Page 1 of Vile Emotion
PROLOGUE
Thwack!
The smack is unexpected and I drop to the ground hard. Instead of trying to talk back to Edwin, I made a run for it… this time, I was going to get away.
This time, I wasn’t going to let anything stop me.
I don’t want to die. I can’t die like this.
Edwin’s large arm wraps around my ankle pulling me back and my already bruised face slams into the wooden flooring.
My breathing is shallow, too shallow and I should be alarmed but I can’t give up. Not right now.
I refuse to.
Fight, Juli, fight!
Without losing a breath, Edwin flips me and delivers a blow made for a grown man to take not me, his fiancée, the woman he promised to marry in a couple of days.
At first, I didn’t think he would ever hit me again. He hit me once when we were dating and now, I don’t know what it is. I made excuses about him being stressed out but ultimately, I became a punching bag.
I swallow, choking on my own blood, as Edwin stops for a moment. “I’m going to get a drink and when I come back, standup. Tell me to my face that you think I’m spending MY money too fast.”
I cough hard, not able to say anything else.
It’s not even his money, it’s mine.
It was my inheritance and he spent it all because I was too stupid to realize that I shouldn’t trust someone like him. I thought I found my forever home but instead, I found someone who hated me enough to want to punch me six feet under. I’m pretty sure he dislocated something, but I can’t feel anything as the adrenaline kicks in for me to run.
This time, I’ll run.
I don’t care, there’s no looking back. It’s now or never.
I choose me before all else.
I cannot do this for one more day. I won’t let this be me. Not today.
As soon as I hear Edwin’s feet retreat to the kitchen, I bear all the pain in my body and make a run for it grabbing the keys with trembling hands. Opening the door feels like it won’t happen. My hands won’t stop trembling and I hear Edwin’s footfall as he gets back to where he is most likely going to kill me if I don’t make a run for it. I shut my eyes and whisper to myself.
“Come on, Juliana, you can do this. You can. Do it for you.” I calm my hands long enough to yank the door open.
“Get back in here!” Edwin yells out, causing my spine to tingle in fear.
He screams his head off but I don’t care anymore. There’s no way that I’m going back to that house. He can have the rest of my stuff. My life and everything else but there’s nothing that will bring me back there.
I’d rather die.
I don’t look back, instead I jump in my car and drive off like a maniac.
I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care.
It begins to pour like crazy matching my feelings as the tears fall down my face. I hear a honk behind me and I see Edwin’s car tailing me. Instead of stopping for the red light, I run through it driving away from the maniac that lives to torture me. Suddenly, another car comes from the opposite end and while fighting for control on the turn, my car skids causing me to spin around.
Everything is in slow motion for me and I pray that I die rather than return to this life again. Letting go of the wheel is a mistake but I do it because I can’t control anything. I scream out in both pain and fear of death. A bigger car hits me and mine goes tumbling over making me feel like I’m floating in the air in the car.
There’s no retreat from this at all. I feel the impact of everything as my car tumbles flipping over and over, my seatbelt being the only thing that’s holding me in place yet hurting every part of my chest but the last tumble causes something to lodge into my neck. I hold my neck hoping that this is the last breath I take. I’m ready to die. I’m ready to face the devil. My eyes shut ready to meet my fate.
I didn’t end up meeting my fate, I woke up weeks later to handcuffs around my wrists in the hospital. Things happened so fast. My life was spinning faster than I was in that car. In the blink of an eye, I found myself behind bars for accidental killing. Involuntary Manslaughter.
