Husband...

"You bitch! You have the guts to show your face here again?!"

"After disgracing the family like that?!"

"I would kill you today!"

"I can't believe you did that, sister.", were the words I was faced with immediately I stepped into the hotel.

Right now, I'm laying down on my bed curled up into a ball. My crying eyes looked up at the white huge gown on the floor. 

My fist tightened at the scene that flashed before my eyes. Remember when my sister said I knew what would happen if I didn't get married?

Yeah, it happened. 

On my back are uncountable strokes of where the whips landed. According to my father, the Gallardo's refused to reschedule the wedding ceremony when they found their son beaten and tied up like a goat at his wedding.

And it was my fault. All my fault. And yes, you guessed right... No dinner for tonight.

I remember the look on my sister's face. Oh, she so hates me. 

And so do I. I hate her. So much. I hate my so-called Mother. I hate my Father. I hate this family deeply. I want to ruin them. I want to get revenge. I'm ready.

I'm ready for revenge. All I needed was a little bit of a reminder of what I had gone through in his house to know I was ready. 

I wiped my tears away and tried to push myself up. I fell to the bed before I could even get up again.

'Weak Avery.' A voice snorted at me.

"I'm not weak," I responded with hatred.

'Yeah right, the nice man offered to help you but you cowered like the weakling that you are. What did you think that act, the one you displayed in the car, was?'

"Shut up."

'An act of Cowardice. Because that's what you are; weak, cowardly Avery.'

"I'm not a coward!"

'Prove it to me, then. Get up without wincing. Prove it!'

"Then, I'll show you!" I yelled in return. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and without releasing it, I pushed myself up. I sat up and without waiting one more second, I was standing beside my bed.

I released my breath and the pain hit me at once. I felt liquid run down my back, something I knew very well was blood. I ignored the pain that shot through my whole being as I turned around to the voice from behind me.

"I told you," I called out to the emptiness. My eyes went to my door. It was locked tight from the outside to prevent me from coming out for dinner. I don't plan on eating with monsters!

I reached for my brown hair packing it into a bun still ignoring the pain in my back. Once the hair was done, I looked around the room for something like a pin that I could use to pick the lock. 

I went to my table and scattered it finally finding a thin pin. I straightened it and ran to the door. I knelt in front of the door while more blood oozed out my back drenching my clothes.

I slid the pin into the lock turning and twisting it. I need to get out of here. Please work. I can't keep living with these wolves in sheep's clothing. They would kill me sooner or later. 

No one would even look for me. I don't have any friends. I don't have any relations. No one knows I live here. No knows I'm fucking alive! I'm not a significant human being.

But, I still need to survive.

More tears spilled out of my eyes as the stupid lock won't open! I'm so frustrated.

"Please open..." I cried as I pulled the pin out again straightening it more. I slid it into the lock again twisting and turning it to open. 

It still didn't open. I pulled the pin out and fell to my butt crying desperately.

'You might not have any relations or friends but you have a husband, don't you?' The voice I've known for a long time whispered and I shook my head along with my shoulders.

"What if he doesn't want to help me anymore?" I questioned with more tears and blood.

'There's only one way to find out, no?' 

"I can't give up," I mumbled getting up on my knees again. I cleaned my tears harshly as I determinedly pushed the pin into the lock twisting it.

"Open, you bastard," I yelled twisting the pin.

'It won't open. You're stuck in here forever.'

"What is wrong with you?" I asked. 

'What?'

"One moment, you're helping me... The second, you're hating me. Be clear where you stand."

'I'm in your mind. I depend on what you think. You think good, I'll say words of encouragement... You think otherwise... Oh well.'

"I didn't even think bad, you bitch!"

I yelled twisting the pin with all of my might.

 A click. 

More blood oozed from my back.

Tears. Tears of Joy.

I stood up with sheer joy as I sniffed in my tears cleaning my eyes. I was about to move when I heard a drop. A drop of liquid falling to the wooden boarded floor.

I looked down carefully and slowly to see a drop of blood on the floor. Then, another one. With an eye roll, I walked to my clothes by the corner of the room rubbing my bare feet on the floor. I grabbed one of my work shirts that I got from a thrift store a few months ago.

I wore it over my faded-out light blue dress. I also got this dress from the thrift store. I took the red book that was proof of my wedding with my husband, which my parents surprisingly didn't see, and yanked the door open.

I pulled the shirt around my body frame and walked out of my house. In one of my hands was the red book and my other hand was clutching the ring in my hand. My engagement ring.

