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Present

The house, that was filled with screaming and yelling moments ago, is now quiet and eerie as I stand naked in the bathroom in front of the big mirror. He left, storming out and slamming the door, after beating on me off and on for over an hour. Where he has gone, I don't know and I honestly don't care. I would rather be alone. 

Staring in the mirror, to see my makeup melting down my face from the tears, sweat, spit, and blood, has become an almost daily activity for me. The bruises making it hard to recognize myself, but those have become a part of me the last year and a half. 

My right eye is the worst this time, almost swollen shut and a deep purplish blue color surrounding it. I can feel it throbbing, beating with a pulse of pain every time my heart beats. Tears silently fall, burning down my face in every little abrasion on my skin. 

The skin around my neck is red, slowly showing tints of purple, from where his hands squeezed until I started to accept that I was going to die right then and there. Bruises, cuts, and scars litter my whole body from becoming a human punching bag to a man I thought loved me and cared about me, but the first six months of relationship was just a façade to lure me in, get me to trust him. 

I should have ran after he smacked me for asking a question about why his coworker was sending a provocative photo to him at three in the morning. He accused me of going through his phone even though he told me to check to see who texted him. I chalked it up to the alcohol we had been consuming, but that excuse did not last once he laid his hands on me in the middle of the day, completely sober, a few days after. 

Sighing, I turn away from the mirror to step towards the shower, turning the water on as hot as I can take it. 

"Alexa, play Bad Omens." My throat feels like I have swallowed a hot coal and burns with every word, making me realize that Trevor injured my trachea when he strangled me. More tears stream down my face as I step into the shower, letting the water sting my skin, but relax my tense muscles at the same time. 

The Hell I Overcame starts to play, filling the silence with the sounds of my favorite band. The band that is getting me through every single day of this living nightmare. I never thought this would be my life. 

Slowly and gently, I wash my body and hair as my mind flies through all of the verbal, physical, and emotional abuse I have endured since moving in with Trevor. I should have listened to my brain when it was screaming at me that it was way too soon to move in with him at seven months into the relationship. 

My mind wanders to the life I had before entering this endless prison. I was free to do whatever I wanted, talk to whoever I wanted, be whoever I wanted, but now that is all gone. I cannot be myself, my authentic self because that just ends up with me standing in the shower washing away all of the blood that he made me spill. 

The water starts to run cold, indicating that I have been standing here for a long time and it is time to get out. 

"Alexa, stop playing." The music shuts off and I am surrounded by silence again. Silence has become a blessing to me since there is no yelling, screaming, or glass shattering. 

I wrap a towel around my head, encasing my hair within it, and wrap another towel around my body before walking to the bedroom. His bedroom in his house. Nothing in this house belongs to me except for my clothes and a few other items I brought with me when I moved in. There is blood on the carpet and glass scattered everywhere from the whiskey glasses he was throwing. 

Hurriedly, I throw some clothes on so I can get to work on cleaning everything up because I know that if I leave everything as it is, I will just be asking for another round of his wrath. My body and my mind cannot take another beating today, I cannot take another round of hateful words being thrown at me right now. 

Two Hours Later

I hear the front door open and close from where I'm laying in the bedroom, making my heart rate increase with fear and adrenaline. His footsteps inch closer to the room, almost stomping in sync with my heartbeats. Within seconds, the bedroom door creaks open. 

"Evie?" His voice, even though quiet and not loud or angry, makes me flinch from under the blankets. The bed sinks, under his weight, beside me. I can see his silhouette against the light coming from the windows. "I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am for earlier, I have just been under so much pressure at work. There's been a lot going on and it has been getting to me."

Manipulation. Gaslighting. The usual. Don't fall for it.

I don't say anything. I don't want to say anything that can flip that switch in him. 

"I had to leave to cool off, but I got you something. Something I think you'll really like." The bedside lamp switches on, filling the room and making me squint with my left eye since it's not swollen. He has his phone in his hand and a small smile on his face. "Here, look at this." He doesn't say anything about my eye being swollen or the bruises across my face, instead he turns the phone to where I can see it. 

"What is it?" My vision is blurry and my voice comes out in a whisper. I blink a few times until the phone screen is clear. Reading over what is on the screen a few times before I realize what it is. "Tickets to see Bad Omens?" Tears line my eyes at the mere thought of getting to see them live. 

"Not just tickets to see them, meet and greet tickets. For two shows." I sit up slowly, holding the phone in my hands and reading the page over and over again. "I know how much you love them and I saw they were coming close by for two days, so I thought I could surprise you with this." My mouth falls open slightly, not knowing what to say. "The first date I bought two, but the second I could only get one because I have to go out of town for a week, so I'm trusting you to go alone for the second date." 

"I don't know what to say," my mouth is dry and I want to cry, but in the back of my mind, I know this is just a tactic for him to try to get me to forget what happened today, "thank you, thank you so much." 

He wraps his arms around me not realizing that this is going to help me plan my escape from this hell. I have to plan accordingly and carefully. 

I will escape this hell. 

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⏰ Last updated: Jul 24 ⏰

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