5 Years Ago Part 2

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*above is pic of Cole*

Taliah POV

"I'm sure you probably heard from Kihyun about a mysterious figure from my past and I also know Minhyuk told you how I lost my parents to drunk driver...unfortunately, both instances are not unrelated."

"At first, Cole was a sweetheart. I first met him in my freshman year of high school, and he was in his sophomore year. He gave me his everything. Both his time and his heart. He bought me little surprise presents here and there and patiently stuck by side through all my mood swings. 18 might have been a young age to be thinking of marriage, but we had been together for 3 years and honestly, I didn't see either of us going anywhere, anytime soon. I patiently waited on a proposal, and waited, and waited. Nothing. When I brought up the subject of marriage, he became defensive and hostile, and opposed the idea. I think that was the first time a saw a crack in my rose colored glasses. I started to notice things. They had always been there, I just never cared to pay attention."

"He was insanely jealous and possessive. I could not even glance at another male, could not speak to a friend, or even help a stranger asking for directions, without it being a problem. He always emphasized to stay away from 'his girl'. Before, that phrase made me feel loved and special, but now, it makes me feel like no more than an object. A prized possession." I stopped to take a breath, and a sip of water to clear up my dry throat before continuing.

"You know...he even punched an old man once just because he made me laugh and smile. I was having a really bad day that day and the man just wanted to cheer me up. It shook me to my core, but still I didn't leave. Maybe I lacked the confidence to stand up for myself or maybe it was fear, but we continued in this cycle for another year. Almost 4 years of dating this man with nothing to show for it. So I gave him an ultimatum. Marry me, or we're through. He didn't like that one bit. 'Where you gonna go?' he'd say, 'You know I'm the only one who'd take you.' Or 'Don't even joke like that babe. You know you ain't leavin me.' He thought wrong. The 4 year mark came and went, and I left him. Little did I know he was gonna turn Coo Coo for CoCo Puffs!"

"I didn't start dating again for a while, but when I did, it was strange. Everytime I had a successful first date, there was never a second. The guy either couldn't be reached or couldn't be found. I knew it was his doing. I would come home to find flowers or presents on my bed and my voicemail box would be full with twisted messages. I filed a report with the police and eventually obtained a restraining order, but I t didn't stop him. I couldn't stand being alone in the house anymore and went to stay with a friend, but even there I couldn't escape."

"I returned to the house after a good workout and went to grab a change of clothes, but again, there were flowers and a note that read, 'You can't run from me Taliah. If I can't have you, no one can.' It sent chills down my spine. I turned it into the police as well, and they sent an officer and his partner to arrest Cole for breaking his restraining order. He wasn't home. It looked like he had packed his bags to leave, but they found the most horrific thing. Pictures of me, all over the place. Pictures of my dates, my friends, my parents, my whole life! Even the dead bodies of a couple of my dates, the ones who had refused to be intimidated by him."

This next part of the story, was the hardest. I took a deep breath and carried on with a shaky breath,"A couple of weeks after Cole went missing, my parents came back from Florida where they were vacationing. They wanted me to meet someone. I was scared, but a warrant had been put out for Cole's arrest so I figured he couldn't possibly still be stalking me. My parents didn't know either, I didn't want them to worry. They took me out to dinner and introduced me to Antonio. He was around my age, and they told him about the trouble I was having trying to start my way in the entertainment business. It turned out he actually just started a company of his own and was interested in a partnership. It would be hard, but we'd work together and climb our way up from the bottom to the top. So it was a business dinner of sorts, and exactly the positive kind of news I needed. However, it was very, very short-lived."

"Me, Mom, and Pops were all driving back home together and chatting happily. As we were driving over an overpass, a car was coming from the opposite direction. I-I-it s-started swerv-ving a-and..." I started stuttering, and the words were getting stuck in my throat, "..it crossed the median and ran into us head on. The force of the crash knocked us over the edge and into the lake below. I hazily remembered being pulled out of the river, but that was it. The next time I woke up, I learned that I had been in a coma for 2 months, the culprit was being held, a trial pending, and my parents were in the ground. I didn't even get to attend their funerals."

"A couple that was walking on the trail next to the river, saw the accident happen, and the boyfriend jumped in to help. We were sinking and the car was filling with water. The pressure on the outside of the car was too much, and my dad couldn't open the car doors. I hit my head and was unconscious, Mom was killed on impact, a piece of broken glass piercing her heart! And Pops, Pops was still alive but his seatbelt was stuck. He begged the stranger to take me first, and not worry about him. And they agreed. While I was pulled to safety, my father, drowned. I was numb, and tormented with Survivor's Guilt. After long therapy sessions, and a lot of rehabilitation, I was okay to go outside again. Using my crutches, I hobbled my way into the courthouse. They had to wait and see if I would survive before setting a court date, and now that I had, they could proceed. I sat down in the front row, ready to meet the person who took everything from me, and it was him. The person they led to the podium, was Cole. I was horrified. He looked straight at me, and I could tell there wasn't an ounce of remorse in his eyes. 'That's what Mommy and Daddy get for trying to give what isn't theirs.' he said with a crooked smile. If I had not been in a cast, I would have tried to choke him myself. That sick bastard followed us to dinner and put some twisted misconception in his mind and killed my parents!"

I couldn't breath. I started to hyperventilate. Reliving all of this again brought back all of the same anxiety, fear, anger, and stress that I had fought to control. Hyungwon pulled me into a hug and rocked me back and forth like a baby. He rubbed his hand on my back, bringing me back to reality. "You don't have to go on if it's too hard." he said.

"No." I said. "I need to finish." I took a minute to wipe my eyes, and cleared my throat, "The worst part about it is that he pled insanity and freaking WON. That's the only reason he got 40 to life instead of the death penalty for being a serial killer. I got a call about a year later saying that he died in prison. He had been sent to some maximum security prison that held the worst of the worst, male or female. He must have met Luna there and somehow they fabricated his death. I thought I would never have to see him again, and yet here he is, knocking on my freaking doorstep."

Finally, finished with my sad tale, I looked around at the boys. All were quiet, some shocked, others with tears in their eyes. They're in danger. The thought kept repeating over and over again in my head. I knew I didn't have to worry about Luna, because if she tried to do anything to me, Cole would have her head before mine, but them? Cole will snap their necks in a heartbeat. How do I do it? How do I protect what's important to me? I'm not the same as I used to be, and I'm not alone, but how do I fight against a psychopath? One of the boys got up to get some tissue, but knocked the tv remote on the ground. The turned the tv on, disrupting my thoughts, "Breaking news..."

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