Contract With The Ex That Left Me

SARAH PIERCEI fell to the ground once I entered the room. The weight in my heart was too heavy. So heavy that despite the tears itching my eyes, all I could do was stare at nothing in particular while my soul continued to be lashed by the shitty nonsense I just witnessed.I did feel my daughter press her knees against my lap. So, I faced her despite the blankness in my eyes.“Mummy,” she said. “What is bas…turd?”Her question snapped some sense into me. “Huh?” I truly hope I heard her wrong.“Bas-”With haste, I covered her mouth and shook my head. “No, Raya.”“Bad word, Mummy?” she muttered against my hand.“Yes, baby.” Despite the ache in my voice, my eyes promised my daughter that she would never be called that in whatever situation. “Bad word.” That being said, I should not sit still. No, I need to do something. Like right now. “Raya.” I removed my hand. “Can you wait here for me?”“Okay, mummy.”After I did a quick check of the nearly empty room to confirm the lack of dangerous

NATHANIEL STORMI hate delays.Also, people, things, and other factors that cause delays.However, in this particular hour, as my car struggled to move in the traffic, I was too occupied with thoughts of that woman to notice the fading of my precious time.Sarah Pierce.I rested my elbow on the door and covered my upper lip while my sunglasses continued to give me a view of the gridlock.There is something about Sarah Pierce. Something that makes me react.Beyond her tired appearance, when I saw the piles of burdening emotions in her eyes, I became very curious about her, and that curiosity widened when her fiery tone suggested that she knew me.But I did not expect my curiosity to lead me to say yes to her marriage proposal.Or perhaps it wasn't the fault of my curiosity. Maybe I have a loose screw in my head.Why else would I have said yes so easily? That too, to a woman I don't know.Or could it be pity?No. It certainly isn’t that. Sure, the wickedness I watched her suffer within

SARAH PIERCEI knew that choosing to go back to my father's house would meet with some resistance. But the resistance my daughter and I suffered after that day is one I never want to experience again.They did not allow us to have access to good meals. Raya and I depended on the cereal packs I stuffed into our bag. But that was not enough. Each time I headed to the kitchen to find something to eat, I would meet every cabinet and even the refrigerator locked.Worse, no matter how much I desired to leave the house for good, my father always made sure we could not simply leave. There were hours they would lock me and Raya in the room. If not that, they would lock the main door and other exits. It got so worse that they locked the windows too!I cannot start to imagine how terrible things would have gotten if we had spent a minute more in that place. So, I am super grateful to be out of the house.Why am I calling it a house? It is a prison.Anyway…I looked around our grand hotel room an

SARAH PIERCE The wedding ceremony felt like a chilly breeze. As the priest conducted the ceremony, occasional loud hisses, fake coughs and glares from the little congregation did not hesitate to stab me. I tried to ignore them, but they were too annoying, I eventually became distracted. Thankfully, the priest was quick enough. The ceremony ended and I finally breathed fine.Little did I know that my woes had just begun. Contrary to my plan to head to my room with my daughter, I was pulled to the after-wedding lunch, which I had no idea about. Barely minutes into the lunch, the table became a purgatory. How could it not when my family and Nathaniel’s kept stabbing me with their vicious gaze?If only I could just slip away. Unfortunately, I could not. The eyes were too focused on me. The only thing that helped my tense nerves was Raya’s presence. She was eating at the kids’ table, not too far from ours. As I struggled with getting used to the ring on my finger, I watched as she

SARAH PIERCEAfter leaving that hellish lunch, Raya and I relaxed in the room, watching animations. And I fell asleep while admiring the emotions in her babyish eyes as the wonderful colours on the screen intrigued her. Little did I know that I would sleep for a long time. When I woke up, it was daylight, Raya was standing at the foot of the bed, her small hands struggling with her empty toothbrush. “Huh…” Spending two nights in a fancy and serene space is definitely the recipe I needed to heal the burdening tiredness that I have been carrying around for months. If only I could stay here forever. “Raya,” I called out to my baby. “There’s no toothpaste on it.”“You…” Her lips formed a pout. “You sleep long, Mummy.”“Yes.” I crawled towards her and collected the brush. “I should have woken up earlier.” My eyes began searching for my phone. “So that my baby could brush and bathe.” I found the phone on the floor. I must have kicked it while I was sleeping. I bent to pick it up, checked