Chapter 5
869 Words
I didn’t wait. Not for the end of the dinner, not for another conversation, not for anything. The moment I could leave without drawing attention, I did. Quietly. Carefully. Exactly the way they would never expect me to.
The hallway was empty when I slipped out of the dining room, the noise behind me fading with every step I took. Laughter, glasses, voices—it all blurred into something distant. Unimportant. Like it belonged to a life I was already stepping out of.
I didn’t rush. That was the key. Rushing meant panic, and panic meant mistakes. I walked like I had somewhere to be, like everything was normal, like I wasn’t about to disappear from my own life.
The stairs creaked slightly beneath my weight as I climbed them, but no one called out. No one followed. Of course they didn’t. Why would they? To them, I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Still theirs. Still under control. Still the girl who would walk down that aisle tomorrow and hand everything over without question.
I reached my room and closed the door behind me. This time, I didn’t lean against it. I didn’t need to. There was no hesitation left in me now. Only clarity.
My bag sat exactly where I had left it, packed and waiting. Ready. Just like me.
I crossed the room, grabbed it without a second thought, and slung it over my shoulder. The weight grounded me, pulled me fully into the moment. This was real. This was happening.
My eyes moved slowly around the room. The bed. The wardrobe. The mirror. Everything that had once felt like mine.
It didn’t anymore.
It hadn’t for a long time.
I just hadn’t realised it until now.
I turned away first. I wasn’t going to stand there pretending I would miss it, because I wouldn’t. Not this place. Not the people in it. Not the version of me who had stayed here and accepted it.
I walked over to the bedside table and picked up my phone. For a second, I stared at it. At the screen. At everything it held. Messages. Photos. A way for them to reach me. Track me. Control me.
My grip tightened slightly.
Then I walked over to the bin and dropped it in.
Just like that.
No hesitation. No second thoughts.
If Daniel thought he could reach me, he was wrong. If Amelia thought she could watch me fall, she was wrong. If my father thought he could control what happened next, he was wrong.
All of them were.
I picked up my bag again and headed for the door. This time, I paused, my hand resting on the handle. Not because I was unsure, but because I understood what it meant.
The moment I walked out, there was no going back. No fixing it. No pretending. No second chances.
For them.
Or for me.
I opened the door.
The hallway stretched out in front of me, quiet and empty, like it had been waiting. I stepped out and closed the door behind me softly, without a sound.
I didn’t look back.
I wouldn’t give this place that.
Each step I took down the stairs felt lighter, faster, like something was lifting from me piece by piece. The closer I got to the front door, the clearer everything became.
This wasn’t running away.
This was leaving.
There was a difference.
Running meant fear.
Leaving meant choice.
And this—
this was mine.
I reached the door and paused just long enough to listen. The voices were still there, still loud, still distracted, still unaware.
Perfect.
My hand moved to the handle, turning it slowly, carefully. The door opened with the faintest creak, and cool night air brushed against my skin.
Freedom.
I stepped outside and pulled the door closed behind me, the sound barely audible.
And just like that—
it was done.
I stood there for a moment, breathing it in. The quiet. The space. The absence of them.
It felt different.
Lighter.
Real.
I adjusted the strap of my bag on my shoulder and started walking, not fast, not slow, just steady. Away from the house. Away from the lies. Away from everything that had been planned for me.
The street was dimly lit, the world calm and unaware of what had just shifted.
But I felt it.
Every step.
Every second.
I was taking my life back.
They thought tomorrow would be the day they won. That I would stand there smiling, signing everything over without question. They thought I was still that girl.
The one who trusted too easily.
Loved too blindly.
Didn’t look close enough.
They were wrong.
Because tomorrow—
I wouldn’t be there.
No bride.
No signature.
No control.
Just silence.
And questions they wouldn’t be able to answer.
I let out a slow breath, my eyes fixed ahead as I kept walking.
There was only one place left for me to go.
One person.
The only person who had ever truly seen me.
Victoria.
My mum’s best friend.
The only door that had never closed on me.
And this time—
I was the one choosing to walk through it.
- Writer
