The first fist hit like an artillery shell, spreading a rose-red imprint at the point of impact. Her cries and a single choked exhale flew out and into the air like the dust and debris tumbling from an explosion.

The second was an expected follow-up to the first but the shock was just as intense. She laid still as her ears rang and her eyes blurred. Another coughing sob slipped loose from her lips and trickled into a steady whimper.

Hands wrap around neck and press thumbs into windpipe, a bandage made of skin pressing down to stem the flow of blood from rushing to an unfit mind. He whispers encouragement into her ears, gutter-speak smothered in filth and dripping with hatred.

“You’re my little whore now. My pretty little slut.”

He came in waves, little soldiers flooding out of boats spewing from ships filled with enough men to infect a life forever. A single tear dripped from her eye to meet the others sinking into the pillowcase underneath them, a white flag tied to a broken stick.