1
I was crossing the parking lot after my shift at the diner, skirting the row of parked cars on my way back to my motel. A car door opened and closed. I looked over and gasped in horror. Daniel.
Before I could say anything, he struck me in the face so hard, he made me lose my footing and fall to the ground. The harsh gravel on the parking lot bruised my hands and knees, and I bit down on my lower lip to hold back the painful sob.
“Did you really think you could run away from me? That I would allow you to embarrass me in front of my family and friends?” he shouted at me, combining his words with hard kicks to my curled-up body lying on the ground. “Till death do us part… remember? That was your promise at the altar, and I intend to make you keep your word.”
Even after almost a year, I still reacted instinctively to his attacks, curling up and covering my face as much as I could. It was a defense mechanism I rapidly learned a few days after our marriage. Explaining bruises on your face was not a simple task. People quickly read between the lines and discovered the untold truth.
Silently sobbing, I didn’t even bother to answer his questions. He wouldn’t listen to me, anyway, as he had never listened before. The problem was he hated to be ignored. As a true sadist, he thrilled in my pleas and cries for mercy.
Leaning over, he fisted my long black hair and pulled me up, ripping a painful sob from my lips. He shook my head hard a few times, hitting it against his knees a few times, making me feel dizzy with the pain.
“It seems you still haven’t learned your lesson. After all these years, you still don’t know you’re mine, to do with whatever I want,” Daniel snarled at me, his fetid drunkard’s breath making my stomach roil and bile to rise up to my throat.
God, I hate him so much… I still couldn’t believe he had found me. I had been so careful, and yet he had been able to track me down to this small town in the middle of nowhere.
“Please…” I begged, as pain coursed through my head and down my neck, due to the strained position.
He pushed me back to the ground, pressing his heavy boot on my neck, constricting my throat and making me pant heavily. I could feel every single one of the small, sharp pebbles, on the ground, digging into the sensitive skin of my face, and I whimpered loudly.
“Do you know how easily I could end you? All I have to do is press harder, and your neck will break like a worthless twig,” he threatened me, slightly increasing the pressure on my throat.
I sobbed and prayed in silence that he would end my torment. I was so tired… so desperate…
“Who’s there?” a man’s voice broke the night’s silence around us. “What the hell is going on here?”
Startled, Daniel turned around to look at the man approaching them, releasing me in the process.
“Go back inside. This has nothing to do with you,” he snarled at the man.
Though I had little hope I could escape, I slowly crawled away from Daniel and got up while he was distracted with Bob, the owner of the small restaurant where I had been working for the past few weeks.
“This is my parking lot, not yours. I already called the police, so why don’t you get the hell out of here?” Bob threatened him, though he was no opponent for Daniel, a tall, sturdy man, whose strength seemed to double whenever he got drunk.
“She’s my wife… you’re interfering in a marital affair,” Daniel replied, not even worried with the possibility of the police showing up.
During our marriage, police had been called to our house so many times I had lost count. The staff used to call them whenever he lost his temper with me, which was quite often. After the first time, he decided to fire them all and have people come over and clean the house twice a week. This way, there were no witnesses to his abuse.
I had never found the courage to file a complaint against him. I knew he would destroy me in a court of law and walk out free as a bird. I, on the other hand, wouldn’t survive the aftermath.
“I don’t care if she’s your mother… you won’t do this on my parking lot,” Bob ranted at Daniel, standing tall at his five feet seven.
With Daniel's attention focused on the other man, I decided it was now or never. Gathering all my strength, I jumped into action, running away as fast as I could, ignoring the pain on my ribs and my sore throat. I had to get the hell out of there, and that was the only thing that mattered.
It took Daniel a few moments to realize I was gone. His piercing shout reached me the moment I was crossing the street, but I didn’t stop, nor looked back.
“Ailani!”
Running as fast as I could, I managed to put some distance between us, and soon I was in front of the highway restaurant, crowded with trucks of various sizes and shapes, not far down the street.
Desperate, I looked around, trying to find one about to leave, while I prayed to all the gods I ever heard of, the driver would give me a ride out of this town. If Daniel had found my working place, he knew where I lived and going back to the small motel, wouldn’t do me any good.
As I ran through the parking lot, I could hear Daniel yelling, getting louder, and I was about to give up my search and run away when I noticed a man opening his truck.
“Sir… please… could you give me a ride?” I begged as I ran towards him. The man turned to look at me, already shaking his head. “Please… please…” I insisted, tears rolling down my cheeks as I looked over his shoulder, making sure Daniel still hadn't found me.
“Ailani!” Daniel’s yell sounded closer, and I shuddered, with little time to spare.
