Looking back through her rear mirror, she sighed at the town she had left behind, the one that made her suffer for all these years, the one she was running from.
Grace Donovan swallowed down the spit in her mouth as she continued to drive away, hoping to never have to live that kind of life anymore, the one she had lived for five good years of her life, not that they were good years. It took everything in her not to turn back when she made this decision, because of the fear that leaving him, leaving everything behind would have repercussions. Those she hoped she wouldn't have to deal with, and that was why she was running now, as far as she could go. She had left everything that could help him find her behind so that she had nothing he could trace her with on her, including her phone and laptop. She wouldn't put it past him to install a spyware app on her phone and laptop, so she wasn't going to take that chance. Grace had been married to Jack Norrland for five years, and in those years, she had never had any happy moments. He had always been so rough and cruel, and he had always made her feel small, but she had somehow managed to grow a bit of courage and that had been the only reason she had packed her things and left in the middle of the night when he was out of the country on a business trip. Jack was the operational manager of a big company that manufactured plastics, and he was doing pretty well financially, so she never really lacked anything physically, but she lacked care, love, and respect from the man she married. She could remember all those beatings she had suffered all of those years, with the scar she had to show for it, and she wondered how on earth she had never seen it coming. While they courted, he was the perfect man, but as soon as he married her, he showed his true color. First, he made sure she was cut off from her friends. It was easier because she had no family. She grew up in the orphanage, and when she grew old enough to ask questions, the only people that knew anything had died. “Don’t think about that, Gracie. You’re free now!” she whispered to herself, but was she free indeed?It wasn't as if she had never tried to run before, but he caught her. She hadn't planned it well back then, she hadn't thought it through, which was why this time, she had thought about it for several days, mapped out her plan, and had been driving away from everything for six days now, only stopping at night, for gas, and maybe to grab coffee and snacks.Grace kept driving until she got to West Virginia, and the first small town she came across was West Valley Rocks. That was what the sign said. There was no way Jack would find her here now, but she would have to keep saying it to herself until she believed it. The sky was really bright, with the sun resting against the top of the mountains in sight. This small little town seem like a haven, and its welcoming atmosphere made her sigh. Coming here wasn't planned, but she knew she would be running to a small town where no one knew her, where she got no ties with anyone. She only knew she had to go somewhere she would feel safe, and where best to achieve that, other than a small town like this. She wasn't sure of the population, but this was enough. “West Valley Rocks!” she whispered, testing it against her lips. It sounded right, it sounded safe, and it sounded like the haven she desperately wanted. The main street of the small town she was in looked so lively, with people walking about, some waving at others, some walking their dogs, and others smiling at children and the elderly. The only thing she didn't see anyone doing was pressing their phones, or having their head buried in it. It was good because no one would find out who she was soon. Grace worked so hard all her life as an editor, crawling all the way to the top as the chief editor of a glossy magazine firm. She had appeared in the magazine herself a lot of times, but she doubted anyone here w would engross their time in reading magazines like that. Even if a few of them did, they wouldn't recognize her with her hair dyed jet back from the natural blonde color she had, and from wavy to straight. She slowed her car as she drove drown the main street, looking from left to right for somewhere to grab a cup of coffee. She needed to do a lot today, like find an apartment or a hotel to crash before that, and then she needed to find a way to sell her car. It had brought her here after she had had it swept for a tracking device of any kind, but it still doesn't mean she would want to keep it. It reminded her of Jack too much, and that had to go. The last thing she wanted, no, scratch that. The last thing she needed, was any form of reminder of her husband, or ex, as she had finally been able to get him to sign the divorce papers. A week ago, he had come home late, and drunk, and she had waited up for him, bathed, and clothes in her most sexiest lingerie. She had taken him to bed, gotten his clothes off him, massaged him, and then, she had handed him a pen just before he fell asleep. Finally, she spotted a coffee shop down the street on the right side of the road, and she stopped the car in front of it, behind a black truck that looked like it could swallow hers. Sighing, she pulled down the front mirror and she used it as a guide to pack up her hair in a tight, neat bun. Grace hated being messy, so much she had never put her hair in a messy bun before, but maybe she would add that to the change she wanted here in this town. She looked around her car to find the clip she could use to hold it up in place, and when she was down, she smoothened her blue and pink sundress down her body, knowing it would have creased from sitting down in her car for five hours after leaving the motel she stayed last night. Getting down from the car, she locked her car and walked towards the shop. As she opened it, the bell above the door jingled loudly, making her jump so hard she missed her step. As she started to tumble forward, someone grabbed her wrist to hoist her back up, and she froze.The sky was clear, for a day in the middle of July when the weather forecast had announced an eighty percent rate of precipitation for today, but he didn't care about that right now. Noah Roberts just needed to get a cup or two of coffee into his system to start his day, before heading to the hospital. He had gracefully slept at home last night after his surgery had been canceled but it was scheduled for three o’clock this afternoon. As he parked his Chevrolet Silverado, he glanced up in the sky, and then around the street. The rain might pour, but the clear sky was deceiving. Shaking his head, he waved at the bakery owner on the other side of the street, before turning to go into the coffee shop. “Hey, Char.” He greeted as he saw his cousin's sister walk around the counter to assume her position as the barrister. She made amazing coffee with different designs. “Hey, cousin. You look well-rested today.” She said. "The usual, please." He said as he walked up to her. Before he cou
