Writing prompt from Stephen King's "On Writing"

Hey guys, here's a response to a writing prompt from Stephen King's On Writing. It was meant to show you that writing a story without planning out the plot can still go well. I wrote this in one sitting but it isn't edited. The idea was that Jane was a victim of Dick in a typical domestic violence scene you'd see in a police blotter. But instead of writing it in that fashion, switch the genders and write the story that way. No plotting.

     Richard opened the door to the house and sighed. Some alone time was just what the doctor ordered. He had dropped Nell off at his niece's birthday part with promises from his brother and sister-in-law to watch her.
     "Go. Keep unpacking," Rob said. "And for fuck's sake get some rest. You look like you haven't slept in ages."
     "You're right, the trial's finally finished."
     "I know, but it's over now. She'll be gone for a while."
     Rob was right, after all. But he still couldn't even close his eyes without thinking of the incident.
---
     He sat with Nell on the patio of the coffee shop taking a rare breather after picking her up. It had been six days, three hours and thirty-one minutes since the restraining order was issued. Catching her driving by his apartment building for the seventh night in a row was the last straw. He had hoped that this would let her know he was serious and she hadn't appeared in the six days since. Maybe things were finally looking up for Nell and him.
     A screech of tires had drawn him out of the senseless conversation with his daughter. He looked up just in time to see Jane's car come to a stop across three parking spots. This also drew the attention of the waitress too, who spoke up just as she arrived at the table to take his order.
     "Ma'am, you can't park there."
     "Shut up, you whore." Jane yelled as she turned to him.
     "Is this the woman you are cheating on me with?"
     "Jane, what are you doing here?!"
     Richard stood up and placed his daughter behind him.
     "Mommy!" she squealed, sticking her head around his leg.
     "Jane, you know you can't be here."
     The waitress, recovering from her initial shock, said, "Ma'am, I'd like you to lea-"
     The feel of Jane's smack had silenced the waitress, who immediately teared up in shock and pain, then ran inside to call the cops.
     "First, the divorce, then the restraining order, now this!"
     "Jane, you're scaring Nell. Do you honestly think that I'm here - with my daughter - meeting some new woman? That that new woman is the waitress at the coffee shop I go to maybe once a month when I'm in this neighborhood? That even if I had met someone new that I'd give a shit what you think? We got divorced two years ago, and that was after a year of physical abuse."
     As if to punctuate his thought, she smacked him.
     "Don't speak that way in front of our daughter."
     Still calm, he said, "She's not your daughter any more. You saw to that when you hit her in front of everyone. At my Christmas party. At my work. Which you weren't invited to."
     Picking up a knife from the table, Jane's face turned from anger to pleading.
     "Please, she's the only thing I have left anymore. You can't keep her from me. I'll kill you."
     All the old fears flooded back to him. The threats of violence, the actual violence. He still had the limp from a drunken night that began with a broken glass and ended in the hospital. His thigh, on the best days, still felt as though it had a fresh sunburn on it.
     He moved himself and his daughter such that the table would be between himself and Jane, should it come to that.
     She stabbed the knife into the table and said, "I just want things back to the way they were. Is that so much to ask?"
     In answer, a police car came screaming up, and as soon as it came to a halt, the two officers leapt out with guns drawn.
     This was three weeks ago and the trial had just ended. She was sentenced to a five year minimum for assault with a deadly weapon the presence of a minor, plus another year for violating the restraining order. That was six years minimum in state prison. Thank god the nearest prison was five hours away.
     Today was the first day since she was sent to prison, and as a sort of victory present, his family had chipped in and helped him rent a house. They had done the hard work for him and moved all his belongings in to the new place.
     He stepped across the threshold and sighed, half in relief and half in resignation at the job of unpacking.
---
     It had taken him half the day but he had gotten Nell and his bedrooms in some semblance of working order. The living was acceptable as he clicked on the TV. The news had started as he walked into the kitchen to put on a pot of water for tea.
     "A cup of tea and a brief break before picking Nell," he said. He closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
     "... in the 9th inning as the Rockies beat the Phillies. Finally, tonight's game in L.A. has been postponed. The Pirates look to make it up in their next home stand against the Dodgers."
     "Six years of freedom," he sighed. It sounded too good to be true.
     "Thanks James. Now back to our top story this evening," the anchor droned. "State Police are on the lookout for a female inmate who is still on the loose after a daring escape today that leaves two guards and an inmate dead, and another two inmates in custody."
     He bolted up and stared at the TV
     "Fuck."
     It was at that moment that he put together some pieces from his day of unpacking. Boxes weren't where he had remembered them. A faint smell that he couldn't initially recognized locked home.
     "What's Jane's perfume doing here?"
     At that moment, he heard footsteps on the stairs from the basement. He bolted to the door and, in panic, threw open the door.
     "Hello, Richard," she said.
     Terrified, he fell backwards onto the floor.
     "What- What are you doing here?"
