The Foreigner

This story is being submitted to the 750 Word Project 2023. Please vote if you enjoy it. Comments are appreciated.

"How many times have I told you that when I get home from work, I expect my dinner to be on the table, waiting for me!"

"Go to Hell. I'm not your slave!"

"Shut your mouth, bitch!"

"What are you going to do about it, big man?"

Wait for it ...wait for it ... smack! There it is, the sound of him hitting her ... again. Every goddamn night the couple in the apartment next door scream at each other and it always ends in a fight. Sometimes I hear objects being thrown. At least this time the fight was short. It's quiet now and I can get some sleep.

Suddenly I hear a knock on my door. I'm not expecting anyone. Maybe they'll go away. But then I hear it again, so I get out of bed and look through the peephole in the door. Shit, it's her, my next-door neighbor Karen.

I throw on some clothes and open the door.

Sheepishly she says, "Sorry about the noise. Do you have any ice? The icemaker in my refrigerator is acting up." She couldn't hide the swollen eye that he gave her. As I let her in, I hoped that I wasn't making a big mistake.

"Why do you stay with that creep?"

"What else am I going to do? I have nowhere else to go."

Now, I know what you're thinking. You expect me to take advantage of the situation and invite her to stay at my place, maybe even in my bed, but I can't do that. I'll admit that she's a beautiful woman even with the shiner but my asshole neighbor might call the police and I can't afford to draw attention to myself. I'm in this country illegally. The best I can do is to hand her a plastic bag full of ice and tell her to protect herself.

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of loud banging on my door. I couldn't seem to get any sleep. This time it was him, my asshole neighbor.

"It's early in the morning, why are you banging like that?" I asked.

"Stay away from my wife!" he shouted.

"What are you talking about? All I did was give her some ice."

"Just stay away from her."

"No problem. I only have one request, could you keep it down a little? The walls are paper thin and it's hard to sleep."

"Just stay away," were his last words before turning and walking back to his apartment.

When he left, I knew that he had no intention of listening to anything I had to say so it was no surprise that the next few nights were repeats of the last one. To stop the noise and get a good night's sleep I'd have to move or do something drastic.

Karen and I leave for work at the same time so it wasn't unusual to ride in the elevator with her. Today she wore dark glasses and there were new bruises on her neck that her blouse didn't cover completely. They were obviously made when he choked her. I knew that it might get me in trouble but I couldn't just stand by and do nothing. The asshole had to die. It was just a question of where and when.

My opportunity came a week later when he pushed me out of the way as we both reached the front door of our apartment building at the same time. I grabbed his arm before he could enter.

"What's your problem?" I asked.

"Get lost, little man," he replied.

Now I understood the comment even if I didn't like it. He stood 6'3" and weighed 250 pounds while I was 5'10" and about 170. Still, I wasn't going to back down.

"Beating up a small woman is easy. How'd you like to step up in weight class?"

My neighbor laughed so hard that he almost popped a button on his shirt.

"Where do you want this to happen, little man?"

"How about the alley behind our building?"

"Now?"

"Sure, why not?"

We walked to the alley and I'm sure that he envisioned a quick end to the fight.

The coroner's report stated that he died of massive injuries and that the blue liquid found on his clothing couldn't be identified. In our fight, the bastard cut me with his knife and I bled a little. Remember, I told you I was in this country illegally ... an undocumented alien.