Grace was sorry for acting like she did, but she couldn't help being nervous. And she hated people putting their hands on her. “May I help you?” The woman asked, and she looked up at her, realizing that she had been staring at the counter for a couple of minutes or so.Clearing her throat, she offered the woman who was staring at her from behind the counter like she was two-headed a small smile. "Huh, sorry. I would like to grab a hot cup of coffee.” That was all she could manage before a clap of thunder in the distance roared behind her, and she ducked, grabbing the counter so hard her knuckles turned white from holding it too much. Shaking violently, she started to hyperventilate, her throat closing in on her. She heard the woman rush around the counter to her, and then she heard the doorbell sound again as the door to the coffee shop opened.They must be getting another customer, but she was here displaying her innermost insecurity right in the middle of the day because the loud
Grace opened her eyes slowly, and a white bright light blinded her for three solid seconds. She closed her eyes tightly after and blinked it open again, her eyes adjusting to the light. She looked above her, and then she tried moving her head around to see where she was. She didn't have to though, if her senses had picked up on the beeping sound that came from a hospital monitor. She was in a hospital, a hospital a stranger had brought her in on the first day in town. Fuck! What was she going to do now? She was going to have to leave here and go somewhere else. It was either that or risk being known by other people. Too much was at stake here already to be discovered. She had been exposed to people noticing her and that was the last thing she wanted. She was worried a lot about a lot of things, and how to get out of there without being noticed, get to her car, and get out of town were at the top of the priority list. Looking from left to right, there was no one there in the room
Noah saw the fear enter her eyes the moment Gavin mentioned the interrogation, and again, he frowned. As he had predicted before, something was wrong, something he couldn't quite place his fingers on, but all he could deduce from the situation, was that she was running from something or someone; if the weird scars the female nurses had found on her body was anything to go by. He hadn't seen it himself, but Dr. Gavin had seen the pictures they took of it. The nurses had been forced to snap it when they were changing her out of her sundress. Whoever had inflicted those wounds had made sure to never put them where they would be visible. She was surely not the one that did that to herself. He would be going there to check it out after this. “Huh, why?” Grace’s voice came out suddenly in a question. It was Gavin that answered before he could. "Because we noticed something weird about you that we were forced to report.” He said. She tried to sit up, but Noah quickly helped her raise t
Ultimately, the only way she could be at ease was to get this over with, or better, run off before the cops arrived, but now, they were here. She looked from one of the cops to the other, as they introduced themselves to be the deputies of the sheriff's department. She wondered what was going through their mind as they sat there, staring at her. The best thing she could think of was that they would see her as a pitiful woman who had no respect and value for herself that she was. She wished she was brave enough to dispute that, argue with the thought if that was what they were thinking but she just about sat there mute. As promised, Dr. Noah Roberts was sitting with her as they questioned her, but all she could say was no comment so they were now in the staring phase. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the doctor gesturing to one of them to cancel the interrogation, or at least, that was what she thought he was doing. Looking back to the deputies, she saw one of them sigh with a
Noah wanted to laugh at the hotel look on Grace’s face as her stomach made that sound. He could tell that she was embarrassed if the blush climbing up her neck to her face was anything to go by. He glanced at her to see her covering her stomach with both her hands, and he almost chuckled again. There was something about the way she looked that made him want to laugh even though he rarely laugh at anything. “It's fine, Grace. You don't have to be embarrassed.” He said, just as he started the car. When she refused to answer him, he sighed and continued driving. A thought occurred to him, and he realized he wouldn't be going straight home after dropping her off as he had planned. He remembered that she was new in town, and had just arrived this morning, so she probably had no place to stay. But, that wasn't the problem though, the problem was that the two hotels that were in town were probably all booked because of the wedding that was happening on Saturday between his brother and th
Noah was still sitting in his cousin’s coffee shop, wondering where Grace went and why she had decided to leave on her own without even a goodbye, when all he wanted to do and had done so far was to help her. He shook his head, surprised that she would even leave the way she did when all he wanted was to help her get a place to sleep tonight. Does that mean that he wouldn't be able to see her again? That it was the first and the last time he would see her or even talk to her? What could she have been running from so bad that she had not even cared about herself before heading out of town this late? "She's gone, Char.” He said when Charlotte came back out. By that time, the customers in the whole were almost gone, so he could talk here without worrying about someone hearing him. The grandmother clock on the wall told him it was late, which meant that it wasn't completely safe for a woman to be out there alone by herself. There was no reason he should be worried, seeing as he had j
Nightmare was something Charlotte only see people experience in a movie, or read in a book, but she never thought she would see someone experiencing it. When she woke up in the middle of the night, she wasn't sure what woke her. The whimpering sound coming from Grace, or the fact that she needed to use the bathroom, either way, the latter didn't seem as important now as the former. If anything, it had seemed to disappear. There was something about the way Grace moved on the foldable bed she had placed on the floor beside her own bed for her the night before when she had brought her home, that made it seem like she was fighting someone. Right now, all Charlotte could do was sit on her bed and stare at her. Grace had both her hands in the air like she was trying to push someone off her when no one was there, and occasionally, one of her hands would fly to her neck and she would drag down the old t-shirt she had worn as a nightwear as if it was choking her. At some point, she even made