling. I knew what was about to happen.

We made love that day and stayed in bed until 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Then I decided that it was time to get up.

'Aahplease Kat. Stay with me.' Nick begged.

'Oh NickI'd love to but'

'But what? What's wrong?' he asked while sitting up.

'Nothing.' I said and sat down again. 'It's all just so overwhelming. I don't know what to doit was amazingyou made it amazing.' Nick smiled.

Being happy about the explanation I had given him. (She's so much in lovemaybe this is a good moment to tell her my secretbut maybe it's too soonI guess the right moment will never come for something like this) I noticed that Nick was in thought so I decided to go take a shower. I was able to leave the room without Nick even noticing it. (What's wrong with him?!)

Strange thoughts kept creeping through my head. What was it that was bothering Nick? Why did he hesitate to tell me? Is it me? Was it something that I did? I had to know otherwise I was destined to go crazy. While we where having dinner, I decided to ask him about it. 'What was wrong with you when we got out of bed?' I asked between bits. Nick looked up from his plate and stared at me.

'What do you mean?' he asked, pretending not to know.

'You where acting rather strange when we.I got out of bed. I was wondering why you where behaving so strangely.' I explained.

'I wasn't behaving strangely.' Nick said and drank from his glass.

'No, there was definitely something going on. You where thinking about something and you concentrated on that so hard that you didn't even notice me leaving the room. What where you thinking about Nick? I'm starting to worry about you.'

'I don't know what you're talking about.' He said harshly. I stared at him but when our eyes methe quickly looked away. His suddenly change of attitude was an indication for me that something was wrong. Really wrong.

'Nick. There is something you need to tell me.' I figured. 'Don't say that it's not true.I can see it in your eyes. What is bothering you honey? Please let me help you.'

'You want to help me?' he whispered. 'If I was to tell you.you'd hate me forever for the things I've done!'

'It can't be that bad' I said confused.

'Oh yeah! It's even worse than that bad!' He yelled and knocked over his glass. The drops of red wine spread quickly across the plastic table-cloth. They remembered Nick on the drops of blood from Howie's face.and Jasmine.

Her bloody face flashed through his mind. He raised his hands to his head and pressed hard.

'No!' he cried. 'Leave me alone!'

'NICK!' I yelled. 'What's happening to you?!'

'NO!' he cried again. His face was pale as more images of that dreadful night flashed through his mind. He saw Jasmine laying naked on the bed. What did he do to her?! He couldn't remember! He pressed even harder making the images seem alive. Slowly he began to talk.

Nick got into his prowler. He was drunk.heart-broken. And he was on his way to Jasmine to break up with her for good. He parked the car and rang the bell. Jasmine opened the door.

'Nick. What a surprise.' She said smiling.

Her smile faded as Nick looked at her. 'I'm not here for pleasure.' He said harshly.

'Come in.' Jasmine said with a shiver in her voice. Nick went passed her into the large hallway.

'Let's go upstairs.' He said and pushed her up the stairs. In her room he pushed her onto the bed.

'You lied to me.' he said. 'You said that Howie raped you! And it was all a lie! How could you?! I loved you!' He raised his hand and smashed it into her face. She was crying but she didn't fight.

'Yes. I'm so sorry Nick.' She whispered. 'I never meant for you to get hurt.'

'It's a bit late for that, don't you think?!' he yelled.

'Idid it out of love' she whispered.

'Love?! For Howie! I trusted you! I loved you! After everything I've been throughyou had to come and make it worse! How could you?! I would have neverever done anything to hurt you! I could have given you anything your heart desired. But no, you had to come into my life .seduce me! And for what?? For Howie! You loved him instead of me!' Nick was angry. He began beating her and yelling even harder.

'You never should have lied to me!' he cried. 'That's your biggest mistake! And you're gonna pay for that! I may be drunk but I know how to handle girls that don't listen!'

'NO NICK!' she yelled. 'Please.' But he didn't listen. He forced himself on top of her. Jasmine cried and tried to push him away but he too strong and she was weakened by the beating. He raped her and told her that she had it coming.that it was her own fault. She should have never lied to him.

'.now you know what it feels like! You told everybody that Howie did it! Now you can tell them that I did it!' he yelled.

