The Life She Lies | Two

|Chapter One|

Look at yourself. Take a look at yourself. Stand in front of the mirror, and stare the reflection that looks back at you right in the eyes. This is what you created. The life you've created for yourself. The person that your friends know, your family knows, that you know better than anyone. Do you like your life? Or do you wish you could turn back time and re-write your story?

That's what I did, or what I tried to do. I'm not sure what I tried to do. Was I re-writing my past or just simply running away from it? It definitely seemed easier to run. It wasn't so easy to re-write your past though, it would be like messily scribbling out lines written in dark blue pen, people could still see the mistakes you had made while seeing that you're trying to correct them. Where as running? No one needs to know anything.

So tell me, which choice do you think I made?

Every 9 seconds a woman in the US is being assaulted or beaten as an act of domestic violence. In some circumstances it becomes 20 people per minute including men being abused by an intimate partner. That's the ones that have been reported anyway. So many live in fear, afraid to tell someone, afraid to leave. Some can't leave, their partners won't let them leave.

Me though, I saw a chance and I took it. Was I afraid? Hell yes, my heart was pumping harder than it ever had in my entire twenty-four years of life.
Fear wasn't going to stop me this time though. It was his fault, he started trusting me, loosening the ties which he had held onto me so tightly with for the past five years.
I'm not even sure if it was that he didn't trust me all these years... Part of me thinks he just liked the control he had over me. Instead of making me love him harder than ever, he made me fear him with every fibre of my being.
Where was I going? Napa, California. It was a long way, I just had to keep driving, I had to get far away from him, so far away from him.
My mind racing with thoughts, was he going to be able to track my card? Was Wilmer going to accept me?

As much as I said I hated him, that I feared him... Some part of me does still love him. The man that he was when I met him, not the man that he was now. I hated the man that he was now with every inch of myself.

My heart was still pounding, I was terrified that he would be on the highway right behind me, that I would pull up to wherever I was going and he would be there, that he would some how know, he always seems to know. I had tried to escape one other time before... He beat me, I had to go to hospital and say that I fell down the staircase, I'm not sure if they believed me but I wouldn't admit to anything else with him right there watching me like a hawk.

I felt sick with anxiety, or maybe it was morning sickness, I wasn't quite sure anymore. The adrenalin was still pumping through my veins as I passed a sign reading 'Napa Valley'. I was so close.

I looked a mess though, I couldn't see Wilmer looking like this. My car was covered in hair and my hair itself looked like it had been through a shredder.
Pulling up outside a hair salon, I walked in as the receptionist raised her eyebrows at the sight of me. "What can I do for you today?" The blonde woman asked, the name 'Jessica' sown onto her t-shirt.
I sighed, "Fix this" I pointed to my messy head of hair, "And, can you dye it black by any chance?"

It had been years since I had gotten my hair cut short. Nick always liked it just past my armpits, then when I got extensions it was down to my waist. I was excited to see the end result of my new look. New man, new me?

..

24 Torres Road.

I ran the address through my mind as I drove past the big lots of houses. There were a lot of vineyards around the area, which didn't surprise me at all as that's what Napa Valley was basically known for.

My car came to a halt in the middle of the empty road as I was yet to reach my destination. I turned my keys to try and start it again but it wouldn't budge. I was so afraid of Nick catching me that I didn't stop to get petrol on the highway. I shouldn't have gotten some when I got my hair done, although it didn't even cross my mind.

"Fuck!" I cussed, banging my hand against the edge of the steering wheel as I sat in defeat. I could just walk to Wilmer's house I guess but it would be hard with a massive suitcase plus another duffle and my handbag.
Letting out a heavy sigh, I opened my car door and stepped out onto the street. Just as I was about to open the boot of my car, my mobile started to ring.

The name on the screen made me so terrified that I could feel my body shaking. If he found me, if he caught me, he would without a doubt kill me.

Without a second thought, I shut down my phone and threw it back into my purse.
What if he reported me missing to the police? Could they still track my phone if it were off?

Still shaken, I continued to pull my luggage from my car before locking it behind me. The houses to the right of me facing the cliff which looked out onto beautiful views, were only at number 12. Only 12 more houses to go and I would be reunited with Wilmer.

Nervous was an understatement, I was absolutely shitting myself. The last time that I saw him was the morning after the work party months ago. Although Stephanie assured me that he still wanted me, my mind couldn't help but fill itself with doubt and anxieties.

I became even more nervous as I stood out front of house number 24. His house. It was fucking beautiful. A long driveway winding up the slight hill to his two-story American Traditional styled home, a mixture of earth toned brick and cream render covering front and sides, and beautiful arched windows covering both levels of the home.

At this point I was so nervous I was ready to turn around and stay in a motel for the night. What if I had the wrong house? What if he had moved on?

That was my worst fear... that he had moved on.

Had I just thought all of this up in my head, that he wanted me?

Snapping me out of my nerve wrecking thoughts was an all too familiar voice, "Demi?" It asked questioningly, I snapped my head up to see Wilmer stood at the front door looking directly at me.
I couldn't find the words to respond to him as he walked towards me, anticipation in every step he took, "How did you get here?" He asked, coming to the end of the driveway and stepping onto the road,

"I drove" I chuckled nervously before the man wrapped his arms around me, I threw my legs around him as he lifted me off the ground and pressed his lips against mine.

Holding his face in my hands, he slipped his tongue to battle mine as his hands rested on my back, supporting me so I wouldn't fall.

"So, you do want me right?" I joked, pulling my lips away from Wilmer as his face rested just inches from mine.

"I would have waited my whole life if it meant being able to hold you in my arms again" He told me, "Of course I want you"

Everything seemed perfect right in that moment, like nothing could ever go wrong again... oh boy was I wrong.