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I leave my phone and watch on the nightstand. No electronics. Nothing he can try to find me with. I call a taxi from the house phone and wait by the front door.
When the taxi comes, I sprint out house and throw my bag into the backseat. Then, I turn around and flip the house off with both fingers.
“Fuck you!” I scream at the top of my lungs.
“Ma’am, are you okay?” The driver turns to me once I get in. He pales at the sight of my face. His mouth starts to open to say something, but I merely shake my head. I can see his eyes roam over all the bruising and cuts on my face. The man turns back around without saying another word and he starts to pull out of the driveway, getting me the fuck out of here. He doesn’t say I have the taxi take me to the coffee shop closest to the bus station. After I pay him, I hurry and buy myself a few different tickets.
All paid for in cash. All under the name Zoey Krause.
Nicole is no more. She disappeared the minute she said yes to marrying Mitch. She was gone the first time he laid a hand on her. She no longer existed when he forced himself on her. Mitch abused Nicole. He took away her soul, her life, her reason for living. Nicole isn’t here anymore.
Say hello to Zoey, fucker.
Chapter 1
Zoey
I’ve always wantedto take a road trip. Visit other states, sightsee. Enjoy the wonderful places this country has to offer. But not really like this.
Honestly, I’ve been on so many buses, and the seats don’t get any more comfortable with time. I don’t even know how many I’ve taken at this point. But all this is necessary. I have to do whatever I can to throw Mitch off of any lead he may follow to find me. That’sifhe even comes looking for me.
I’ve been traveling by bus out west for two days now. Taking a bus from New York out to Seattle is no joke. Thankfully, no one has mentioned my face and the bruises. After everything, I just want to be left alone.
Sitting back in my seat, I stare out the window since there’s little else for me to do. Life of a girl without her phone, I guess. When I get to Seattle, I’ll buy myself a cheap one. Honestly, I could use some music right about now.
We passed a sign a while back letting us know we’re in Wyoming and my heartrate picked up. The farther I get away from Mitch the better I feel.
I’m getting closer to my destination. Getting closer to starting my new life.
There’s no one that I’ll miss except my sister, Lisa. She’s my best friend. She’s someone that I can run to when things get bad. I confided in her so many times, and she always wished she could do something to change what was happening to me. She promised that at some point she would be able to break me out of my hell. But I just couldn’t wait for her help.
My parents are the opposite end of the spectrum. They have basically written me off as their daughter. They’re awful people. I don’t even know how I’m related to them. When your daughter comes to you and tells you that her fiancé is an abusive asshole, you don’t tell her to just ‘deal with it’. Yup. That’s what they told me to do. I tried to get them to help me leave him, but they wouldn’t hear any of it.
They saw dollar signs when I got engaged and Mitch took over his family’s business. Something about merging the two into a superpower business or some bullshit like that. I didn’t want any part to that world.
I remember a time I went to my mom and told her that Mitch was getting rough with me. This woman had the audacity to tell me that it was probably just because Mitch had a long day at work. Yes, it was okay to use me as a punching bag because he had a bad day. Fuck. That.
I’m no one’s punching bag. Not anymore.
I used to have dreams of my own. Aspirations of my own. Instead, I was told I couldn’t work and that I needed to stay home for the good of the household image. Again, fuck that.
I couldn’t give less of a shit about contacting my parents. They didn’t care for my wellbeing, and I don’t care if they even break a sweat worrying about me. I do care about my sister, and I wish I could’ve told her where I was going so she didn’t have to worry. But I just can’t. I can’t risk Mitch trying to pull that information from her.
Then there’s trying to find a job that I can survive on. I’ve got no clue what I’m going to do. But I’ll figure it out along the way. As long as I’m away from Mitch, I can do anything.
While the bus is passing through a little town deeper into Wyoming, a loud cranking sound startles me out of my thoughts. We slowly come to a stop on the side of the road. My head snaps up, and my eyes wander around the bus meeting the looks of the other passengers. My back straightens, and I listen in on the commotion from the other people wondering what is going on. The bus driver throws his hands up in the air as a sign of frustration. He shakes his head as he gets off with another worker to see what they can do to get the bus moving.
We’re sitting on the bus for about thirty minutes when the driver comes back on and gets our attention. His face says it all. His brows are furrowed, and his lips are in a thin line. I’m going to take a stab at it and say this isn’t his ‘I figured it out and the bus will be moving shortly’ look.
“Excuse me, if I can have everyone look up this way and quiet down, please,” he says over the bus intercom, letting out a deep sigh. “There’s no need to panic. The bus broke down, and unfortunately, it’s not something we can fix right here, right now. But we can tell you that we have another bus on the way.”
Of course, people lose their minds. Tell people not to panic, and people will panic.
“Right here is the town of Weston, but there’s no bus depot from this location. So, there’s no other way to get a bus other than to wait. I don’t really have an idea of how long that’ll take, either. So, we can get off the bus, but everyone needs to stay close. We hope to be back on the road soon.” The driver turns back to the front, and that’s when hands start flying up in the air. People start screaming obscenities at the driver as if it were his fault the bus broke down. Some people are grabbing their items and walking off the bus to avoid the drama.
I don’t stick around for the showdown between pissed off passengers and that poor bus driver, either.
Sometimes things happen in life that you just don’t expect, and I definitely didn’t expect the bus to break down in some remote town in the middle of buttfuck nowhere. Let’s face it; I didn’t expect to be running away, without a phone, and with a new name. But here we are.