Saving Grace

Chapter 1

***Here is the all new chapter one. I took some advice and edited it a bit but I hope you like it! I am working on the rest of the story but I wanted to see how you all liked this before I got to far into the next part to see if you liked this way of writing.  Thanks! Read, Comment, Vote, Share!!***

December 2 12:30 pm

It a beautiful day down on Bondi Beach. The sun is shining and it is the beginning of the summer season. It is almost Christmas and the kids were itching for holiday.

Gracelyn "Grace" Hope Stocker, 26, was looking out of her apartment window staring over the beautiful Bondi Beach area. What was going through her mind? She was thinking about how quiet it was here compared to her California home. She has been spending the last little bit trying to get all situated to move to Australia and she is so happy that she is finally here. Her apartment was small but it was just her and she loved being so close to the beach and the surf. Her neighbors had been amazing although they would probably think of her differently after they learn what, well who, she is running from.

KNOCK KNOCK

She walked over to the door and opened it without looking, as she was expecting the young girl who lives across the hall. She swung the door open, fear immediately falling over her.

"No!" She whimpered as her world went black.

Fuzzy, that was all that Grace could see. She blinked several times but the fuzzy didn't go away. She realized that her eyes were swollen shut and she could barely open them. She groaned and sat up slowly. She was in the room of her apartment and on the bed. She felt down, she felt cold skin. Tears started streaming down her face. She knew what that meant. It had happened again. He found her. She laid there and cried herself to sleep

When she woke up it was starting to get dark. She looked over at the clock on the nightstand. 6:45 pm. Her eyes felt less swollen, at least she could open them again. She slowly got up, head pounding, looked around, scared that he could still be lurking in the corner. She didn't see him in her dark room so she slowly stood up, pain emanating through her entire body. She grabbed the baseball bat that sat next to her bed and slowly walked toward her closet bat stretched out in front of her. Her bare body shivering in cold and pain. She opened the closet door and quickly turned on the light. She didn't see anyone so she walked in slowly. She put on her underwear and carefully pulled a dress over her small frame. She knew from the past that she wouldn't be able to wear pants without it being painful but since Australia is warmer than some of the places she had lived she would be okay. She pulled a cardigan to cover her arms and wrapped it tightly around her cold, sore body. She looked around her destroyed room. She couldn't stay here. He would be able to find her. He could come back.

She suddenly started to feel like someone was watching her. Her chest suddenly becomes tight and she can't breathe. Tears start streaming down her face again. She wanted to get out of the house. She had to get out. She stumbled to the door and started down the hall. She had nothing but the clothes she was wearing. She didn't realize that she had left her purse and phone or the fact that she left with her door wide open. When she got to the outside door she looked around. She was trying to decide where to go. She had no family or friends that she could trust in the area so she just started running. She had to get herself away from her apartment. He had taken the safety of that house away from her just like he had done to their house in California when he hurt her when he came home drunk one night. She ran and ran, tears streaming down her face, chest still tight and breathing ragged.

As she was running she decides where she wants to go. The beach. The beach was something that he could never take away from her. She loved it and he hated it so it was always a safe haven for her.