Broken Stranger

Part 1

I woke up to sunshine peeking through the curtains of my motel room, the bright light warming my face.This was an unusual sight for me. I recently left Seattle where it was raining and dark most days with clouds covering the sun. When I found the city of Charming I fell in love instantly with the small town feel and that warm feeling of the sun shining.

My entire family lived back in Seattle. They did not understand why I would leave them. What they did not comprehend was that I had to get away from my old life. It was not just the weather in Seattle that was shit, my marriage was not quite as it seemed. They thought I was happily married and ready to start a family, in reality I was far from that.

My husband Mike turned out to be a complete piece of shit.

Things started out great, he would take me on dates and treat me like a princess, even calling me one. As soon as we said 'I do,' he changed. He started getting jealous so easily, getting pissed when I went to work, all because I had male coworkers. I brushed it off because a little jealousy never hurt anyone. Right?

But it got worse, he would track my every move using my cell phone. He would check my phone while I was in the shower then ask who this man was that was texting me. I tried explaining to him that it was a coworker asking me to pick up a shift but he would deny it and accuse me of cheating on him.

I've seen the signs of abuse before, being a nurse I have even treated multiple victims of domestic violence. I always wondered why these women would put up with this and not just leave. I found out why very quickly.

My first attempt to leave Mike was the summer after we got married. He left me with a broken arm and a couple of bruised ribs. My second attempt, 4 months after the first try, I ended up with a broken wrist and bruises that littered my entire body. After the third attempt, he made me quit my job and stay home, only being able to leave the house with him. Even when he was at work he would know my every move, that's when I knew he installed cameras in the house and watched them on his phone.

I never imagined I would end up in a situation like this. This man was straight crazy and I had never seen such an extreme case of control before. When he came home from work he would expect me to have dinner cooked for him, that didn't bother me. I did not mind cooking three meals a day for him, hell, I didn't even mind cleaning up after him. He became pretty predictable, he would come home and shower. I would make sure to pick his dirty laundry and set out clean clothes for him. We then would eat dinner and he would drink exactly three beers. There was a line near the bottom of each bottle and once the beer was at that line I would go to the fridge and retrieve him a fresh one. There was never any please or thank you from him, this is just what Is expected of me. This, I could live with.

It was what came after dinner that was the worst part of my day. He would expect sex from me. I never wanted to do it but he didn't care, I was expected to put out whenever he wanted. I knew he was trying to get me pregnant so that I couldn't try to leave again. I never had a dad growing up and always told him before we got married that it was important for our children to have an involved father.

I finally had enough one day. While he was at work, I took a backpack full of clothes and toiletries along with my wallet and ID and headed to the garage, making sure to leave my cell phone on the kitchen table, that bastard wouldn't be able to track me now. I left at exactly 10:15 am. Mike had a meeting everyday at this time and phones were not aloud in the company meetings, so there was no way he could see me on the cameras. I started my motorcycle, which was the only thing that I had left of my life before marriage. I hopped on the bike and off I went.

My first stop would be a bank about 50 miles out of Seattle. At this bank, I had an account Mike didn't know about. I had made this account as soon as I got my first nursing job. When I arrived at the bank I knew I looked like a hot mess. As I passed people walking in I could feel their stares on me. I did not have time to put makeup over the black eye that was quickly developing after last night's brawl with Mike. The cold air in the bank hit me hard and quickly brought me out of my head. I walked up to the counter and I withdrew all the money I had saved just for this moment and then closed the account. I have been planning to leave for months. But last night was the final straw for me.