Taking Whats His

Chapter Three.

Chapter Three.
Esme Winters.

I looked up at the white ceiling in the spare room in my grandparents' house, I could remember staying in the very same room several times when I was little. It hadn't always been so complicated, my parents had once been in love and they had often gone out on dates which meant I stayed in this room while they were out for the night.

I rolled over on the single bed, tucking the covers under my chin as I looked around the lightly lit room. It hadn't changed much since I had last been in it.

The walls were still painted the same sky blue colour, the furniture was the same with the drawers to the left of the door and a chair in the corner that either my grandma or granddad used to sit at while reading to me when I was very young. The bed I lay on had been upgraded from a small child sized single to a double with white bedding. The room was familiar and filled with many memories from my childhood.

We had arrived a few hours ago. I hadn't fallen asleep in the car but I kept up the act as my granddad carried me out of the car and into the house where I had been safely tucked into bed and left alone. At first I had taken the chance to roll over and get comfortable, expecting sleep to take me soon, but it never came.

Every time I closed my eyes all I could see was his face. His green eyes filled with such hatred that even as I thought about them a shiver of fear ran up my spine. Hatred and anger had rolled off of him in waves as he had held me up by my throat against the wall. It was the first time that he had attempted to take my life and I was sure that if my mum hadn't gotten involved when she did that I would have ended up unconscious, or dead.

I could still see the smile on his face as he watched me struggle. The same smile had been on the faces of his friends that just stood by a watched, sipping their drinks as if they weren't watching me get strangled.

A tear escaped the corner of my eye and I reached up with a shaking hand and wiped it away. I had cried too many tears for him and he could no longer hurt me. He was no longer worth my tears and my pain. I was finally able to breathe and allow myself to relax slightly; although, something deep within me told me that he knew that his parents would somehow be involved in our escape and this would be the first place that he came looking for us.

A soft knock at my door had me rolling over so that I was facing the door as I waited for whoever had knocked to enter. The door handle twisted as it was opened to reveal my mum's head poking around the side of it to see if I was awake. She smiled softly as she stepped into the room and walked the short distance to where I lay on the bed. She sat down as I curled myself around her body while looking up at her bruised face.

"How are you feeling?" She asked me softly as she gently ran a finger through my knotted hair.

My mum looked tired but the sudden brightness of her once dull blue eyes told me that sleep wasn't what she was thinking about right now. Her shoulders were slouched and she had changed into a pair of jeans and a jumper that I didn't know she owned. She no longer looked like a professional business women but rather a normal mum, minus the bruises that is. Her hair was down and framing her face which seemed to glow despite the bruises.

She looked relaxed and finally at peace. She was finally able to be herself; the care-free woman that I had seen and remembered as child. She looked happy despite everything that had happened and I knew that she was relieved to have finally escaped from him. She was no longer a puppet that he controlled, she no longer had invisible strings attached to requiring her to do everything she was told.

"I'm fine." I told her wincing a little at the sound of my voice and the ache in my throat.

She passed me the glass of water that was resting on the bed stand and I propped myself up taking it gratefully. I brought the water to my chapped lips and greedily drank all of its contents. The cool water soothed my throat and dulled the ache making it more bearable.