Runaway

Chapter 4

(Dipper pov)

I finish putting the last of my bought clothes in the dresser when I hear a soft knock on the door. "Who is it?"

"It's your favorite shopping partner." I laugh slightly as I go and open the door seeing Bill standing there.

"You're my only shopping partner."

"Therefore I'm you're favorite one."

I can't stop myself from cracking a small smile at this.

"Do you need something?"

"We do this thing, where half an hour before dinner we sit in the living room and do this kind of sharing circle. It is mandatory to sit through it but you don't have to talk about what happened or talk at all. Most of the women talk about how their day has been, they use it to gossip about stuff going on in town. A few open up about what they've been through but many like you prefer to not talk about it and try to move on from it their own way."

"So Amber sent you to get me for it?"

"Actually I volunteered to come and get you."

"Why would you do that?"

"Well....most of the women are understanding about why you're here, but...."

"You have a Karen in the group?"

"Yeah.......and she is actually named Karen too ironically. But we can't just throw her out for things such as her causing drama whenever she goes shopping and she went through a lot of shit before she came here so I have some pity for her. Not a lot, but some. Thought maybe if we came down together, then she would leave you be for a bit. So, shall we?"

I leave the room shutting the door behind me as I follow Bill down the stairs.

The minute I step foot in the living room something hits my right eye making me cry out in pain, the pain worse because that eye still had the bruises from before I came here. A women with orange hair and green highlights comes over to me worried.

"Oh shit, I am so so sorry. I didn't mean-I-"

"It's fine." I gently cut her off. "What the heck was that?"

She bends down picking up the weird ball and I recognize it instantly. "I was trying to show the other women how to play-"

"Hackey Sack."

"You actually know this game?"

"Yeah, me and my sister played it when we were kids." I barely realize that we end up sitting together on one of the couches.

"I didn't think anyone played the game anymore."

"Well we started playing it when we moved to Oregon in a small town and the reception wasn't the best. All the board games my great uncle owned were really bad so we had to get creative on how we entertained ourselves."

Amber comes into the room and sits in an arm chair that I'm guessing was saved for her, the other women in the room sitting in various other chairs or on the other two couches.

"So, who would like to start off this time?" Amber asks, her eyes scanning around the room. When no one speaks up her eyes land on me. "What about you Dipper?"

"I.....um....."

"How was your day at least?"

"It was alright, I guess. Bill took me out to get some clothes for myself. Honestly, it was the first time I really bought stuff for myself. I grew up not liking going shopping so I just wore whatever my family gave me and then Mark...he controlled everything so there was no aruing there.....this was the first time I really went shopping because I wanted to."

"Are you content with the things you bought?"

"Yeah. It isn't stuff I would wear when with Mark, but I don't think I ever was a fan of the stuff that he made me wear."

"You lose your ring?"

I realize I had been rubbing where my wedding ring used to be. "No. I sold it to a pawn shop today. Found out it wasn't worth as much as Mark had claimed it to be, but I guess I wasn't really that surprised at that. Still got a decent price for it though." Some of the other women start congraduating me before a blonde woman holds her hand up.

"Yes, Karen?" I gulp nervously knowing whatever she has to say won't be good.

"Why is he even here? This place is supposed to be a sanctuary for us away from people like him."

"We are open to all. Him being here is no different than Bill-"

"You know I have my problems with Bill being here as well. But him being here is completely different than your boyfriend working here."

"Karen, we have been over this-"

"You are giving him help he doesn't deserve. What do you even know about him? He has no children, no family, nothing like the rest of us."

"His personal life, before coming here, is no one's business and it is his choice for who he tells IF he tells anyone at all. That is all his choice, Karen, just like your life was your choice."

"He doesn't deserve to be here! His kind are the reasons that the rest of us have been hurt! The reason so many married women end up murdered."

They all start arguing about me and I pull my knees to my chest with my hands over my ears, tears stinging my eyes and my body trembling. I can feel myself hyperventilating. I have always hated when people argue in front of me. It gives me the worst anxiety attacks. It hasn't happened in a long time but this is much worse than last time.

The arguing just keeps making me think on all the horrible things I suffered, the three years I will never get back because I was too much of a coward to leave that horrible fucking monster. My mind finds the first time he broke me, and before I can even stop myself the words leave my mouth.

"He fucked me with a fucking tennis racket!" Everyone goes silent and this only makes the anxiety worse. I uncover my ears and hug my knees tighter, the words just spilling out of me. I can't make them stop. "I wanted a family. Worked my ass off for a year to adopt a little girl, Hien, from Vietnam. I wanted a family ever since I was 13, wanted to be the perfect dad. Mark didn't. He let me go through with it all until the end where he chose was the right time to crush my hopes and dreams. He wouldn't sign the damn papers, punched me so hard in the stomach I couldn't breathe. First time he hit me. Ripped up the papers. I tried arguing further but he took me to his "study". He had a cot there for when he worked late. He tied me to it then stripped me. Got a tennis racket from his closet, he used to play in college, and used the handle to fuck me. Wouldn't be the last thing he used to fuck me as punishment but it is the most memorable one because it was the first time and hurt the worse. I never even had sex with anyone until that happened. I felt so much pain and everything went black. I woke up the next morning, no longer tied but blood staining the cot. I knew from the pain that he had kept it up long after I passed out."

I feel tears silently pouring down my cheeks and no one says anything, them all just looking at me. Bill tries to put a hand on my shoulder but I flinch away from him before running upstairs, just needing to get away from them and away from everything else that was wrong with me.