Sway

Threats

Charlotte's POV

That night after my third consultation with Riley, I got a call from Talia. She asked me to go out to a club with her and Phineous, I agreed. After the call, I came home with the divorce papers hidden in my bag. Eddie was snoring and sprawled out on the couch with Evan on his chest wearing only a diaper. I stood above them, in front of the couch. Eddies face was decorated with wrinkles, his jaw covered by stubble, and his thick black hair flew in different directions. Evan had somehow managed to get my blonde hair and blue eyes, his little pebble nose sniffled every so often. I thought about what this divorce would do to him, how he'd be forced to grow up different than his friends. It was cruel of me to be so selfish, but the bruises that were printed throughout my body couldn't be overlooked anymore. No matter what happened between Eddie and I, I swore to always be there for Evan. As his mother and his protector.

Despite everything, Eddie was never a bad father. From the moment Evan was born, Eddie was changing diapers and rocking him to sleep. He'd always give me money to buy clothes or medicine. He went with me to his doctor appointments, stayed up with me when he had colic... everything. Some women might even say that he deserves 'daddy of the year' award.

I breathed in after setting my bag down on the living room table. My hands slowly wrapped around Evans body and I began to remove him from his dads chest. A silent prayer repeating in my head for the man below the baby not to wake up. I thanked God when he didn't, and I was able to carry the sleeping baby into the bedroom. I placed him softly into the crib and covered his body with blankets. Then I grabbed some underwear and a black dress that I often wore to clubs, I brought them with me into the bathroom down the hall. Locking the door and flipping the shower on, I undressed and then submerged myself underneath the rainfall of water.

I made it a quick ten minute shower, then got out and did my hair and makeup. As I was applying some gloss to my lips, a repeating loud bang vibrated the wooden bathroom door. The gloss fell from my hands and landed in the empty sink, my heart was racing nearly out of my chest.

"Open the fucking door Charlotte!!" Eddie had clearly woken up and something was pissing him off.

A huge part of me wanted to just remain locked in the bathroom for as long as I could, he'd have to leave eventually. A lump rose in my throat as I attempted to calm my nerves, "W-what's wrong Eddie?"

He laughed vindictively, and then I heard it... I heard the sound of papers rustling. He must've went through my bag and found the divorce papers, I was an idiot for leaving that bag right in front of him. "Don't play games with me! Open the God damn door before I kick it in!!"

Now I couldn't help but panic, I knew from experience that he wasn't kidding about kicking in doors. "Okay, look. Can we talk, like adults?"

Again with the mischievous laughter, this wasn't going to end well and I most definitely was not going to make it to the club. Before I could think any other thoughts, his large foot was smashing into the flimsy door. Tears immediately flooded my eyes and I looked around for something I could use to defend myself. Sadly, there wasn't much to choose from in the bathroom. "Unlock the door, or it's coming down on you Charlotte!!" Another hard smash.

Quivering fingers found the knob, I hesitantly turned the lock and then the door flew open. A sharp left hook hit the side of my face, "Oh look at you, getting all dressed up for your new bae huh?" His words were literally laced with hatred, and they came with another jab to the same cheek bone. I stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over the floor towel.

My trembling hand covered the burning cheek, "it's not what you think Eddie! I swear!"

He didn't care though, he just placed the divorce papers neatly onto the bathroom counter and brought both of his hands up to my neck. He squeezed as if I was just some pretend stuffed animal, his strength made it impossible for me to break loose. Instead, my fingers just clawed helplessly at his hands. At some point my feet had left the ground and my mind grew blurry. As my vision went in and out, I caught glimpses of the look in his eyes. It was like he wasn't in there, like he had been replaced by pure anger. Time seemed to be moving slower, the bathroom was spinning and I had a feeling that this might be the end for me, that my baby would end up alone with this monster. The simple thought of Evan growing up with no one to protect him from Eddie, aroused a strength I didn't know I had. As I flailed limply in the air, I pushed both of my arms up to Eddies face. He started grunting but I continued to lift my hands until my fingers were able to stub into his eyeballs. Almost instantly he dropped me to the ground and I cried out in pain. His hands covered his eyes and he leaned over the bathroom counter. This gave me a chance to run out of the bathroom. I slammed the door behind me and quickly began pushing the tv stand in front of it. I knew the small wooden piece of furniture wouldn't contain him for long, but I just needed it to keep him away until I could get Evan and my purse.

