The horror of love

The horror of love 5

Chapter 5
The truth comes out

I reached home and opened the door. Inside was my Grandma sitting with my mother at our kitchen table, my mother sat there with her head in her hands. What had happened? Was it my fault? Did they know where I had gone, I thought I was invisible to them, maybe I was wrong.
'Talia,' my gran said, she smiled brightly, 'nice to see you again little dove, you might be wondering why I'm here with such short notice. I'm afraid it's just moral support my dear, this whole divorce thing is getting a bit messy isn't it?'
I breathed a deep sigh of relief. She looked at me, 'you don't mind me staying a while little one, do you? Just until this divorce is all sorted out?'
'Of course Gran, it would be great to have you here.' I sat down and leant against her lovingly. I did indeed love my gran but I know I wouldn't be invisible to her, maybe because I've been forgotten for so long I actually enjoy it, and of course it would make it harder to sneak away to Matthieu.

Suddenly the phone rang.
'I'll get it.' My mother replied, she got up grumpily and cursed as she tucked in her chair, stubbing her toe. As she picked up the phone her frown turned down into a deeper sneer, 'it's her father,' she told us. Soon the anger and shouts escalated. My father wanted me to live with him for a while, my mother shouted back that I was fine where I was away from him. My Gran beckoned me away before the argument got too heated, and they said things that their daughter shouldn't hear.

We sat down on the guest bed together. This was known to be her room as she visited us the more than anyone else. The room was a turquoise shade of blue, with photos of us and the rest of the family all happily together scattered round the room. But that was a long time again, when I was younger and life felt perfect.

'How's school dear?'
'It's okay,' I lied.
'Good,' she said, 'I heard your grades are improving, that's good.'
'Yes, school's going well I guess.'
She looked at me straight in the eye with a frown, 'you will tell me if somethings troubling you won't you? I know you've found it difficult sometimes and maybe you're parents haven't checked on you for a while, but I'm here for you, you know that.' I nodded before she continued, 'this family is known for its brave women, when your grandad died I thought I'd lose all hope but I pulled through, just like you and your mother will, we're resilient, and that's a gift not many possess.'
'Gran but I'm not sure if I can, their just so...'
'Shhh,' she said as she silenced me, 'I made sure your mother named you after the strongest woman I knew your great great grandmother Talia Eastwood.'

'What was Talia Eastwood like ?' I asked, 'did she live around here too?' There was something unnerving in the air.

'Yes she did, our family has lived here for a great many of years.'

'And um... why did you name me after her? How was she strong?'

'Oh let me think of the story my mother used to tell me about it as a child. Ah yes, your great great grandmother was a troubled young women who found love in the wrong person, well it is told he wasn't really a person, he was a beast.'

My breath got stuck in my throat and choked me. It was too much of a coincidence, it was like fate that I'd find out about him like this, and that him and my family's lives were intertwined.

'This beast was apparently flooded with anger and sadness after she left him, and turned to revenge to hurt her some years later.'

'He might not have been that bad,' I started, 'maybe he wasn't really a beast maybe he was just misunderstood.'

'Oh no baby,' her Gran said looking into the distance sadly, 'he killed her, tortured her and killed her for her supposed treachery. He was a true monster little dove and he couldn't have loved her at all, as monsters don't have feelings. They kill and kill, they don't have hearts, just a dark empty hole.'

'Excuse me.' I rushed out of the room, not caring to hide my feelings of overwhelming sadness and betrayal. I had loved him, and he just used me in his own silly game, maybe he was lonely and just wanted to take advantage of a poor innocent troubled girl.

I ran outside onto the porch, as fast as my legs could carry me and howled into the dark night. Tears streamed down my face like the bullets of war, as every piece of my body felt like it was being torn apart. He had lied to me, abused me. I was just one of his victims. And I knew I could never go back to him after this, no matter what I had promised him. I was too afraid of him now, my legs trembled beneath me at even the thought of facing him.

It all added up now, how he was so obsessed with me, because I reminded him of her, one of his first victims. And also how he would make me promise to stay with him, or else what? I'd be tortured and killed too. How he was so angry sometimes he'd rip tree trunks out the ground, people said he was the spawn of the devil and that he had hurt people before, maybe he really was a monster. It all clicked, how she only died two weeks later after he had revisited her, and guess what he was beside her when she died. I had loved him for only just over two months but we felt so connected it felt like we'd known each other for years, he made me talk all about myself, that was dangerous, how he knew me inside and out.

But finally I remembered the dream again, it was so clear in my mind. I should have listened to my gut not my heart, I had kept trying to keep that image out of my mind, but now I remember it well. He was running at me with a knife, and maybe it wasn't just a dream maybe it was a warning. But I was scared now, he had made me promise to stay with him, he even wanted me to run away with him, would he grow angry and try to find me to kill me too?

So I stayed away from him, and now it was more than six  months we had been apart. I had got frequent dreams of him the first few months, of him charging out of the woods, the same knife in his hand. And the same graveyard nightmares returned, and I know he'd feel betrayed like before, he didn't even know why I never returned, it's just like I had disappeared. I just prayed every night that he'd forget and forgive me, but now it had been so long I almost believed he had forgotten me too, that I'd be safe, but I never would be.