Broken Piece

Better Piece

She couldn't believe he had done this to her.

She couldn't believe it even as the night time animals appeared with their scuttles over the roof and hoots and she couldn't believe it when the early morning birds started their search for food. She started to believe it when the first ray of sunlight hit the tiny window next to the 'door' and started to creep across the floor, almost to where she sat shivering on the musty mat on the floor.

He appeared earlier then she thought he would and she was convinced. Davison was completely mad.

His mom leaving him had done something too him, completely shattered him, and she was paying for it. It was obvious, in every other way Davison was fine, healthy, emotionally stable. He was successful at his job and he had a solid group of good friends. He wasn't charming, but he was well spoken and polite, he could clearly focus on his job and had a healthy sense of humor. But it was just something about her that made him lose it. And she knew it pointed back to their mother. Maybe he even thought nothing was wrong with him...maybe he thought he was handling his trauma the right way.

Realizing this made her want to hate him because she didn't deserve this, but instead she was overcome with an excessive amount of pity. It made her think of her mother and that made her sad.

She didn't move from her spot on the floor when he pushed open the shack's door. He had a backpack on his back which reminded her of the duffle bag she had left sitting just outside the shack. She knew it was filled with her clothing.

"Why are you doing this, Davison?" She asked tiredly. "Can you just give me an answer for once?" His blonde hair was a mess on his head and he looked just as 'unstable' as she felt he was. He didn't answer right away and instead headed towards the little table in the corner of the room and began to unload items, mostly packaged food. "Why do you hate me so much?"

"How could I not?" He answered and turned to face her like he had been waiting for her to ask. "As for your other question, why are you here? Because I realized you were being spoiled. I was giving you too much and you were repaying me by going behind my back with that butcher!"

"You were spoiling me?" Callie asked in utter disbelief. "Going behind your back with Aiken?"

"Oh, is that his name?" He rolled his eyes.

Callie ignored that. "You're so confusing... We both know you just want torture me, Davison. Why do you even care if I'm friends with Aiken?"

"Because you're my wife and no one is going to take you away from me." He said in such a blasé manner she was muted. "You're not going anywhere, Callie."

Callie let out a shaky breath. A part of her seeming to crack, open or apart, she didn't know. "So, you're just going to keep me out here as your wife in shack?" She shouted standing to her feet. "Dad never did this to your mom...yeah I know what it was you were trying to do. Revenge, right?" She threw her arms up in the air. "Mom wouldn't want this." She ignored his dark look. What did she have to lose? She was already facing an existence trapped here in these woods. "Mom wanted you to come live with us! Mom talked only praising words of you, but she was wrong! You're none of those great things she said, you're just a sad little boy who's angry at his mother for leaving him!" She screamed like she had never screamed at anyone before. "But she loved you, she loved you!"

"No!" He roared. "She loved you!" He pointed his finger at her like a weapon. "She left me for you! She knew what type of man he was, and she left me with him anyway! Why? Because of her precious Callie? Even when her marriage with your father fell apart, she still wouldn't come back. Why? Because of you!" He was panting, chest heaving. "What's so special about Callie? That's what I wanted to know, that's what I wanted to understand! I can't have my mother back. I can't ask her these questions! But I got what she loved most, because that's how I thought I would understand. You..." He shook his head an odd smile tugging at his lips. "I think I see it, how someone could become so obsessed with you that they abandon their own child like trash. You're beautiful, only you act coy about it though. Insecure, that's how you act... Come on, you even married me. Why? Because you wanted to help your father?" He scoffed. "No, you wanted the benefits of it. Though you put on a good act. Callie, the selfless, the patient, the homemaker, the loyal, but that's all an act, isn't it!" He demanded to know.

Callie didn't know how someone got so much hate in them. She didn't think she could handle so much hate in her. She swallowed hard as she felt a tear race down her face.

"She loved you, Davison." That was the one thing she could think of to say. "She loved you and I'm sorry you didn't know that." She could see the moment he believed her and understand she was sincere.

He sucked in a sharp breath and one tear fell. He snarled at her hatefully after seeming to gather himself, seeming not to want to hear what she was saying, before he fled the shack.

(BP)

She thinks he meant to take the backpack with him when he left, but she supposed he wasn't thinking about it in the emotional state he left in. She finds keys in the side pocket she discovers does fit the ankle cuff.

