1 Year Later....
It has been about a year since I got out of the toxic relationship with Michael. It seems that no matter what I do I can never just be happy. Something always has to go wrong, every single time. I just started to think I'm not cut out for love at all. After about 6 months of finally moving on from Michael, I really sat down and got some therapy from it all. The fame, the tabloids, all of it had just taken a toll on my mental health. To this day, I don't know how Michael can sit there and take that every single moment of his life. But while discussing my past with my therapist, I got triggered by a certain scenario and I ended up in a flashback I never dream about returning to. Years ago, I had a boyfriend named Travis back when I was in nursing school. He was the love of my life but it had very quickly turned sour.
After about 6 months of being together and him treating me like a princess, Travis suddenly became violent when I did anything even mildly wrong. If I didn't want to cook dinner, he'd hit me. If I didn't want to go out, he'd hit me and tell me I was pathetic. If another man looked at me, even if I didn't notice or pay the man any mind, I'd get beat. This was a constant cycle of pain and agony. I don't know how I ended up there but I was there for about 6 years. Sometimes I still wake up with nightmares about travis. He had scared me so bad, that when I finally got away from him, I legally changed my name and moved far, far away in hopes of never seeing his face again.
To this day, that is my biggest secret.
I know what you're thinking, " So did Michael, right?", and to answer that, the answer is, there's a difference I guess. Michael had nothing on Travis. Travis wanted me dead. But after all the drama with Michael, I didn't feel the need to change my name, because Michael didn't scare me. Although, I feel dumb for putting myself in the public eye. I thought I'd always be protected by Michael. But, of course that's not the case anymore, so I just keep a low profile. I often wonder if not changing my name was a bad idea, but if I think too hard about it I'll have an anxiety attack.
After breaking up with Michael and settling on my own, I went back to school for my master's degree in nursing. I am way more qualified and had more than enough credits to go back for my master's in nursing after being in business management. So now I was officially the chief nurse at the general hospital of Los Angeles. I feel at peace helping people. So maybe that's why it really doesn't surprise me that I ended up being with Michael. But it does surprise me that, a year ago I was standing on stage in front of thousands of people getting proposed to by the King of pop. And now I was the chief nurse at a major hospital in Los Angeles.
As I walked through the halls of the big hospital, feeling on top of the world with a huge smile on my face, I saw a small child kicking the vending machine and screamed.
"Ah, come on it won't go." She yells.
Suddenly the little girl sticks her hand inside of the vending machine to try to get the chocolate chip cookies. All I could think is where is her mother.
I slowly approached the little girl. She had her hair in two big puffy ponytails . Big Brown eyes, she was just the cutest thing I had ever seen.
"Let me help you with that I reached down and grabbed the chocolate chip cookies out of the vending machine."
"Thank you! Miss nurse lady."She utters.
I giggle at the little girls comments. Replying.
"No problem sweetheart."
The little girl takes a deep breath as if she had a long day at work and sat on the bench next to the vending machine. She sits on the bench swinging her legs back and forth and for a minute I was gonna walk away but something made me ask her.
