You Deserve Better (Book 1)

Chapter 1 - Malice

" It's eating away at me, this disgusting disease
I'm fucking sick, my stomach's starting to bleed
It's eating away at me 
I don't know what to do
I'm fucking sick, I'll never be like you. " 

'Malice' - Bad Omens

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The sea can hold many dark secrets. Much like the four walls of a humble abode. And if only walls could talk, they could share some of the darkest secrets known to man.

Emily stared out of the passenger window into the inky blackness as the car she was in wound its way, meandering along the road that ran parallel to the coastline of the Kenai Peninsula. On one side, the endless spruce trees; that light found hard to penetrate, formed a foreboding wall that with every twist and turn of the road seemed to encroach further and further upon the car and form an oppressive, claustrophobic barrier. On the other, the sheer drop away from the roadside gave way to an unforgiving cliffside that tumbled into the perilous waves of the Cook Inlet below.

It was raining. Like it did for the majority of the Winter months in Alaska, but it was funny how the weather could mirror a mood like a Siamese Twin. As Emily reached out and traced a raindrop that was running down the car window with her fingertips, she could feel her very own raindrop running down her face and deposit itself onto the lapel of her coat. She cried silently to herself. He hated it when she cried. He said it drew unnecessary attention to an otherwise 'minor situation' as he called it.

The 'minor situation' tonight was a case of Emily being precisely two minutes late leaving her place of work at a coffee shop in Downtown Anchorage, which caused her boyfriend Jason, to explode at her as soon as she climbed into his car parked down by the harbourside. Apparently, being these two minutes late would now mean that she had ruined Jason's entire evening as he would be eating dinner late which then meant his entire schedule would be thrown off and he would arrive late at his friend Travis's house where he went every Tuesday evening for Poker Night. Jason hated being late for anything. He was never late for an appointment and prided himself in that.

Emily had tried to explain that they had had a leak with one of the sinks at work, which hadn't gone down well with him and had led to Jason throwing around some accusatory comments about her cheating on him with the plumber and how she seemed to spend more time at work than with him.

She had bitten her bottom lip to prevent herself from crying as the tirade of abuse continued to be hurled her way. She knew it would only irk him more to see her cry. He hated crying. It was a sign of weakness in his eyes, a pathetic, useless emotion that should never be exposed to the world.

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**The Past**

Things had been incredible at the beginning of their relationship. They had met through a mutual High School friend of Emily's; Tyler. Emily had served them both one time at The Bay, the local roast coffee house down at the harbourside that she had been working at for the past 5 years since she had graduated from East High School. It had been a surprisingly warm Spring Day for Alaska when Tyler and Jason had walked through the door, the fresh breeze that blew in brought along with it the crisp, rich scent of fresh pine, awakening her senses and with that, drawing her attention to the tall, dark-haired gentleman who followed closely behind Tyler as they both made their way over to the counter where Emily had stood waiting to take their orders.

From the first meeting there had been an instant spark between the two of them and before everyone knew it, they were a fixed item. But soon the honeymoon period was over and gradually the cracks started to show. At first it had just been little things that to most people would have gone unnoticed. A snide comment here and there, little criticisms about the way she did things. That was, before the first slap came.