"Now see!" Millie shrieked as Rosie successfully caught the grapes Millie had thrown in her mouth. "See I do actually have an aim!"

"Now now, let's not get ahead of ourselves here! That was the only one you did!" James protested.

Rosie swallowed the grapes and stood up straighter. "And the only one she will do tonight, unfortunately."

Millie looked at her watch. "Oh shit, you're right." She had stayed 30 minutes past when she was originally going to leave.

"Have to give you the boot now, sorry love." Rosie shrugged woefully, but a smile crept up on her face as she reached out to hug Millie. Millie gratefully accepted the quick squeeze from James' wife before she turned to the man himself. 

"Leave us a message on the machine so we know you got home, will ya?" James squeezed Millie's hands lovingly and gave her a kiss on top of the head. 

"Almost one step ahead of you, buddy!"

--

The world was spinning as her dream started. It could end up at anytime, anywhere, and be anything that Millie didn't want.

Which it was.

The scene was a vignette, and the hallway was cold and dark. It lead to the one place she dreaded most: her New York apartment. Millie gently opened the door, which led directly to her bedroom. At the sight of Bobby at the edge of the bed with his fists balled up tightly, her breath hitched.

"Where were you?"

Millie huffed, still annoyed to the bone that he had that telling reaction. "You know where I was."

Bobby looked up and met her eye. "And you were fucking late getting home, Millicent." Millie could hear nothing but venom spew from his mouth. "You know I told you to be home by exactly midnight."

"Ten minutes, Bobby. Ten FUCKING minutes is all it was!" Her voice was shrill with fear.

"And if you EVER try to go out longer than I tell you to," Bobby grabbed her by the shirt collar harshly, causing Millie to cry out. "On God above I'll make you regret it."

He shoved her back towards the doorframe of the bathroom.

"Now, come on to bed, you know I don't like waiting for my little girl."

"No."

"What was that?"

"No. I'm not going to bed with you."

Millie knew exactly how this conversation would end and it still frightened her to death. Bobby stalked her against the wall slowly. When he was chest tight chest with her, he dug a fist into the hair at the nape of her neck, forcing Millie to look him in the eye. She could feel tears well up in her eyes as she felt a small chunk of hair begin to tear out of her head. Without warning, Bobby's other hand raised quicker than a whip and Millie cried out in terror.

"NO!"

--

Just as soon as he had hit her in the dream, Millie found herself gasping for air and flailing her legs, kicking the covers off of her bed. She opened her eyes to a dark room, staring wild-eyed at the ceiling before sitting up carefully. Her sweat covered skin made her shiver even in the warmth of the apartment. When Millie tried to sigh, it came out as a choked sob instead. With a shaking hand, she gingerly touched the bald spot at the nape of her neck, which had slowly began to grow back out again. While she knew it was all in her own head, it was sore to the touch. Mille shook her hair out of her face and climbed out of bed onto shaking legs.

She pulled her robe on over the shorts and t-shirt she wore to bed and left her room. She padded all the way down to the kitchen before bothering to check the time.

4:45 AM

"On a Saturday morning?" Millie groaned. Wait no, it's Thursday. She debated on a further course of action. Caffeine would not be ideal at this hour for her, so she decided that hot chocolate would be the next best option. Millie stumbled to the refrigerator and pulled out the milk carton. She poured it into a mug and warmed it up in the microwave, not bothering to fully cook the milk on a stove. As Millie eased the hot mug out of the microwave, one of the rabbits squeaked and it startled her, causing the milk to slosh over its sides and burn her hand.

Millie cried out and her hand let go of the mug, causing it to clatter and spill all over the stovetop. "Fuck!"

Ignoring the spilt milk mess, she sucked the back of her hand into her mouth and turned the cold water in the sink on, stopping up the drain so she could create a small bath for her hand. The pain from the burn caused her lower lip to tremble and her eyes water. Millie tried to bite cries back, but the pent up emotions washed right over her. Propping herself on her elbow, she cried into her other hand, sobs wracking her body. Her attempts to inhale were cut short and high pitched as she began to hyperventilate. After slamming the faucet of the sink off, she slumped down to the floor and put her head in her hands. She felt closer to earth and her cries slowed down, and eventually it was a whimper with every breath.

"Goddamnit." Her voice was only a whisper.

How good could the day possibly get from there?