Buried Secrets || Sam Golbach

Prologue.

It was an average Tuesday night when Calista was cooking dinner.

Justin walked in the door and into the kitchen. She could smell the alcohol the second he walked by her. He walked over to the fridge to grab a beer.

Calista held her breath as she knew that whenever he got drunk it meant she would wake up the next day with a newly formed bruise.

Something about that day was different though, she knew tonight would be her last.

She had spent the past few months, working alongside her close friend Jessica planning her exit.

They have been working together to build a new identity and get her out of this house, out of this town, out of Justin's grasp.

They had gotten her fake ID, passport and driver's license.

She had boughten and hid a bottle of soft orange hair dye to cover up the blonde.

She had gotten a credit card under the new name and she had been saving cash in an envelope inside her pillow.

She had finally gotten enough courage to get a bus ticket out.

Her plan was simple; change her name, take a bus somewhere, switch buses halfway to throw off the path, try and live her life as someone new.

She knew what would happen if she failed.

She knew what would happen if she tried to divorce him, he was too respected of a lawyer. She wouldn't stand a chance in the courts.

He knew too many police officers and too many prosecutors that if something happened to her, he would walk away without even a trial.

She knew she didn't stand a chance.

So she planned on leaving, and that's exactly what she would do.

**

The next morning she had watched him leave for work.

She made sure he texted her letting her know he was there.

She packed all her bags and made sure she had everything.

She then left the house through the back door and ran to the city bus stop.

She got on the bus and went to a seedy motel downtown.

She rented out a room and walked inside.

There she ran to the bathroom and started the hair dying process.

She waited the hour and rinsed.

She finished blow drying her hair and looked in the mirror, she looked like a different person.

And she loved that.

She threw on a new outfits she'd never worn before and headed out to the bus station.

On her way to the bus stop she dropped her phone and wallet in two separate garbage cans.

She took the city buses to the Greyhound bus station.

She checked her watch and saw her bus would be leaving at 2pm.

She hadn't responded to any of the calls or texts of Justin, she had prayed he didn't notice.

She sat in the bus terminal for an hour before her bus was called.

She handed the man her ticket and boarded the bus.

She didn't release the breath she was holding until the bus started to drive.

She waited for the worst to come.

She waited for Justin to stop the bus and drag her off.

After 3 hours on the bus she had felt safer.

She stayed on the bus for 10 hours before getting off and catching another bus.

After a total of 26 hours, and 2 buses later she had arrived in Sedona, Arizona.

By that time, Justin was interviewing anyone and every one.

There was missing persons photos plastered on the telephone polls.

Nobody knew where Calista Anders went, nobody except for Jade Park.

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