Dylan sat gazing down at Rosa, pleading with her not to die. If she would just hang on, he could get help. Then, everything would be okay. They’d get back together. That other woman meant nothing to him. He loved Rosa. His pleas fell on deaf ears, as the light slowly died out of her eyes. Even after she was dead, he continued to cajole and plead with her, frantically attempting to revive her via the sheer force of his will.
Eventually, Dylan admitted defeat and lay her back down. Everything happened so fast, he couldn’t seem to comprehend how things had played out. One minute, she was alive and well and the next she was gone. How could someone that full of fire have been snuffed out so easily? If she could have just hung on for a few more minutes…but then she never would do anything he asked her to do.
Dylan had asked her to leave and she stubbornly refused, scratching at his face, trying to claw out his eyes. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her, but she just kept coming at him and now look what happened! All because she wouldn’t listen! What was he going to do? Even if he didn’t call the cops, one of his neighbors would, thanks to all of Rosa’s yelling and screaming. Dylan supposed that he could try to get in front of the problem and call the cops. He would just tell them the truth. It was all just a horrible accident.
He went to the bathroom and switched on the light. There were enough gouges and scratches on his face to prove that Rosa had attacked him. Hopefully the officers who showed up would be men. It would be easy to get a couple of guys on his side. What man hadn’t been plagued by a psycho girlfriend, who refused to accept a break up?
Dylan felt reassured, until he recalled all the times Rosa had started fights, called the cops and told them that he had attacked her. She always calmed down, retracted her allegations and refused to press charges. Calling the cops had been nothing more than her using them as leverage against him. But, they wouldn’t know that. All a background check would show was a series of calls, in which she alleged abuse and then refused to press charges. Abusive boyfriends usually pressured their girlfriends into retracting their allegations.
The cops would never believe that Rosa was the aggressor, in their relationship. Given the marked difference in her petite five foot tall frame and his muscular six foot tall frame, the officers would see the injuries on his face as proof that Rosa had attempted to fend off an attack from him. The fact that she was dead and all he had was some scratches on his face made any scenario with him as the victim sound far-fetched. They would take him in for questioning and he’d never be free again. Dylan couldn’t bear the thought of being locked away in some eight by six foot prison cell with a death sentence hanging over his head. He spoke to himself in the mirror, “I’ve got to get the hell out of here!”