Phoenix ✔️

Chapter 30: The Literary Key

My jaw drops a little bit at what the woman said. Oh man, my worst fear is about to come true. I'm going to face my manipulative, abusive husband in court and there's no way that I can escape it. Things are coming towards me faster than I can handle them. I don't know if I will be able to handle seeing his face again in court, but I have to muster up the strength and face up to what I fear most so that I can be rid of his presence for good.

I take a deep breath, and say, "Excellent! What news do you have for me?"

I look at Lara and Elena, and they just nod. "We have set your court date for the trial against your husband, Colin Mitchell. It will be on February 18. Is that okay?" she tells me.

I gulp a little bit, and nod. "Perfect. Thank you," I tell her.

"You're welcome. You have a great day," she tells me. Without another word, I hang up, almost slamming the phone down on the receiver. I let out a huge sigh, and press my fingers to the bridge of my nose. The day is coming. Faster than I can process. Soon enough, it'll be here, and I'll be having a mental breakdown.

"Well? What happened?" Elena asks. Lara comes over to me, and slides an arm around my shoulders. I flinch at the sudden contact, and when Lara realizes what she's done, she steps away.

"What's going on?" she asks me. I let out a huge sigh, as Elena makes her way towards where I'm standing. When she heads over to where I'm standing, her hand brushes against a glass. The glass falls off of the table, and to the ground. It shatters into a million pieces, with a loud, "SMASH!"

The sound rings against my ears, and is the trigger for all the worst things. The sound of breaking glass is like the key that lets the bad memories out of their cage, and swarming in my mind. The memories of narrowly avoiding the glass that was thrown at me due to Colin's violent rage soars through my mind.

My heart beat starts to accelerate rapidly, and slowly, I crumple towards the ground. "Oh dear gosh. Elena, clean up the glass. I got her," Lara instructs, as she rushes over to my side.

My breathing become rugged and irregular, as I begin to feel extremely hot. The iron fist presses on my chest, restricting my ability to breathe. "NO! PLEASE! DON'T HURT ME!" I scream, as Lara's hand goes to my back.

"Breathe! Breathe! He's not here!" Lara tells me, as the iron fist refuses to be lifted. In fact, it presses down on my chest even harder than the last time.

"NO! I DON'T WANT TO PAID OFF TO HIM! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! HE WON'T DO THIS TO ME! HE WON'T HAVE HIS WAY WITH ME FOR AN HOUR!" I scream, as another kind of unwanted memories flood in to mix with the ones that are barging in right now.

These are the memories that are a result of the experience that I don't want to tell my family. These memories remind me of a time that I just couldn't fight back, and I was basically being handed off into my doom. I don't want to relive those memories, and yet, they decide to have their way and come and intrude on this messy subject.

Eventually, the iron fist is slowly lifted off of my chest, and I'm snapped back into reality. I'm finally allowed to breathe, and I can finally fight off the memories that have come to invade my sense of slight tranquility.

Elena comes back, and she kneels down to where I am. "He... paid you off? Don't you tell me that he....," Elena says, with disbelief wringing her face. My jaw tightens at the mention of that. With tears filling up my eyes, I just nod my head slowly.

Both Lara and Elena's eyes start to fill up with tears, with Lara's bottom jaw quivering. Both of them just lean in and wrap their arms around me. Lara starts to sob in my arms, while I can feel hot tears running from Elena's side onto my back.