     She stepped out of the darkness and into the kitchen. In her hands was a gun he surmised was stolen in the jailbreak.
     She smiled, " I guess you already heard from the news. I told you you couldn't keep me from Nell."
     She motioned with the gun for him to sit down at the table and he complied.
     "Where is she, Dick?"
     "I'm not telling you Jane. She doesn't need you in her life."
     "Bullshit! She needs a mother. Besides, you've probably been lying about me the whole time."
     "I don't know what you're talking about."
     She paced around the kitchen, alternating between fury and cold compassion as she ranted at him.
     "You've always been against me. Always wanting to hurt me. I couldn't figure out your game when we started dating, but back then you were the gorgeous guy of my dreams. Who was I to question? We had a good couple of years before - Don't you fucking nod."
     He hadn't moved but her turn to wistfulness had him seriously concerned.
     "I thought Nell was our way out. But you didn't wait a year before you started seeing someone else!"
     She was back to fury and she took a step towards his knife block. She grabbed the biggest knife she found and turned back to him.
     "Why did you have to do this to me? I loved you like I never loved someone before. Nell even more so. I just want to be together again. Back to the way things were."
     She pointed to him with the knife.
     "But you, you want me gone so you can have Nell all to yourself. She's beautiful, isn't she?"
     ""What are you talking about? Are you drunk?"
     "She set the gun down on the table and turned to the fridge. As she opened it, he noticed that half of his beer was missing. She had been drinking and it is about to continue. He had to end this before she killed him.
     "He went for the gun and leapt from the chair. As the chair crashed behind him, he knocked the gun on the floor. She turned, sensing his movement, and slammed the knife down through his hand and into the table, pinning him prone to the table.
     "His vision went cloudy as the pain seared through him.
     ""FUCK!" he yelled, more powerful than he has ever done before. All of the adrenaline and strength left him as he lay on the table, blood pouring from his hand.
     ""Look what you made me do, dick!" she said.
     ""I have to go pee," she added casually, "Don't go anywhere."
     "As she walked out of the room, the world that was his kitchen slowly returned.
     "This is my chance was the thought that barreled its way through the front of his mind. He grabbed the knife with his good hand and tugged at it. No luck as the knife did nothing but shoot more pain through his hand.
     "I can do this he willed himself, between grunts of pain. He grabbed the knife again, and with an exhale and all the strength he could, he pulled the knife from the table. He stifled a curse into his shoulder as the second most painful experience coursed through him.
     He picked up the knife and hurried up the stairs to his bedroom. As he ducked behind the door cursing the pain of his hand, he heard the flushing toilet. The distant sound of footsteps on the carpet as she she entered the kitchen.
     "DICK!" she roared, "Where the fuck are you? I'm going to kill you."
     He heard her climb the stairs as he realized he probably left a blood trail straight to him.
     She kicked in the door as she entered what was to be Nell's room. He heard her tear apart the room. She yelled and cursed when she entered the hallway, not finding him.
     "I'm going to find you! There's only one other room up here."
     She turned on the light in the bedroom and stepped in, gun raised in her hands.
     He yelled at the top of his lungs as he jumped at her. Startled, she let off one and then a second shot as she turned towards him. It was too late as he closed the distance and plunged the knife into her breast, feeling the knife scrape past a rib and into her lung.
     Jane grunted and dropped the gun in surprise, her breath coming in gurgles.
     Between the shock of stabbing her and the sensory overload of the gun being fired and the throbbing of his hand, something deep in his animal mind loosed. He withdrew the knife and stabbed her again in the stomach.      Again and again he stabbed her.
     We have to end this the animal yelled in his mind.
     He stabbed her an additional 5 times before humanity returned to him. He dropped the knife out of shock at the horrific act he committed. He made his way down the stairs nearly falling down the stairs every couple of steps. He collapsed onto the couch.
     "Its over," he said as he passed out on the couch
---
     He was jolted awake by the sound of pounding at the door. He stumbled to the door as his adrenaline rose again, fear of having to explain himself to the police driving his steps.
     He opened the door to see Rob and Rachael with his daughter Nell.
     "Daddy! Daddy! Look what Unkie Rob gave me!" she squealed. She held up something he did not really see as she passed him.
     "Hey, we thought you may have taken a nap after unpacking when you didn't answer the phone. We stopped over with leftovers!" said Rachael. She walked towards the kitchen.
     Out of panic, he yelled, "Don't go in there!"
     They looked at him with concern as he darted past them into kitchen. He saw no evidence of the awful events that took place there.
     Confused, he muttered as he made his way to the stairs. "I don't get it."
     He rounded into his bedroom after taking the stairs two by two. The body wasn't there. No blood. No bullet holes. He backed to a wall as he realized his hand didn't hurt.
     As he raised it into his vision he saw nothing. He slumped down and heard his brother yell up. "Are you okay?!"
     "I don't know."

New story

Hey all. Thanks for reading my prologue of sorts. I'm finished with a rough plot and am finishing a character outline. I expect to start writing it Monday or so. Hopefully I can write it well enough to try and pitch it to some magazines or something and get published. Anyway.

Cheers and good hunting!