Damien's runaway bride

The escape

{One Week Later}

“f**k, f**k, f**k”.

“Why am I doing this”, Esme thought to herself as she closed the door to the house quietly.

Mother is probably going to end my life by the time she notices I’m gone, but I have to do this, cause if I don’t, I am going to be trapped in a hellhole called marriage for life.

Running in the street at night made her extra vigilant. She ran until She got to the bus stop and then sat down on the bench to regain her breath while waiting for the bus going to the city.

While she was waiting, she opened the small duffle bag she had packed some of her stuff into, not wanting to pack heavy as it might slow her down.

She brought out her favorite coat given to her by her late father when she was fourteen, and wore it to protect herself against the blistering cold, even though it was old it still fit like a tight spandex.

She hugged her bag tightly, reminiscing about the day her father brought the coat home, as it was her 14th birthday present.

He had bought it after she had said over dinner that it was what she wanted as a present for her birthday.

The bus headlights shone towards her, indicating that it was coming closer to the bus stop, she stood up waiting for it to come to a halt.

Then she entered, paying the bus fee then walking to the backseat to take a seat at one of the empty window seats.

Her wedding was to be in the next two days and today at noon she was supposed to go get her wedding dress. She had done the fitting of the dress two weeks ago.

Her husband-to-be Damien Radcliffe, a well known figure in her town, he owned probably almost all the casinos in the county as he was rumored to be a very brute and cruel person.

This was not the type of married life she envisioned or wanted for herself.

She has always wanted to fall in love with the man of her dreams, not getting married through an arranged marriage and so far so good she knew so little about Damien Radcliffe.

And from her previous encounter with him during their engagement party, she had already concluded that he was not the man of her dreams or who she would love to spend the rest of her life with.

She wore the hood of her coat over her head to avoid being seen or noticed by people who either knew her or Damien, as he had his little spies and thugs all over town. While she was lost in her thoughts, she leaned against the window and brought out her watch to check the time and it was 1:48am, then she switched off her phone, then she decided to take a nap and she dozed off.

[Meanwhile, back at the manor...]

Her mother, Miranda, woke up to the sun rays peeking through the curtains, almost blinding her.

She got up and sat on the edge of the bed stretching and yawning, her toes wriggling as both actions took place simultaneously.

She heard a soft knock on the door, she knew it was the maid that had come to wake her up and inform her that her morning coffee was ready. It was their daily morning routine.

She opened the door to the maid holding a steaming cup of coffee.

The maid whose name was Garcia, greeted her quietly, reminding her about her plans of going to check on and collect Esme’s wedding dress with Esme.

“Has she woken up yet”, she asked Garcia. “No ma’am, she hasn’t come out of her room yet”, Garcia quietly replied.

She looked back towards the clock on the wall and checked the time, it was 7:46am.

“She must be tired, let her rest a bit but if she hasn’t come out of her room in the next 30 minutes, you go and wake her up and remind her of our plans today”.

“Ok ma’am, your breakfast will soon be ready in about fifteen minutes”.

“Thank you Garcia, I will head down soon, you may leave now”, she said as she closed the door, her attention shifting to her coffee. She took a sip as she needed the coffee to be able handle the day’s activities without slumping or fainting.

After finishing her coffee, she went to the bathroom to freshen herself up for the day and changed into new clothes that she had planned for the day.

As she headed towards the dining table, went to Esme’s room to check up on her to know if she was ready for the day.

Knocking on her door she called out Esme’s name, and opened the door. “Esme, I hope you are taking a shower”, she called out when she saw the empty bed.

She walked towards the en-suite bathroom in her daughter's room and knocked, expecting her daughter’s usual whining for her to leave the room.

“Esme are you there?, are you okay?, is everything alright with you in there?, she said with worry as there was no reply from the bathroom, panic setting in, she opened the door to the bathroom forcefully, expecting the worst sight of her daughter on the floor with blood oozing from her head from a fall.

She’s not in here, where could that girl be at now, she thought to herself, as she left the room not bothering to close the door.

She walked towards the dining table, calling out the maids name.

“Garcia, have you seen Esme today”?.

“No ma’am, I thought she was still in her room”, she said.

Looking at the worried expression on her madam’s face she asked “is there something wrong ma’am, is she not in her room”?

“No, she's not in her room, could you please look for her, " she said, sitting down to pick up a piece of the toasted bread on the plate in front of her.

“Maybe shes having cold feet and went to hide, you know I wouldn’t put it past her”, she said nonchalantly as she bit into a piece she had cut out from the bread.

“Okay ma’am”, Garcia said as she called out Esme’s name, while walking towards the rooms.

Ten minutes later, Garcia came to the dining table, stopping in front of Miranda with her hands on her knees as she struggled to catch her breath.

“Ma’am, ma’am, I’ve searched the whole house and I didn’t see her, maybe she went to Miki’s place”.

“That’s the only place I know she usually goes to if she’s not at home”, Garcia said.

Miranda picked up her phone to call Miki to ask if she was at her place. After a few seconds of the other line ringing, Miki picked up the call.

“Hello Mrs Miranda, how are you doing today?”.

“I am fine, thank you miki, are you at home right now?”

“Yes I am, is there any problem Mrs Miranda you sound worried about something.

“Yes, I just wanted to know if maybe Esme was with you”.

“No, she's not here, I haven’t seen her throughout today, I think the last time we saw each other was four days ago”.

“When was the last time you guys spoke to each other on the phone”, Miranda asked.

“Emmm, two days ago maybe, but she didn’t pick up my calls when I called her yesterday, so I thought she was busy with the wedding plans”.

“Okay thank you Miki, take care” Miranda said hanging up the call.

“f**k where could this girl be”, She said racking her hands through her head.

“f**k, f**k, f**k me, Damien must not hear about this, cause only God knows how his reaction will be and I am not ready to face him yet”, she said to herself.