I reached the front door and pushed it open without any hesitation. I was ready to leave this life behind. More than ready.

Surprisingly, no one was outside. I guess it would be irrational to be outside by around midnight.

I unlocked the gate and slipped out of the door. In fact, I didn't close the fucking gate. They and their gate can go to hell for all I care.

I'm not going to be the object of ridicule anymore. I won't be my sister's doormat. I'll get my revenge. This pain that I keep ignoring, that keeps pricking at my back, they would pay for it. In ten folds. 

A clatter to my right made me jump. 

"Shit!" I immediately whipped my head to the side, so fast I'm surprised I didn't get a whiplash, only to see a squirrel chittering and scavenging for food.

'Stop jumping at every sound you hear, you coward.' I could almost hear the mockery in her tone. Bitch.

"It's just a squirrel," I mumbled to myself. I sighed pulling the shirt around me to produce more warmth from the chilly night as I continued walking.

I reached the street before I paused,

 "Where am I going? He only said to come and meet him when I was ready. He didn't specify where that is. Oh God... I'm so dumb!"

'How about the hotel?' Something said into my mind and I titled my head.

"The hotel," I mumbled.

Immediately, I went and grabbed the first woman turning her around.

"Hello. Good Evening." I greeted politely.

"Evening, darling. Are you lost?"

"Yes."

"Oh my... It's dangerous to lurk around at night as a woman. Where are you going?" She asked with a smile and I thanked my stars.

"Roosevelt's Hotel. The nearest one."

"Is that where you stay?" She asked and I nodded my head vigorously.

She nodded looking at me from head to toe. I was silently praying for my blood to stay quiet.

"It's just down the road. About an hour's walk? I can take you if you want. My car is with me." She said gesturing at the black Maybach parked by the road not far from us.

"Oh, I would so much appreciate that." I agreed with a smile.

"Alright then. Let's go." She said walking to the car. I immediately followed her and got into the car. Just like my husband's car, she wasn't the one driving. She must be a wealthy woman.

Fortunately, she asked me no questions and simply let me down at the hotel.

"Thank you very much, ma'am. I would never forget your kindness."

"It's fine dear. Get inside... It seems it would rain soon."

"I will," I said with a nod as I slammed the door close. I bowed my head as her car drove away until it was out of my sight.

"Now, let me hope he will come here tonight," I mumbled looking down at my leg.

If he doesn't come tonight, my parents would catch me and I'm dead. For reals this time around.

The cloud roared suddenly and I looked up at the sky. Flashes of lightning lit up the sky for some seconds and then the next thing, the rain started pouring suddenly.

"Shit!" I cussed once the water made contact with the opened wound on my back.

I turned around and ran to the front of the hotel. Before I could even start to get relieved, I heard a voice from beside me.

"Ma'am, you're dirtying the floor with your feet. And you're dripping water all over the floor. If we have guests, it wouldn't look good for the hotel to have them step water into the lobby. I'm going to have to ask you to get off the property of the hotel."

"But- But it's pouring!" I debated and he simply shook his head.

"I'm sorry. Please." He said gesturing at the rain. 

He was actually telling me to get off my Father's Property! I knew if I said I was the eldest daughter, he wouldn't believe me. No one knew The Roosevelt has another daughter except Eleanor Roosevelt, the face of the family.

"I'm sorry, too," I mumbled slowly and silently getting off the property and down the stairs.

"I can sit here right?"I questioned gesturing at the stairs and he simply nodded his head.

With a sigh, I sat on the stairs while I tried to protect my back from my wound. My eyes started to count the stones in the coal tar that was used to make the road.

"Please come," I mumbled closing my eyes.

I was drenched. My back was stinging with pain at every breath I took. My lips are blue and quivering. I'm as cold as ice. My hair is wet and sticky. So sticky that it's glued to my forehead. Yet, no husband. 

'Where are you, Maverick?'

Pitter Patter. The rain keeps falling onto the floor. I hear another thunder and I sigh. Is he even coming? Hours must have gone by.

Suddenly, I felt no rain falling on my head anymore. Did the rain finally stop? I peered my eyelids open to a pair of legs that had black slippers on them. My eyes slowly trailed up the person's body and I paused for a while when I noticed the black umbrella hovering over my head shielding me from the rain.

My eyes continued to move until they stopped at the face I so much hoped to see. My mouth fell open at the look on his face.

"Husband."