(un)Inspired by recent events in Italy

"Rudy.... Rudy? You're shaking. What's wrong?...What the hell happened? WHERE'S MEREDITH?!"

Rudy instinctively thrust his hands behind his back and scrubbed them on his jeans. He opened his mouth to lie but the horror of his own guilt struck him dumb. Meredith stared at his gaping mouth and quivering tongue. His silence only enraged her suspicions. She bounded towards the door behind him crashing through his shoulder. The knock sent a surge of adrenaline though Rudy's limbs and instantly cleared his stupor. Before Amanda could lay a hand on the knob, Rudy had turned and crushed her chest against the door frame. He crashed to the floor and clutched Amanda's shoulders with his dark grip. She felt his body tighten into an steel cage. He pressed her into the floor, stammering threats and obscenities into her ear. The crushing weight prevented her from heaving in the breath she had lost seconds ago. Her eyes bulged and lungs burned. His caustic babble faded out. She could only sense now her own desperate gasps and the dull thud of her skull against the wooden floor.

When the air finally rushed back into Amanda's lungs, she rolled over and found that she was alone. Rudy had fled. Amanda on all fours tried for the door again. She fingered for the handle. "Meredith," she coughed. "MEREDITH!"