END OF YEAR TEASER
Embracing The Power Of Changing Her Life
Only she had the power to walk away from her life and start a new one
Sharon slammed the bathroom door behind her and locked it, snot, tears and blood distorting her face. She cringed when Damian banged on the door.
“You fucking bitch,” he yelled. “Get out here now before I come in there and get you.”
It was an idle threat — one he had made every time she took refuge in the bathroom, hiding away from him. All she had to do was wait it out. He would calm down, and then, when she finally opened the door, would be full of remorse and promises, and back to the loving man he was. Then they would be the happy couple again.
Something was different this time, though.
Not with the situation. With Sharon. How she felt.
She’d had enough.
The assaults came more frequently now, even before the bruises of the previous time were gone.
This was not the life she wanted.
This mansion, the money, the social circles they moved in… none of that made it worth being a battered wife.
She deserved better. She knew she did.
“Sharon, for the love of it, I need you to get out of the bathroom.”
Damian’s voice sounded calmer.
Sharon stood up from the smooth, white marble floor and saw herself in the large mirrored wall above the double basins.
She gasped and tentatively touched the cut above her eyebrow. This wasn’t right. She couldn’t handle it anymore.
“Sharon?”
She didn’t answer, but opened the tap to let him know she was cleaning up.
It was when the water had stopped running, and she dabbed antiseptic on the cut that she heard the front door open and close, then the screeching of tyres.
Slowly, she opened the bathroom door.
The house was quiet.
Sharon dashed to the bedroom, grabbed a small overnight bag, and stuffed it with two pairs of jeans, two T-shirts, and underwear for two days. She retrieved her laptop, shoved it in the bag too, ran downstairs, seized her bag, and left the house through the back door.
Only when she sat on the bus — she could’ve taken her Ferrari, but that would’ve made it easy for Damian to track her — she dared to breathe again.
Sharon didn’t know where she would go — just knew she had to get away.
She stayed on the bus until it reached the terminal. There she emptied her bank account, bought a new sim for her phone, crushed the one her husband could track and scattered the pieces around. She broke her bank card in four pieces and threw the pieces in four different bins before she got on the next bus, which took her to the other side of the city.
She walked a couple of miles, then booked into a cheap motel where she finally allowed herself to relax.
Now, years later, in a different city and living a simple life, Sharon sat in a bar on New Year’s Eve, listening to the people around her. Flashbacks of the time with Damian plagued her less frequently than before. It was easier to push them away.
She had healed, maybe even enough to allow a man into her life again.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, she caught his eye.
Want to know what happened then? Read here…
Marie A. Rebelle is the owner of Serial Stories, editor of Tantalizing Tales and Teaser Tales, writer of fact and fiction, sometimes transgressive, sometimes erotic, and always about life. Likes to share, and treats everyone with the respect they deserve. Top writer in Short Stories, Fiction & LGBTQ. Twitter: @rebelsnotes