My Best Friends Wedding

The Escape

I looked around the room as they slept. It was a mess. The closet was worse and I sighed seeing her favorite green dress ripped on the floor. It's obvious things are getting worse here.

The big lounge chair in the corner was calling my name and I plopped down with a sigh. I sank into the chair and sighed again getting comfortable. I put my head back and started to close my eyes, but the feeling of being watched started to take over so I slowly lifted my head and saw Carly standing in front of me. I smiled and sat up slightly

"You really like that bear don't ya?"

She nodded smiling and hugged it tighter

"Does he keep you safe from all the bad things?"

She thought about it for a minute and nodded slowly. She didn't talk much and maybe it's because she was afraid or because she didn't know me. I reached out for her and she backed away quickly.

"Hey...I'm not gonna hurt you."

Slowly and cautiously she walked back over and I reached down and picked her up and sat her on my lap. She stared at me for a long time and I smiled at her. She just watched me and there were a lot of things I wanted to say, but I didn't want to upset Maddy by saying them.

"Carly do you know where your daddy is?"

I waited for an answer, but she mostly just nods or shrugs. I was worried about her. I was worried about Maddy and I knew Rick would be home soon because that rally wasn't going to last forever.

Maddy shot up quickly and looked around in a panic.

"You have to go"

"Maddy calm down"

"No, you have to leave"

I took Carly off of my lap and stood up and walked over towards Madison. She started to get up quickly in a panic and nearly lost her footing. I reached out and held her up

"Slow down. Sit. Relax."

She reluctantly sat down and stared at me afraid. I smiled and kissed her forehead

"Hey...I need you to calm down. Listen to me I miss my Madison. The funny, smart, confident, beautiful Maddy. And I know she's in there somewhere. This is not a way to live. You of all people know what it's like to have an abusive man in the house. All the times you came crying to me, missing school to hide welts and bruises, sneaking out to my apartment for protection. Carly is just 4 years old. This isn't fair to her. She deserves a mother who is going to fight for her and fight to keep her safe. You two can't live like this anymore."

"And what!? I'm just supposed to drop everything and be with you!? You always played with my emotions. Always. But I was never good enough for you. There was Lindsie and then Julia..."

"And who was I with the longest in between all of that?? Huh?? YOU Maddy. I almost didn't marry Julia because I couldn't control myself around you. I walked away from Lindsie that night because I wanted YOU. Stop torturing yourself and our daughter and quit denying how you feel. I already told you...showed you how I feel. Madison if I didn't love you and care about you I wouldn't fucking be here trying to save you from this psycho."

"He's not a psycho. He's a good man"

"You've got to be kidding!? A good man? A good man doesn't do the things he does and you know that Maddy. You know. When did you become so stupid?!"

She reared back and slapped me as hard as she could across the face. I deserved it and I knew I did. She looked at me with her bottom lip trembling. I took her hands and searched her face. She knew I was right.