Chapter 1: The Last Escape
1072 Words
~ ELISE POV ~
Without any hesitation, I threw my engagement ring into the trash bin located behind our apartment building and felt absolutely nothing.
Perhaps that was the issue. Perhaps I should have felt something, either anger or joy or even sighs, but there was only a void where my heart used to be. Three years with Marcus had slowly taken away my inner essence and left me all hollow, a mere imitation of a human being, a non-feeling noisy inside.
The sound of metal echoed as the ring made its way to the ground. Two carats, platinum band, bought on credit that he never said anything about until the bills came in my name. Just like everything else.
"Elise, you are exaggerating."
The sound of his voice was still echoing in my mind. It would probably be there for a long time, an inseparable ghost I could not get rid of no matter how many dumpsters I threw the jewelry into.
Then, my phone started vibrating. Ava, it was Ava of course. She had this natural ability to sense when I was either doing something really stupid or really daring, and she would never be quite sure which one it was.
“Please tell me you did not go back inside,” she said the moment I picked up the call.
“I’m next to a dumpster.”
“That could be either really good or really bad.”
“The ring is in it.”
Silence. Then, “Oh, thank God. I was so scared that I’d have to come over there and kill him myself.”
I almost smiled. Almost. “You are too small to dispose of a body.”
“I’m a fighter. I will manage.” Then there was a pause, and I could hear her, I guess, moving in her small kitchen, probably pacing like she always did when she was anxious. “Which place are you going to stay at? I hope it's not your mom's.”
"I’m not staying anywhere.” The response slipped out of my mouth before I had a chance to completely chew it over, but the moment they were spoken, I realized that they were indeed true. “I am leaving. This very night.”
“Where will you go?”
“Boston. My job. Everything.”
A second pause, this time longer. “Elise…”
“Don’t.” I shut my eyes, laid my palm on the icy brick wall. “Don’t say I am running away. I am aware of it. That’s the whole point.”
“I was not going to put it that way.” Her tone became tender, the way it happened only when she was frightened for me. “I was going to inquire whether you had a plan or not.”
Do I? I’d quit my soul crushing job at the travel agency three hours ago, I had simply walked out of the shift mid-way after my boss had spent twenty minutes shouting at me for a complaint from the client that had not even been my fault. I had gone home, taken one suitcase, and found Marcus in our bed with his phone in one hand, sending texts to someone named 'Babe' with a peach emoji next to her name.
He hadn’t even shown remorse. Just seemed irritated that I was causing a fuss.
“You’re too dramatic,” he had remarked, as though I was the one to blame. Like I had always been the one to blame.
“I have booked a cabin,” I said to Ava. “In Aspen. One of those expensive Christmas rentals that I used to organize for clients but could never afford.”
“You cannot afford it this time either.”
“I maxed out the one credit card that’s actually mine.” My chuckle seemed fragile even to my own ears. “Thought that if I were to slack on my life then a pretty place should be the one.”
“You are not ruining your life. You are saving it.”
I wanted to be convinced by her. I wanted to be fearless rather than scared, powerful rather than broken. But the only thing I was feeling was exhaustion. Really deep exhaustion.
“I have the cabin on my name for two weeks,” I said. “Christmas till New Year. Just me, a fireplace and no one knowing my name at all.”
“That sounds…”
“Pathetic?”
“I was going to say lonely.”
“Good. I want to be lonely. I have been living with someone for three years and felt lonelier than ever before.” My throat became tight. “At least if I choose to be alone nobody will notice me and it won't hurt as much.”
Ava was silent for such a long time that I began to think the call had disconnected. Then, “Promise me something.”
“What?”
“Promise me that you are not just running away. Promise me you are running toward something.”
I turned my attention to the apartment block, to the window that used to belong to us, where the curtains were already drawn even though it was hardly evening. Marcus is probably in there right now, texting Peach Emoji, whining about his crazy ex who couldn't take a joke.
"I can't say for sure what I'm running towards," I confessed. "But I am sure that I cannot remain here."
"Then leave." Her voice got more powerful, and it was fierce and sure like I hadn't felt in a long time. "Just get in your car, drive, and do not even think about looking back."
That was quite literally what I did.
I packed my bag into the trunk of my old Honda, put the address of the cabin in my phone, and directed myself to the west. The city lights were behind me now, and instead, there was darkness and a winding highway splitting it. The steering wheel was shaking under my hands. My heart was pained. Still, I just kept driving.
It was a trip from Boston to Aspen. Twenty-six hours if I did not stop at places other than gas stations.
I was equipped with a full gas tank, a heart that was nothing but a mess, and absolutely nothing to lose.
The mountains were beckoning
- Writer