She releases herself with the keys before searching the bag for more things. He was right, she couldn't go out into those woods and expect to find herself out of them without any supplies. There's a flash light which she takes out but puts the food he had brought and taken out back into the bag. It was only enough food to last two days tops. She also found a pair of shoes (flats) that were maybe a size to big for her. Seeing those made her glance at his shoes he had given her the day before and bite her lip.

She eyed the thick rope hanging on a rusted nail near the 'door' but decided she wouldn't need it or want the extra weight it would bring. Sliding the backpack on, Callie exited the shack and headed in the direction she thought was the right way.

All of the trees looked the same to her, she was lost as soon as she started walking. She had to escape, she had to but distance between herself and Davison. She didn't know how to handle him anymore, if she ever did. She had put up with a lot when it came to their 'marriage' and she didn't even know why. Maybe it was her nature, after growing up watching her mom being treated terribly, maybe she just had a high tolerance for what Davison was doing. Maybe it was because she wanted her marriage to work. Or maybe because she did want to know Davison, her mother's son. Even maybe in a tiny little way she felt she owed it to Davison to stick with him and to make sure he was fine.

She understood where he was coming from in a way, she had 'taken' his mother away from him though obviously it wasn't done maliciously. But most of all, she felt as if maybe she believed her mother was wrong for leaving him and choosing her over him, and she was simply attempting to square the debt or right the wrong.

She didn't know. Maybe she was just afraid and that's all it boiled down to, her being a coward.

She kept walking though, even though she was completely lost.

"Callie!" She came to a complete stop when she heard his voice bouncing off the trees. He had caught up with her already? She must not have gotten as far as she thought. "It's f*****g dangerous out here, you dumbass!" He sounded like he was getting closer. "Don't move, I'm coming to you!"

Callie didn't stop, instead she started to jog away from his voice. She didn't' want to return to the shack or any other small, dark places he wanted to force her into. "No...no..." she chanted as she continued forward.

"Damn it, Callie!"

She could hear him behind her and she knew there was no way she would outrun him. So, she hid. She found a thick tree surrounded by skinny plants with bushy leaves and crouched down behind them. A minute later Davison appeared, and she watched him thru the gaps in the leaves stop and turn into a full circle. He was breathing heavy and gripping the back of his neck hard.

He remained for quite a few seconds as he seemed to be focused on the ground. Callie feared he would find her. But, he turned the opposite way she was hiding and started forward in a jog. She watched him until he disappeared, only he shouldn't have disappeared so suddenly.

Callie blinked in shock and a gasp left her. One minute he was there, the next he wasn't.

Callie bolted to her feet and pushed the leaves that hid her aside as she raced forward. She had to violently stop herself, by making herself fall in order to avoid falling into the same hole Davison had apparently tumbled into.

It hurt her shoulder pretty bad but she ignored the pain and peered over the edge of the hole, afraid of what she might see. She breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed Davison had seemed to miraculously miss the fatal looking spikes at the bottom as he landed closer to the side. She was also happy when she heard him moan in pain and seen him slowly sit up.

"Are you alright?" She called down. His head snapped up to look at her before his eyes moved to look around him.

"s**t!" He cursed as he struggled to get onto his feet. He looked unharmed besides a few scratches on his face. He also looked pissed. "An illegal f*****g pit trap!"

"H-How do I help you out?" She called down. It was obvious he wouldn't be able to climb out on his own.

She frowned when he laughed. "Don't act with me, Callie!" He yelled up at her. "Go ahead and run, leave me here to rot! I know that's who you are!"

Callie let out a shaky annoyed breath. "You apparently don't know me at all, Davison! Can you just stop being difficult for once and tell me how I can help you out!"

"Why would you do that?" He scoffed. "This is your chance at revenge. To get me back for all of the horrible s**t I've done to you! Are you going to torture me with false hope before you leave me here?"

"I think you have me confused with yourself!" She said as she shook her head at him. She began to look around for something to use, but found nothing but twigs, sticks, rocks, and soggy leaves. She shrugged off the backpack and looked through it, but there was nothing that could help her get a grown man out of a hole. An image of the rope hanging on the wall of the shack flashed through her mind.

