The Fractured Wife

Chapter 1

It was a starless night, rain battering off the window, as Roma rushed around her bedroom throwing things into the bag on her bed. “Have I got everything? Oh, need to get the passports and money I’ve hidden, “ Roma thought to herself as she hurriedly went to the loose floorboard in her bedroom. She could hear her son Grant rushing about the bedroom he shared with his brother Conan throwing clothes in their bags. 

“Grant, hurry up and make sure you grab your brother’s favourite bear please,” Roma shouted to her son. 

“OK, Mum I’ve managed to get everything that you have asked me to get together. But why are we packing bags?” Grant asked curious standing in her bedroom doorway. 

“We are leaving your father tonight and never coming back,” Roma said as she stood as she could with all of her 5ft 3 height, looking her son’s face. “We have to be leaving in the next 5 minutes or we are never going to get another chance. Go and get your brother I’ll be right behind you,” Roma ordered her son before putting the precious things she had in her bag and zipping it. She sighed, then grabbed the bag before heading to the front door. 

As she got to their front door she turned to look around the room and to make sure she had everything she looked towards her sons. Grant had Conan on his back and looking at his mother with eyes wide as saucers. “Right as soon as we leave we don’t stop till we are sure we are not going to be found,” Roma said to Grant. Conan was just pleased to be on his brother’s back. 

With one more look round they left their home never looking back and sticking to the shadows in case Roma’s husband might see them. “Frank would be so angry when we goes home and finds his wife and sons are no longer there.” Roma thought to herself. She didn’t know where they were going but she was determined it wouldn’t be back to him. 

Roma was your typical girl when she was a teenager, funny, always stood up for others and everyone liked her. She never let her height get her down even when taller than her made fun of it. She always joined in. Her auburn hair was long and she always it tumbling in curls most of the time. Her blue/grey eyes shone wherever she went. Roma was confident and always laughing and pulling pranks on her friends. After she married Frank he took all of that she was and broke her till she was a shell of her former self. Roma now looked older than her 36 years. 

As she ran along the road with her sons she was nervous that they would be recognised by one of their neighbours or one of Frank’s friends. The rain whipped around them as they fled into the night. “Grant how are you both doing?,” Roma asked over her shoulder to her older son. “We’re OK mum, Conan thinks it’s a game but he’s a trooper,” Grant replied to his mum. 

“I am so lucky to have my boys, I should’ve protected them and left before now,” Roma thought as a pang of guilt hit her heart. Grant was her rock and he was wiser than his 16 years of age. He got his looks from his father but had his mother’s blue/grey eyes. He had thick and messy light brown hair which never looked tidy. He already towered over his mother and was lean in his physique, He got his nose and mouth from his father but he was more like his mother with his personality. He was Conan’s hero as he always made the time for his younger brother. 

Conan was the opposite of Grant in looks. He looked like his mother with his father’s brown eyes and blonde hair. He got his nose and mouth from his mother. He was quieter than your average 6-year-old but was always making Roma and his brother laugh but hid when he heard his father was home. He loved his big brother and always ran to Grant when they were home playing soldiers or playing hide and seek in the garden. Conan admired his brother and always knew that Grant would protect him whenever their father was home. Grant was Conan’s hero and he said so all the time to anyone that wanted to hear it or not. 

“Mum we need to find somewhere to stay as Conan is struggling to keep a hold of his hands (that were around his neck), there is a motel just a little bit further on this road. Can we stop there please?”, Grant pleaded with his mother. 

“OK, we will stop there for tonight but I need you two to keep quiet while I get a room,” Roma said wearily to Grant. “ We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves,” Roma added quietly. 

They continued running till the motel came into sight. They breathed a sigh of relief as they saw it and ran the rest of the way. Once they went to the reception desk a podgy man was reading a newspaper and didn’t look up from the article he was reading.

“Can we get a room please for tonight?” Roma asked patiently as the man looked up from his paper and noticed the 2 boys behind the woman in front of him.

“Right we have rooms available and it’s $40 for a night plus $10 deposit. Breakfast is not included,” sounding bored as he filled out the form for Roma to sign. 

“Thank you very much,” as Roma signed a fake name just in case and pulled out the required amount from her little stash of cash she had brought with her. 

“Last door on the right along that hall there,” the man behind the desk not looking up from the newspaper, but held the room key out to her.

As Roma took the room key and hurriedly dragged her sons to the room making sure no one saw them come in. Once in their room, she breathed out a sigh of relief with her back to the door. She saw Grant flip a laughing Conan onto the bed and stretch his tired back and arm muscles. Roma looked at her boys and felt her eyes tearing up she quickly left her place at the door after making sure it was locked. “I’ll be back in a minute,” Roma turned her back on her boys and headed for the bathroom as she didn’t want to break down in front of her boys. “What am I going to do now? I don’t know anyone here, I wish I had my sister here as she would know what to do now,” Roma wondered as the loneliness circled her as she let the tears fall.