Dude, so I never really knew the couple, I just passed them in the lobby now and again, sometimes together, sometimes separately. They were both really nice, just normal folks, you know? I think we never know what ordinary people are capable of, assuming we know what "ordinary" means when it comes to people anyway, right?
I'm home from work for maybe 15 minutes, and - this was crucial, man, crucial - I've put away my coat and set my work bag down, I've changed out of my work clothes, and I've taken a piss. That's where I'm at, haven't turned on the TV, haven't started cooking, haven't turned on any music, it's quiet in my place. So I can hear what's going on upstairs.
I hear her voice and a male voice, but it doesn't sound like the guy's. It's deeper, or the speech patterns are just wrong... I don't know, but I know it's not his. They're both laughing, high energy, and I hear something set down on the floor real hard which makes a big thud, that's what made me stop and listen. They've just come in to the apartment and they're rushing to what I assume is the bedroom, if they've got their place set up like mine. You've been to my place, you know how small it is, I can hear pretty much everything from either room. I'm getting muffled voices, can't tell what exactly they're saying, but I get tone, volume, the odd word.
It starts off happy and all, they're excited and obviously about to get busy. There are breaks in the talking, and I can hear other stuff like shoes hitting the floor, the mattress springs when they jump on, and a muffled moan or two. No idea what happened to make it go sideways, but the noises start getting less and less happy. Her voice muffled like she's talking through a kiss, and then through a hand over her mouth, with something like a clear syllable in between. Squeaks from the mattress, but jerky now, like struggling. And then a really clear, loud "No!"
What the fuck do you do? I'm standing there because I'm still a little confused at the whole thing, knowing that I'm hearing her with her side piece. Is he going to stop? What then? And then she screams. That's it, I get my phone and dial 911. Haven't even gotten to the point where I think about whether I'm going to go up there and try to do something, and that's when I hear him. The man of the house unlocks the door and walks in.
This is where it gets a little fuzzy, because I'm talking to the 911 operator and trying to listen at the same time. But Man of the House calls out and then heads into the bedroom - maybe following a trail of clothes? - and the goddamn Bourne Legacy breaks out. I mean, shit flying into walls, furniture scooting across floors, glass breaking, and she's screaming at Man of the House to stop. He's not a big dude, but he's solid. At this point, who knows what Side Piece looks like. Sounds like these two are going at it tooth and nail, and she's following the melee screaming. Not good. Then I hear what sounds like wrestling on the floor, and - oh God - thuds. Not quick, but methodical. Like thud... (pause)... thud... (pause)... thud...
At this point, two beat cops, who happened to be on my block when I called, get out of the elevator. Standing in the hall with my door open, I'm telling the 911 operator that the officers have arrived, and now I'm pointing at the ceiling and then the stairs, running with them into the stairwell. We get up there, the one cop bangs on the door and doesn't really wait for an answer before the other guy kicks it damn near off the hinge, where the full scene is right there in front of us.
I'm gonna tell you what's going through my mind now, because right then I was pretty much in shock and just blank in the head. Did he know she was cheating? Was she? Did he think he was saving her? Was he? Did he see Side Piece and recognize him? I don't know what the fuck to think.
The door flies open and she's in a chair with her face in her hands, crying, bawling, screaming hysterically. Side Piece is lying face up on the ground in a pool of blood, and his face is just raw hamburger. Man of the House is sitting on Side Piece, straddling him, with a towel in his left hand on Side Piece's shoulder, and a clock - like an antique wind-up clock - in his right hand, raised above his head. It turns out he was hitting Side Piece in the face with the clock, wiping away the blood with the towel so he could see the damage, and hitting him again.
I don't know how long or how many times he hit him, but the thing I'll never forget is that he was motionless. Not moving at all, just looking straight down, staring at Side Piece's ruined face. The towel hand on the floor. The clock hand in the air. The towel hand stopped. The clock hand stopped.