'I'm sorry Nick.' She kept repeating as he lay on top of her. The beating and the raping went on for a couple of hours. That's when Nick left the house

I had been listing to his story in shock. (He raped her! Not HowieNick raped her!) Nick looked at me with tears welling in his eyes. He seemed to feel sorry for his heinous deed.

'.you raped her.' I whispered.

'.yes' he said and began to cry. I got up from the couch and ran upstairs. He had just told me his deepest, darkest and most horrible secret. I fell down on my bed and cried. The man I loved turned out to be a lowlife rapist! I hated him for the things he did.I hated myself for begging him to tell me.I begged him for his secret! But he refused to tell me.why did I go on begging? Why didn't I listen to him.

Nick sat on the couch and cried. He had just told Kathy his deepest secret.one he wasn't proud of. He raped his own girlfriend because she lied to him. (She must think I'm a monster! And she has all the right! I'm nothing but a monster! I don't deserve to live! I'd be better of dead!)

Nick got up from the couch and poured himself a whiskey. He wanted to get really drunk before he could figure out of way to get rid of himself. He wanted to die.

An hour later he had what he wanted. He was so drunk that he couldn't even remember his own name. He dragged himself up the stairs to his bedroom. Nick stumbled into his room and fell down on his bed. The second his body touched the bed he began to scream. Tiny pieces of razor sharp glass forced themselves into his flesh. Nick lay still because he knew that if he would move, the pieces of glass would only dig further into his body. He cried and screamed for me to hear.

I sat up when I heard him scream. Something told me that I had to help himbut I couldn't. A man who raped his own girlfriend.deserves to be in pain. I figured that eventually he would stop screaming.but he didn't.

I got up from my bed and walked over to his room. I flicked on the lights and that's when I saw it. The floor and his bed where covered with pieces of shattered glass. Someone broke his mirror and shattered it all over the room. 'Oh my god Nick!' I cried and helped him of off the bed. His back was bleeding heavily. A few large pieces of the mirror went straight through his cloths into his flesh. He was crying as if someone was killing him. I grabbed his hand a helped him into my room. He lay down on my bed on his stomach. I flashed on all the lights and grabbed my tweezers to remove the glass. First I gently undressed him. There was blood everywhere. And some strange colored liquid coming from the large cuts on his back. It looked really horrible. I immediately forgot what he had done to Jasmine. All I could think of was removing the glass and taking away his pain.

'Ok Nick. This is gonna hurta lot. So hold on tight.' I said and started to remove the glass.

He screamed at the top of his longs as I tore the glass out of his back. I don't think I've ever seen anybody handle that amount of pain. '.Kathy' he whispered through his pain.

'Don't speak honeysave your strength.' I replied.

'NoKathy.' He whispered again. 'I'm so sorry.' A silver tear went down his face. But not a tear from the pain on his back.a tear coming straight from his heart.

'I love you Nick.' I said and kissed his hand.

'Ilove you too.Kathy.' he said before he passed out. I picked up the phone and called an ambulance.

The ambulance arrived less than 15 minutes later. 'What happened?' the nurse asked me.

'I don't know. I think he fell backwards into his mirror' I lied. I couldn't tell them the truth. And anywayz, they'd never believe me..

They took Nick to the hospital in Gainesville. I hated the idea that he was so far away, but at least there.he'd be safe. 'How long will he be in the hospital?' I asked.

'I don't know. It depends on his injuries and his healing process.' The nurse answered.

I sat down in the back of the ambulance next to Nick's lifeless body. He looked so helpless with those tubes coming out of his arm. I held his hand and wished that there was something I could do for him.

The doctor examined him and figured that he'd be home in less than a week. 'That's great news.' I said joyful.

'Yeah. That is pretty good news.' Nick repeated. He was doing better. The cuts in his back where not as deep as we thought.

Days passed and Nick's condition went better and better. One morning the doctor surprised us with some really good news. 'Nick. The glass didn't effect any of your organs. You may even go home tomorrow if you want.' He said.

'Wow! Yes, I'd love to go home!' Nick said.

'That's great. I can't wait to take you home with me.' I said and tried not to cry. But when the tears of joy started running down Nick's face.I couldn't stop myself. 'I love you Kathy.' He said and hugged me.

'I love you too Nick. I've never loved anybody this much.' I replied and we kissed.

>>>>>

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