𝟭𝟰 - 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻

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TRIGGER WARNING: SENSITIVE TOPICS

TRIGGER WARNING: SENSITIVE TOPICS

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Two years ago ...

"Wake up," he startles me awake, and I kiss a peaceful night goodbye. "Are you talking to your friends about me?"

My heart drops. I thought I had deleted those texts. How does he know?

I blink away my sleep, fully awake and alert, seeing his tight grip on my pink phone.

Shit.

"What are you talking about?" I act dumb. Maybe I can give him a taste of his medicine and gaslight him for once.

He unlocks my phone and scrolls through the messages. "Here," he brings it to my face, "Nini said to give her a second to shower then you can continue your talk. What were you talking about?"

I am scared. He is angry, and reeks of marijuana. I hold back the tears ready to appear and try to catch my breath. "Nothing."

That lie would come to cost me a hefty price, one I almost paid for with my life.

He scoffs, though he is anything but happy. "You're such a fucking liar."

I shake my head, exhausted. I am so tired of fighting, so tired of arguing.

Whoever said that the first boyfriend you ever have will be the most innocent love you know clearly never heard of the man you meet at nineteen theory.

He stands there, scrolling through my phone, reading personal conversations between my friends and me, crossing their boundaries and mine. "Can you not read my private conversations?" I reach for my phone, and he swats my hand away, hurting me in the process.

I wince and grab my shoes. I do not have time for this. I had a long day at work and am in for an even longer day tomorrow if I don't sleep soon. I grab my MacBook, ready to spend a night in the car, and let him cool down, but of course, that never works out well. I should know that by now.

"You wanna leave?" He screams. "You wanna leave me so bad, huh?" He rips the computer out of my hand and scratches my wrist, and there goes another scar to remind me of his anger. "Then go. I have all your stuff and you have no way of contacting anyone. I want to see you ask for help now."

I could leave, grab the keys, and drive until I was far away from him. But if history has told me anything, it is that the keys are likely already hidden away, and even if I could find them, it would take forever to even get in the car because he broke the door handle during his last bout of anger.

I could forget the car and just run, but he is faster than me. I have never been able to get away from him before, not when he isn't afraid of chasing me down the street and grabbing me to bring me right back to square one.

𝗟𝗘𝗧 𝗠𝗘 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗬 𝗬𝗢𝗨 | 𝗕𝗪𝗪𝗠 | 𝟭𝟴+Where stories live. Discover now