As soon as he heard me pushing the tv stand in front of the bathroom door, he began to try and push it open. I didn't waste any time trying to figure out how much time I had before he'd escape, I only wanted to grab my baby and run. So that's exactly what I did, I snatched my purse and a random blanket from the couch. Then I ran into the bedroom where I had just placed Evan in the crib. He was still sound asleep, but I yanked him from the bed and immediately ran out of the apartment.

My feet were bare and Evan was naked, but I needed to get as far away from Eddie as possible. He'd be looking for me as soon as that tv stand gave out. So I kept running... all the way out of the complex and as far down the street as I could get. Something liquid was on my face, but I didn't dare let myself think about the pain. It didn't matter if there was blood on my cheek, or tears in my eyes... all that mattered was that Eddie never found me. My feet stung as they made contact with the various elements on the sidewalk. People stared at me as I pushed them aside, a purse dangling from my shoulder and a naked baby in my arms. A few of them would grab my arm and ask if I was alright, even when it was clear that I wasn't. There was only one person that actually helped - he was some random old man that hailed me a cab and slid the driver a twenty before slamming the door.

I didn't have the energy or mental stability to muster a thank you, but thankfully he had already walked off somewhere down the street and my cab was moving in a direction that I wasn't aware of. The driver seemed to understand my situation because he just kept driving without asking me where I wanted to go. I figured any other time I would be suspicious and maybe even jump out of the moving taxi, but right now was different. As I wrapped the blanket I had snagged from the couch around Evan, I squeezed his body in my arms and held him close to my chest. He wasn't crying, despite everything he had faced in the past few moments. I, on the other hand, I had tears racing down both sides of my face. My left cheek was aching tremendously and I was certain that my bottom lip was busted and leaking blood. There was nothing I could do about it right now though, I needed to pull myself together and figure out where to go. The cab driver finally gained the courage to ask me where he should take me,

"There's a battered women's shelter I know about? It's just a few blocks away..." he suggested, while sending me pitiful looks through the rear-view mirror.

I swallowed, there was no way I could bring Evan into a battered women's shelter. I had seen far too many episodes of Law & Order. My mind raced through every human contact that I had, narrowing down the few that would welcome me with open arms. The amount was low, basically just my parents. However, I knew that they wouldn't welcome me with entirely open arms. We had issues, and the last thing that my father said to me was that he never wanted to see me again.

With a deep sigh, I told the driver my parents' address and rested my head back against the seat. The ride would be long, seeing as they lived on the outskirts of the city. As the ride went on, Evan began to fall back asleep. My phone was continuously beeping as it rested in the depths of my purse. I knew it was Talia, she was probably waiting for me outside of the club. As shitty as I felt about not showing up, I felt worse about not being able to tell her the truth about why I couldn't show up. The realization that our relationship was built on lies and that they were all mine, hit me hard. Suddenly, I wasn't crying because of the mental and physical abuse I had endured at the hands of my husband. I was crying because I loved someone who I could never really be with. I tried to imagine a scenario where I could tell her about my marriage and she didn't end up hating me. I came up with nothing.

The phone buzzed again, this time I decided to just answer. She would keep calling until I did.

Her voice was slightly irritated, "Hello?"

"Uh, hey Talia," I spoke while trying to hide the fact that I had been crying, "I'm really sorry about, not showing up."

"It's okay," the comfort that I felt at the simple sound of her voice was heart aching. To think that I would have to give her up because of my lies, "Are you okay? You don't sound okay?"

Of course I wasn't, and to think that I could possible be if I had just been honest... hurt like hell. There was nothing that I could do to change the mess of a life I was living, so I responded, "Yeah I'm fine, I just didn't want to be a no call no show. I... I actually need to go so -"

"Wait! Can I stop by? What's your address? I have something for you!" She was lying and I could tell, but the taxi was pulling up to my parents's place.

"That's, not a good idea," was all I said before handing the driver some extra money and then jumping out of the vehicle. It was hard to balance Evan in my arms while talking on the phone, and more importantly, I didn't think I would last much longer without completely breaking out in tears. So I briskly cut the call short, "Uh, I have to go."