Page 4 of Ravaged From Fate

The radio begins to play Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen as I hit the highway.

I need to go someplace quiet. The money in my bank account is enough to last me a thousand lives, but I don’t need anything fancy. It’s just me and this truck and the road behind.

Any small place will suit me.

Any small town. As long as it’s far away.

First, I’m going to change my last name to my mother’s maiden name. No one, not even my biggest fans, knows that fact about me. I’ve managed to keep that part of my life private ever since she passed.

Well, I’m going to have to change a lot of things soon. Starting all over again will require some paperwork, I’m sure.

This time, I won’t hurt anyone. I won’t get the chance; I’ll make sure of that. My untamed aggression won’t affect anyone else ever, ever again.

I remember the punch. What I felt as my fist hit that man’s head. I didn’t feel shame. Or remorse. Or even shock. Instead, I felt a thrill. Elation. Joy.

Power.

And I saw in myself a glimpse of a man with his hands around my mother’s throat.

One day…

Well, today I was close to fulfilling his prophecy. The closest I’ve been to becoming the man who would strangle my mother. And I say to myself that it won’t ever get this close again.

I hit the open road. The Californian wilderness awaits me.

Goodbye, my old life.

Goodbye, Ravaged.

Everything is about to change.

2

ELSA

“You and I are going to get a drink,” Piper bluntly informs me with a deadly serious expression on her face as she pulls me by the arm into the one bar in all of East Springs.

“I don’t have time for a drink,” I reply, sighing. “I’m so tired. I’ve worked all day and my bed’s calling me.”

“You need to have one evening off in your life, Elsa,” my friend says with an eye roll as we stumble through the doorway of the bar. “One evening to simply let your lovely brown hair down and relax. You’ve probably forgotten the meaning of that word, girl.”

I try to protest how busy I am – how I’m needed at work early tomorrow morning – but it falls on deaf ears. Piper is simply refusing to listen to me.

“Sit down,” she says as she guides me to a corner booth in the bar, flickering her long, curly blonde hair back. I groan and sit. Yeah, I don’t really want to spend the rest of the evening in here getting drunk off my ass, but I’m also kinda grateful that I’m getting to spend time with my friend. Piper is right; I never give myself an evening off. Work always takes priority in my life over everything else, including my downtime. Maybe I should give myself this one evening, especially when Piper is being so damn insistent.

“What do you want to drink?” she asks me as she moves away from the table.

I stand. “I can pay…”

Piper glares at me. “My treat. I’m the one dragging you here against your will.” She’s right in that regard too. “What do you want to drink, Elsa?”

I shrug. “Wine would be nice.”

“Great. One bottle of East Springs cheapest wine coming straight up.”

With a frantic wave of her hand, she gestures me back to the booth. I sit and wait while she heads to the bar. I glance around the room. It’s pretty quiet, but it is a Wednesday night. There are the usual regulars. Men in work overalls nursing a beer. A few older women gossip over food. The typical crowd for a small town bar.

I spot my reflection in a mirror on the wall. My long brown hair’s tied back in a ponytail, as it always practically is. My eyes look like hollow sockets. I don’t even dare to look closely at my skin. I have been working way too much.