Chasing Stars

Part 1

"Stop!" she cried out as his fist flew forward once more with tremendous force. She prepared for the inevitable contact, cringing and looking away, squeezing her eyes shut. But the fist never made contact. It stopped mere inches from her face. She opened her swollen, teary blue eyes and stared innocently at the man she once loved, once cared for tremendously. But shrouding those once loving eyes of his was a veil of hatred, of bitterness, of pure rage. His bloodshot eyes narrowed into her doe-like ones. He stood, staring at her, challenging her to move just by his intense gaze.

The female abruptly bolted away from him and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door with her back. She slowly slid down to the floor and crumpled into a ball of tears, sobbing hysterically. She had nowhere to go, no one to run to.

A soft knock at the door startled her, making her tense. She didn't want to deal with her fiance's abuse anymore tonight. Her muscles relaxed as she heard the soft voice, "Mommy?"

She slowly opened the bathroom door and let in her little boy of six years. "I'm alright, Vincent," she wiped her eyes as he embraced her with his tiny arms.

"Mommy, I don't like Ralph. He scares me. Why do you stay with him?" Vincent questioned, staring up at her with his brown eyes. He looked nothing like her and everything like her ex-husband.

She ran her fingers through his brown hair. "Because I love him, sweetie."

"But mommy, daddy never treated you that way and you both loved each other. Why is Ralph mean to you?"

"I don't know, Vinny," she sighed. "I just don't know."

Vincent flopped down on the bathroom floor, dragging his mom down with him. "Mommy, tell me the story about daddy and Ralph again."

She pressed her lips against Vincent's cheek and retold the story once more, like how he always asks every time Aria is abused. He was a very young yet very wise child. He knew that the best thing for his mother was to get her mind off of things, and the only thing that made her smile was her own son, Vincent, and Oliver, her ex-husband.

Oliver and Aria got married many years after meeting and eventually had a baby boy named Vincent. The couple loved each other very much and were each other's best friend as well as each other's lover. They confided in each other about everything. On bad days, they'd snuggle up by the fire at night and chat about the meaning of life while sneaking kisses here and there. On good days, they'd go jogging with baby Vincent giggling in his tiny stroller. Their family was inseparable.

One night, three years later, Oliver got into a fatal car accident. Aria bawled her eyes out day and night for weeks; she couldn't possibly comprehend that her true love was deceased. She fell into a deep depression and soon hated her life. Little Vincent was the only thing that motivated her to continue living. Her friends and family continuously supported her, but she assumed she could never love again after Oliver.

One day in Cinco, California, as Aria was traveling home from a long and arduous day of work, a police officer pulled her over. She thought her day couldn't get any worse. She pleaded and begged for him to let her go without a ticket. She explained how she could hardly make enough money being a single mother. The cop sympathized with her and let her go home without a ticket, but with a cost: to go on a date with him.

They went on multiple coffee dates after the incident and Aria soon figured out his name was Ralph. Their relationship blossomed uncontrollably, and after a short period of nine months, Aria was being proposed to on the beachfront of California. A few months later, Ralph enthusiastically told Aria they had to move because he was promoted to chief of police. Aria was very excited for Ralph, yet upset that she had to leave her friends and family behind in Cinco. She eventually moved with Ralph to Des Moines, Iowa though because she loved him and supported him with any and every decision.