Then another.
Then another.
And still, another.
“What the fuck are you doing, Andy?” I asked.
But all he did was continue to bang against the door with something.
I grabbed the little bit of money I’d been stowing away for myself and shoved it into the bag. I slipped into my shoes and tossed the rest of my things in, then zipped it up. I should have known better than to give Andy another shot. I should’ve known better than to think that man could have changed. And I wasn’t sticking around a second longer.
“I want you the fuck out of this house, bitch!”
“No problem,” I said, as I slung the bag over my shoulder. “Already ahead of you on that one.”
“I’ve got a future and it doesn’t include you.”
“I wouldn’t want it to include me even if you did.”
“You don’t deserve the future I’ve g
ot going. I’ve got plans. Big fucking plans.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked. “Tell me about your big, fucking, nonexistent plans. Please. You dead beat no good son of a—”
The dresser came crashing over at me and the door burst open. My eyes widened as that dark brown stare locked onto me. He charged me more quickly than I could have ever thought possible and pinned me against the wall. His arms wrapped around my wrists, keeping me from swinging at him before he pinned them against the window.
He crashed his lips onto mine and I bit down on his lower lip so hard it made him to bleed. Then I shoved past him and jumped over the dresser. Quickly grabbing the few things of mine that were lying around the living room as I passed through, I stormed out of the house.
But not before something knocked me in the head from behind.
I turned around, rubbing my head and saw my shampoo on the ground. Something else hit me in the forehead and it was a bottle of my conditioner. Then my body-wash. My toothbrush. Shoes, socks, hangers. Anything that man could throw that he thought was mine, he tossed straight at me. Hitting me from all angles and not bothering how many times he hurt me or cut me open in the process.
One month.
One month in this fucking town and I no longer had a place to live.
I picked up as much as I could, making sure he didn’t see the wad of money I had in my bag. If I spent it well, it could get me by for three months. But that was it. And that was if I didn’t blow it on rent somewhere. I shoved it all into my duffel bag, picking up what he threw at me. I didn’t have a car, so if it didn’t fit in the duffel bag it didn’t go with me. All the while he was yelling ugly disgusting things at me.
“Yeah, you slob. Take what I give you!”
“Pathetic. I don’t know why I screwed you in the bar that night.”
“Can’t even get a job? Bitch!”
“You’re worthless! I should’ve known the second you told me you had a two-year degree. Who gets a fucking two-year degree?”
Someone who paid for it on their own, that’s who.
I came to Stillsville with Andy after he’d lost his job in the oil fields just outside of Bismarck. A musician at night and a lean, hardworking, chiseled oil man by day. It was enough to get my engines roaring. And fuck, we had the sweetest sex. That stare-into-my-eyes type of sex. When he asked me to move with him, I thought it was forever. An adventure to the middle of nowhere with a man who couldn’t keep his hands off me. His lips off me. His eyes off me. It had all the makings of the adventure of a lifetime.
An adventure all right, but by now, the stars in my eyes were gone so I could see clearly, and all that was left was the dirt all over my things. And me heading out on foot in my nightshirt and dollar store flip flops, packing a duffel bag over my shoulder.
Andy was yelling loudly from the porch as I made my way to the sidewalk. He’d wake up the whole damn town yelling the way he was. My nightshirt hung down to my knees and my hair was thrown haphazardly into a bun. The underwear I wore hadn’t been washed properly in I didn’t know how long. I’d scrubbed my clothes in a sink for two weeks because our washing machine broke and I didn’t have the money to fix it.
Andy was okay with stained clothes, but I wasn’t.
I briefly thought about a cab, but figured it was better to save all I could. I was only a mile from Anton’s house and I knew his door would be open and I could crash there. After all the times he’d taken me in, I was sure he wouldn’t mind doing it this time.