CHAPTER SIX
1050 Words
“I’m so tired of all these,” she said with her chest heaving heavily from the pent-up emotions. Sitting opposite her is Annabeth, who she had called upon just after Jake had dealt her another slap. He had left her a few minutes later and went off to have a drink with friends.
Annabeth arrived soon after and picked her up at her house. She didn’t know what else to say but hoped her friend would make up her mind on what she wanted. The domestic violence was becoming almost a daily affair and her molester doesn’t look like he’s losing the strength to dole out more to her anytime soon.
“Can I please stay here for the night” Callista requested after several minutes of saying nothing.
“Yes, you can. You can stay as long as you want. I don’t want you to get hurt more than you already have.”
“Thank you so much.” She was truly grateful to be somewhere far from Jake while she recollected her thoughts.
That night, Callista made up her mind to leave Jake as soon as she got enough money to rent a place. With her friend’s offer, she can spend some days or weeks waiting when she raises the money.
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“Where is she?” a voice roared at the door. “Open this door or I will break it down!”
There was no mistaking it. That’s Jake’s voice. Panicking, Callista looked for where to hide in the house while her friend went for the door.
“What can I do for you?” The words were barely out of her mouth when Jake pushed her out of the way and barged into the house.
Looking furtively around, he searched for Callista.
“She’s not here,” Annabeth said coming into the room. She was careful not to turn towards the kitchen where her friend had gone to seek refuge.
But Jake was having none of it. Like a mad dog, he lifted the furniture around the house and pranced around from the living room to the room.
Standing in the lobby, he wondered where she may be hiding. He was sure she was in the house. That’s the only place she’s likely to go to.
Frustrated, he stormed out of the house but not without leaving a word with Annabeth, “Tell her to come back to the house! I don’t want to wait for her.”
Making sure he was gone, Callista crept out of her hiding place and joined Annabeth in the living room. The fear that danced in her eyes was enough to warn her friend that she was tensed. “I don’t want to go back to him!” she screamed and tore at her hair.
Consoling her, Annabeth told her the best thing to do was go home after a few days and break up with Jake. Then park her bags and come stay with her. She agreed to do this.
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“I’ve been observing you lately… are you okay?” Grayson asked as Callista served his breakfast that morning.
“Yes, Sir. I am”
“Hmmmm. I don’t think so. Sorry if I’m invading your privacy. Just that I feel you have been moody in recent days. And what’s that dark circle under your right eye?”
“It’s nothing, Sir. I’ve only been having little sleep these days”
“If you say so.”
Despite all her efforts to keep her emotions under check, she hasn’t been so successful at it. All it takes is a closer observation and one can pick out the trauma and stress in her face and the hidden emotions in her eyes when she stares and her voice when she speaks.
“I will be going to Jake’s tomorrow to formally call things off with him and pick up my stuff. I will be back in three hours or less” she told her friend on returning from work that day. It was a decision she had taken and severally affirmed to herself and it began to make sense. She sees no reason why she should endure more pain in his hands.
The next day, after work, she headed straight to his house. As she opened the door, the sight she beheld kept her speechbound and when she finally found her voice, she let out a scream.
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It’s been five days since she left and it felt like his whole world was coming apart. Hitting the bottle, Jake knew he was far from redemption. “She’s my life!” she said sobbing after having yet another drunken day. This has been his routine since Callista left the house.
Today, he had more bottles than he usually does and passed out just after entering his house. That’s how she met him on opening the door.
“JAKE!” she called out as she rushed at him lying stretched out on the floor with vomit by his side.
“What happened to you?” she asked lifting him from the floor.
Opening his eyes, Jake stared into space, yet to understand what was going on around him. He kept turning his head from side to side, trying to fight off the intoxication.
“It’s okay. Just stay still. Let me help you to the bed” she was saying. Laying him on the bed, she fetched a bowl of water and a towel. Immersing the towel in water and wringing out excess moisture from it, she placed it across his forehead.
She stayed by his side all through the evening. While he slept, she went into the kitchen and fixed a quick meal. Done, she helped him sit on the bed while she fed him.
“I’m sorry,” he said while she was doing so. He was ashamed at how badly he had treated her and yet, she stayed by his side.
She didn’t say a word. She doesn’t know what to feel. Angry at the way he’s treated her? Or happy that he’s realizing his mistakes. This would be the first time he’s accepted his mistakes. Does it mean he’s on the path to change for good?
“I don’t just like this dilemma,” she thought.
- Writer
