AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterOne
DAISY
The night closes around me and I curse under my breath. Why the hell do I keep staying at work so late that I’m always coming home well into the evening. After the streets have become dark and crowded with seedy characters on their way out to whatever twisted kink they’re looking for.
My apartment isn’t in the best part of town. It’s all I can afford since my ex destroyed me. Emotionally and financially. That man made an absolute mess of my life. I barely got out with my skin intact. Literally. I ran when he threatened my life.
He’s not a nice man. Not in the least.
But I did get out. And he got arrested for violating the protection order over and over again. Until I finally left my town and moved here.
Wildwood, Colorado is a nice place and I wanted to move there but it was just too small. I felt like I couldn’t hide. So I picked the next town over. Golden Ridge, Colorado is beautiful but it’s much busier and in some places much seedier than the sweet town of Wildwood.
But tonight it feels like the streets are deserted and there’s something out there watching me. I’ve felt it every night for the past two weeks. I don’t feel safe on my own anymore.
My breath hitches when someone laughs off to my right. I spin and gasp when there’s a movement off to my left. My heart constricts and I stop, struggling to make myself take a deep breath and calm down.
He’s not here. He’s not following me. I’m safe. There’s no reason to think that he found me.
It’s like a litany in my head and I want to believe it.
But when I walk into my building and go upstairs, I realize that I’m wrong. My steps slow when I see that my door is open.
“Maybe it’s just my super checking out a flood in my apartment? Maybe the heat’s off in the building and he’s just checking for damage?”
None of that is real though. It’s all stupid thoughts racing through my scrambling mind. All stupid thoughts that mean nothing. Because I know.
I slip around my open door and into the open living room, gasping, my hand coming up to my throat as my eyes dart all over the disaster that is my home. The disaster that is my life and always will be. Until the day he dies or I do and he finally has to leave me alone.
The couch is upended like a giant tossed it over and there are shreds of fabric just ripped right off of it. Like it’s been clawed by a very big, overzealous cat.
There’s red paint all over the walls, dripping down to my soft beige carpet like blood splashed all over a crime scene. Which this is.
Tears well in my eyes when I realize that every damn thing I own is probably trashed.
Moving into the room further, I absently close the door, not even thinking about the fact that the man might still be here. All that matters is the gut-wrenching horror of what my home looks like. And the fact that it’s not my sanctuary anymore. I cannot come home and feel safe within these walls.
The only place that I still feel remotely safe is my work.
I pack a quick bag and run out the door not even stopping to call the police. What can they really do for me? After all, I know what my ex has managed to get away with over the years. This is just par for the course for him.
As soon as I get to the sidewalk, I realize that I can’t bear to walk back to the bus stop. No way, no how.
I hide in the doorway and call for a car, biting my lip and watching the dark shadows all around me. Every movement makes my skin crawl, my breath rasp out in puffs.
When he finally pulls up in front of the building, I jump in that car and holler, “229 Hollister Road!” Like I’m some damn woman in a suspense-filled thriller with a car chase and dramatic ending.
I walk up to the office building and knock on the door, waving at the guard inside. He gives me a quizzical look and opens the door. “Miss Stephens! What can I do for you? Did you forget something?”
He eyes my bag with a raised eyebrow. I know he realizes that something is up but he just smiles and nods at me when I tell him that I’m gonna go up and get some work done.
“Sure. You just let me know if you need anything.” My eyes dart to look out the huge windows and doors on the front of the office building. The dark is out there, closing in on me no matter what I do. It won’t go away. It’s waiting with bated breath for me to step outside, fade into it and get lost. It’s creeping up to the building, eyeing my small figure like a dog eyes a steak.
I shake myself and smile slightly at the guard. “I’ll be alright. I just need to make sure that I get those papers taken care of for Mr. McKnight.”
I step inside and try not to look back, not to run to the elevators.
Walk with your head up, sister. Don’t let anyone know that you’re scared. That you’re a danger to yourself and anyone around you, thanks to Hank.
