Trust Me

Chapter 1

Olivia

Holding my breath, I carefully pried myself from the hold Daniel had on me as he slept soundly. I was terrified of waking him, but I knew I needed to get out of here, away from him, and fast.

I worked to free myself as carefully as possible, watching to be sure he showed no signs of waking. I had a feeling deep in my gut telling me it would be over if he woke.

He was just so angry with me for reasons I couldn't explain anymore, and I was done trying to make up excuses for him.

There would be no more justifying his behavior by putting myself down after what he just put me through. The abuse kept getting worse, more unbearable with each day that passed.

Today, his rage was different, unexplainable.

Enduring the torture he put me through physically and mentally today brought me to this decision, the decision to finally walk away. It was a shame that it took that much of an attack for me to realize I had to get out, but I was finally doing it. I had to if I wanted to live.

Pulling my body away from him, I bit down on my bottom lip, watching in fear as he started to stir in his sleep. My heart raced to the point that it made me feel light-headed and weak in the knees.

I hoped to God that he wasn't waking up. He couldn't be.

My hands flew up to my chest in relief, with a jagged breath escaping my lips as he settled on his side, snoring lightly once more.

Without wasting any more time, I tiptoed over to the bedroom door and reached my hand out slowly to grab the knob. The damn door creaked like it was a million years old, so I had to be careful. My hand embraced the cold metal and I held my breath, knowing that this moment was going to make or break my escape. My life.

"Okay," I whispered, shutting my eyes and mentally counting to three as if that was going to relieve any of the anxiety rushing throughout my being.

As I slowly pulled the door open, it began to creak. Louder than nails on a chalk board sending my heart plummeting to the pit of my stomach. Beads of sweat were forming at my hairline and my body started to shake in fear. I glanced back over at Daniel who hadn't budged.

Okay, that was good, I thought to myself.

I continued to pull the door open but a little faster this time, knowing that the slower I did it, the more the creaking noise would be dragged out. The moment the crack in the doorway was big enough for me to fit through, I slipped out of the room quickly and ran over to my coat and boots. They were still thrown across the living room floor from last night.

Before I could even slip my coat on, I heard stirring coming from the bedroom, and immediately my body went into flight mode. I slipped on my boots and just grabbed my coat, bolting out of the apartment with no time to waste. I rushed out into the cold winter night. The icy snow began landing on my bare arms, making me shiver lightly, but I ignored the discomfort, or rather I was too upset to care.

I scurried a block down from the apartment building before relaxing a bit and putting my coat on properly. I pulled my scarf out of one of the pockets and wrapped it around my face leaving only enough space for my eyes to peak out. It was nice because it hid the tears still falling even though I willed myself to stop crying with each step forward.

After walking a few more blocks with nowhere in particular to go, I ended up on the street corner where my favorite little coffee shop, Filtered, sat. I knew it was late, but I wasn't ready to go home and face Cassie, in all honesty. Cassie was my best friend and roommate who would undoubtedly be questioning me like an investigator. I hadn't been home in a while and without any specific reason as far as she knew.