"What are you doing?" He asked when she tossed one of the water bottles that had been in the backpack down to him.

"I'll be back!" She promised as she shrugged the backpack back on. "I promise. I'm not going to leave you here, Davison!"

He didn't say anything, and she wasn't sure what that meant. But it would be dark soon, so she had to hurry. She used strips of the extra shirt she had brought along (she was still in the jacket Davison had given her) to mark her path so she could find her way back to him.

She had no idea if she was heading in the right direction back to the shack, but she prayed she was.

(BP)

She made it to the shack an hour maybe two later, and her body was drenched with sweat. She couldn't believe how happy she was to see the slanted roof of the shack over a couple bushes. She stumbled inside of it and grabbed the rope from the wall. She wanted to take a rest, her tired aching body demanded it, but she had to get back to Davison.

She found herself back at the hole quicker because of the markers she had left behind.

"Are you alright?" She asked as she looked down the hole at Davison. He looked up sharply again, a small frown on his face. "Yeah, I'm back." She read his expression. "I told you so." He slowly rose to his feet again and just stared at her. Callie ignored him for the most part and looked around for something to tie the rope to, but most of the trees were too far away. Her insides sank. "None of the trees are close enough." She said a loud. "I don't know if I can hold your weight..." She guessed she would have to try.

She tossed the one end of the rope down and planted her feet into the grounded as firmly as she could. "Do you think you can climb up?"

"You won't be able to hold my weight." He spoke for the first time since her return. She didn't appreciate his pessimism.

"We have to try, or do you want to stay down there until I can go find help? That could be days."

"Just use your core," he said, voice subdued, "the last thing we need is for both of us to end up down here."

She felt the tug on the other side of the rope and readied herself. In seconds her arms were screaming and her feet sliding. She struggled against the pull with all her strength and then some. She couldn't hear anything over her own breathing and grunts of pain.

After what seemed like forever, she saw Davison's hand reach out of the hole and grip the earth on the outside. When his other hand joined that one, Callie quickly moved forward and helped get above ground.

They both collapsed on the ground next to each other, their loud breathing seemed like the only noise in the woods.

Callie slowly opened her eyes to stare at the quickly darkening sky above them thru the trees as she breathed through her mouth, each breath like a cut. She had done it.

"Why?" She didn't turn to look at Davison when he spoke, just gazed at him out of the corner of her eye. He wasn't on his back like her, but on his side. Callie didn't answer, because she knew he already knew the answer.

(BP)

They didn't stop at the shack, though Callie had thought it would have been a good idea. Davison had wanted to keep going, back to the main house. She was too tired to argue.

She followed behind him, unsure how she was putting one foot before the other in her exhaustion. Davison navigated the woods in the dark easily, especially once they had reached the shack.

"Watch out fo-"

Callie collapsed, tripping over lose stones and not having the energy in her to stop her fall. She landed in liquid cold, a tiny creek. She instantly began to shiver.

"Are you alright?" She froze, even her shivering stopped. She thought that was the first time Davison had ever asked her that question. She felt his arm wrap around her waist and help her back onto her feet. "Its not that much further." He said quietly as he began to help her navigate. If he noticed how stiff she was, he didn't comment on it.

As he had promised, they saw the lights of the house soon after.

The clambered up the stairs and onto the porch and Davison let them in, all without releasing her. The home seemed nice enough, but Callie didn't have the energy for putting too much effort into noticing. He led her to a pale brown couch and sat her there. He started to unzip the jacket but she quickly reached up to stop him.

He let go of her and rubbed his face. "You're wet... I'll bring you something else."

He left and returned with man's sweat shirt and a woman's pair of leggings. "There's a bathroom over there," he nodded to a door in the hall. "I'm going to make you some tea to warm you up." Unlike before in the woods, now he wasn't staring, he wouldn't even look at her. "We leave for home in the morning."

And leave for home the next morning they did.

(BP)

She glanced back at Davison after they had walked through the doors of the condo, he had been eerily quiet the whole way. He shut the door behind him and literally jumped when he turned back around to see her looking at him.

That almost made her want to laugh. "Are you sure you're alright?" She asked. Besides a tiny limp he seemed fine and his face scratches were bandaged just as the blisters on her hands were.

He looked down and shook his head.