I stopped, looked at him, said that I was. To my astonishment, he punched me in the face, and I fell backwards in the snow with a thump that knocked me breathless. “Stay away from Mona!” he shouted at me. “If you go near her again, I’ll kill you. You understand me?” Too stunned to reply, I stared up at him. He kicked me in the ribs, hard, and then trudged sullenly away—footsteps crunching through the snow, a slamming door. I looked up at the stars. They seemed very far away.
