I closed my eyes and watched as the plane took off. I always got nervous when I was on an airplane. I turned my head so I could watch Kevin as he talked on his cell phone. I couldn’t ever remember feeling safer than I did at that moment. I smiled as I remembered the scene that had played out before we left.
Those precious moments took me away from the nightmare that I had been living in for the past couple years.
I remembered crying out in the hallway with Kevin. He had brought me inside and proceeded to ask me about every bruise that covered my body. He demanded that I tell him everything,-every hateful word, every bruise, every punch, kick,-everything Alex had done to me. I’d had to stop a few times because the tears were falling so steadily and I kept getting chocked up.
He was patient with me though. He sat on the couch and held my hand while I revealed the horrid life I’d been living away from everyone’s eyes. He asked me why I hadn’t said anything, and it took me a long time to answer it. Even now I’m still not really sure why I never said anything. I guess maybe I hoped that if I didn’t say anything it wouldn’t happen anymore, that it would just go away.
I sometimes liked to pretend that we were the perfect couple, that Alex was a different person.
Kevin listened to everything I had to say. He held me when the memories got to me. He rocked me while I cried and I pretended like he really did love me. He asked me what I was going to do. Was I going to stay and keep living in the nightmares or leave? I laid there in his arms for a while, while I thought out everything.
I had to go, but where? Alex would come looking for me when I was gone from the hotel room.
“Help me get out of here Kev,” I whispered hoarsely.
“I will Nicky, I will” he whispered kissing my forehead.
“I have to be gone before he comes back again. If I don’t he’ll make me stay. I can’t stay here anymore Kev, I can’t. I cannot be with him anymore. I have to get out of here before I do something crazy,” I said trying desperately to make him understand.
He had held me for a while longer then he made me get my stuff together. He didn’t tell me where he was going or what he was doing. He just told me he’d be back and I had better be ready by the time he returned. I hurried to get everything packed not sure what was going to happen from here on out. I felt a million times better though knowing someone else knew my horrible secret and was going to help me get threw it.
I filled two huge duffel bags with clothes and a backpack with personal items: my razor, toothbrush, shampoo, and deodorant. It took roughly forty-five minutes to get all of my stuff together. I was pulling everything into the living room when I heard the door open. I figure Kevin had come back so I carried my backpack to the area where the door was.
“Where do you think you’re going Nicky?” a terribly familiar voice said.