One Thousand Miles

Chapter  |  Power And Control

Part  |  Two

Okay maybe I had been wrong about John changing. I mean it was just odd that he hadn't argued back. I thought he had slightly changed, but I guess not. Before I found out that I was wrong I had thought that maybe I could test it out to see if I was wrong or right. Maybe I shouldn't have tested it the way I did because maybe just maybe I wouldn't be sitting upstairs crying my eyes out. It was funny how things could change in just a matter of more than twenty-four hours, and not in a good way.

24 Hours Earlier.........

I walked into work that morning with a fake smile on my face like any other day. I waved and said a polite hello to anyone who passed me by while walking down the hallway. It wasn't like I didn't like the people here or anything. I love them. I just needed to smile to keep from being suspicious and I didn't need anybody getting suspicious. If I was to slip and someone asked me what was wrong I knew I would break down crying and tell whoever is was about the beatings.

The morning went by the same way like any other day did. Todd and I would get on air and tell the people of New York about what's going on. We'd go over some old reports maybe and once lunch came I would make up some random excuse saying why I couldn't go out to lunch with him. Well not today. Since I felt as though John had changed, I thought maybe it would be okay if I went out to lunch with Todd just for today. John told me to stay away from Todd a long time ago, which I did, but I was just that maybe if we ran into him he wouldn't throw a fit about it.

"Hey Todd!" I call as I try to catch up with him.

He stops at the sound of his name and turns towards me. He smiles. "Hey, I was just about to go to lunch, and I'm guessing you're not busy and want to tag along, right?"

I grin and nod my head. "Yeah well I might not be busy for the rest of the week either, so it'll be just like how it was months ago."

He smiles and looks as if he were remembering those days we had spent our lunch hour together. He looked down at me with a raised eyebrow. "Wow, it's been a while hasn't it? We haven't gone out to lunch together since September, and it's already the beginning of March."

I laugh and nod my head. "I'm sorry, I've just been busy during our lunch break, these past few months," I lie. John had been the reason why. I was scared of him, sadly, but I still loved him and would do anything for him. He wanted me to stop going out to lunch with Todd, so I did.

"Well we've only got about an hour, so I suggest we get going. We can take my car and eat lunch at McDonald's, sound good?" he asks as we make our way out to the parking lot.

"Sounds good," I say as I look up at him with a smile. He opens the car door for me before jogging over to the driver's side and getting in himself. He buckles his seat belt and waits for me to do the same before pulling out of the parking lot. The drive to the nearest McDonald's is nothing but ten minutes, and finding a parking space isn't hard. When we get inside he tells me to find a seat, but I decide to just order my food myself. After we take our order we take a seat at a booth in the back and start to dig into our food.

"So how is life at home going?" I ask as I chew on a salty fry.

He scratches his chin for a moment before nodding his head. "Things are okay I guess. Paige has grown a lot over these past few months. Her birthday is on the tenth, she'll be four years old."

Paige was Todd's niece. He was her guardian since his brother had passed away two years ago and her mother had left a year before that. I never met her, but he would always show me pictures of her.

I sit there for a moment processing everything he said other than Paige's growth and suddenly something else he had said hit me like a ton of bricks. March tenth. That was the same day John and I had gotten married almost a year ago. 

"Well that's good, and speaking of March tenth, that's the day John and I got married. I can't believe it's been that long. It seems like just yesterday we had met," I say as I smile down at the wedding ring on my finger. I twirl it around a few times before looking up at Todd.

He grins. "I'm sure it has been the best year of your life," he says just as somebody entered through the door. I looked up and my heart stopped, my whole body froze, and my face paled. John had just walked in looking down at his phone, deep in thought. He held it up to his ear as if he was calling somebody, and on cue my phone rang. I gasp and look down at my purse next to me before looking back up at John.

He's looking back at me with the phone still up to his ear. I turn around again to face Todd. "Todd I um...I---"

Before I could finish what I was going to say I was suddenly pulled out of the booth and into the arms of my husband. I looked up into his angry eyes and cowered away in fear. "What did I tell you about you and---"

"I'm sorry I didn't listen I just---"

Before I could finish Todd jumps up and cuts me off. "Hey you're hurting her, just look at her face John, she's in pain!"

He looks over at Todd for a moment before pushing me away from him. He stands right in front of Todd and crosses his arms over his chest. He leans in just a little bit and glares down at him. "I want you to stay away from my wife, do you hear me?"

His yelling caused the workers to stop what they were doing to look at what was going on between Todd and John. I looked around and tried to give everybody a reassuring smile, but people still looked over at us with worried expressions. Some even looked like they were waiting for a fight to break out between the two. Sadly for them that didn't happen because a few seconds later, John was grabbing my arm and pulling me out the McDonald's towards his black BMW. He opened the door for me and pushed me inside before slamming the door shut and getting in.

As he's starting the car I look down at my hands and mumble, "I'm sorry."

He just shakes his head. "I'm not through with you."

And he wasn't lying. He had taken me home and dragged me inside by my hair. He threw my on the living room couch and slapped me a few good times before pulling his belt off and beating me with that. Afterwards he carried me up the stairs to our bedroom and kicked once or twice before finally stopping. I laid there on our bedroom floor crying my eyes out and screaming in pain.

"What about work?" I cried out.

Once he finally stopped breathing heavy he finally said, "I'll take care of it. Now, I don't want you leaving this house or calling anybody. Don't disobey because I will find out."

After that he walked out the room leaving me there on the floor. I cried and screamed for hours before finally getting up and taking a shower. After showering and changing into something comfortable I lay down in bed on my side and tried to forget about what just happened. I hoped that Todd wouldn't get suspicious of John's behavior, but I'm sure he would get suspicious after finding my car still parked in the faculty parking lot even though I'm nowhere to be found at work.

He was going to find out, I was sure of it. I was scared because just like Tanya, he too would probably confront John about it. Tanya hadn't which was a good thing because maybe just maybe Todd wouldn't either. But if he did then my nightmare was going to take a turn for the worse.

But how much more worst could it get?