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Seth and I had settled into married life. An easiness and contentment I allowed to make me feel more securely at home than I had in years. We had many discussions about our future, and the idea of creating our family began to germ. The thought of having children filled me with a joy I could hardly contain. Weekends became our sacred, shared time: romantic dates, unexpected escapes, and late-night talks about what the future might hold.We always grabbed the chance to experience different hotels and get away from the feeling of home so as to blend with the ecstasy around us. We spent almost an adventure every weekend, and it increased our closeness and deepened new things in our relationship. And so we did, we laughed, we dreamed, we made love, and enjoyed each other to our fullest and deepest potential. The thought that soon we'd be parents together appeared as the next step, the logic in our journey.One very vivid weekend, we checked into a cozy but quaint bed and breakfast place in
In the dim light of our bedroom, Seth and I lay beside each other, our hands clasped together. We were feeling all different kinds of things. The atmosphere thickened into one of quiet, tender closeness, a product of years spent in shared experience and deep love. Much had been wrestled with, but troubles and uncertainties seemed to melt away at that moment, leaving only two people and a vision for the future.Seth turned to me then, his eyes soft, filled with a warmth that made my heart swell."I love you, Christie," he whispered, a tender caress to my ears. "I can't wait to start our family."I smiled at him, rushed with feeling and excitement. "I love you too, Seth. Even more than words can say."We had talked so much about babies, how great a thing it could be. This feeling of just starting a family with Seth gave me a feeling of purpose and elation. We had decided to stop using contraception, hoping that soon enough, we would be able to hear that we were going to have a baby.Seth
The next morning, I arrived at my desk job —the same routine I'd kept for the past few years. Colleagues turned toward me, acknowledging my presence with smiles and nods. I sat in my chair and positioned myself for the tasks at hand. As the morning went on, though, I couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. I had skipped breakfast and now the pangs were becoming more and more difficult to ignore. I shrugged it off, promising myself that I could eat something at lunchtime.By noon, it had become worse. My vision was blurry at times, and my hands were shaking while typing. I pushed on, driven by the urge to get my work done before I took a break. This was a busy period, and I did not wish to lag. However, at around 3 PM, I just couldn't ignore these signs my body was giving. I called it off and headed home to rest.I trudged out to my car, gathering my things. Each step seemed heavier than the last. The world tilted a bit to one side, and I felt myself having to hold onto
I sat at the very end of the bed, my heart thumping as I just stared at the door. The room was smothering. The walls seemed to close in on me with each second. Noah had locked me in an apartment that he had bought expressly to keep me hidden from the world. The windows were barred, and I could see outside the door guards who had taken their place to prevent me from leaving. It was now that the feeling of being caged finally washed over me like a wave, and it was an effort to maintain steady breathing.How had this happened? I thought about all the warnings, all the red flags that I had ignored. I should have known Noah wouldn't give up so easily. Even after all that, a piece of me had still hoped he would turn his back on all this eventually, that he would see reason. Now that hope seemed foolish, almost childish.I heard footsteps, so my body stiffened. Slowly, the door opened, and there he was—Noah. He dominated the room; a sense of familiarity and fear overtook me. At one time in my
I sat at the foot of the bed, staring at the door, my heart hammering in my chest. The sense of powerlessness wrapped me in a smothering blanket, making each breath a little more labored than the previous one. Noah had confined me to this apartment. His twisted form of love turned into prison. My situation was unmistakable—I was trapped, and the man I loved turned stranger, obsessed and unhinged.I heard movement outside the door, and my body naturally straightened. The door creaked, and there he was—Noah. His presence seemed to fill the room, carrying an intoxicating mixture of fear and confusion. I had tried reasoning with him, pleading that he let me go, think about Anne, his wife, and his unborn child, but Noah was beyond reasoning now. Obsessiveness had completely taken over his mind."Christie," he said softly, his voice that unnerving blend of tender and determined. "I brought dinner."I watched as he brought a tray into the room to place upon the small table beside the bed. The
That night, I cried myself to sleep. Sorrow sat on me so heavily that I could not keep my eyes open. The tears dried up on my cheeks, leaving paths of salt and sorrow. My room was dark; the silence was oppressive. My thoughts whirled with fear and hopelessness. Never had I felt so alone, so utterly abandoned by the world. But finally, with sleep, it was a jumble of fear, exhaustion, and the dire necessity of escape that occupied my mind.The world I entered then in my dreams was no better. Shadows loomed large, and the familiar faces of those I loved were distorted and unrecognizable. I could feel Seth there, reaching out for me, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't grasp his hand. Looming in the background was Noah's face; his eyes were cold, unfeeling, watching my every move. It felt like a dream that didn't end, stuck in a revolting sequence of fear and anxiety.Yet, deep inside my sleeping mind, I felt something wrong. I was not alone. A presence was seeping into the corners
I sat there, pen shaking in my hand, the divorce papers right in front of me, like a sentence of death. My heart was racing in my chest; with every pulsation, it recalled for me that life I was being forced to abandon. The ink on the papers seemed to blur before my eyes and mix with the tears I fought back. This couldn't be happening. It felt like a nightmare, one from which I couldn't wake up. But no matter how hard I had wished it to be some kind of dream, reality stared at me, cold and unforgiving, right in the face.Noah stood over me, looming, as if his presence was a threat in itself, his face a mix of triumph and impatience. It was a side of him I had seen before—the side that would stop at nothing to get what it wanted. And now, what he wanted was my complete and utter submission, my willing participation in the destruction of life as I'd built it with Seth. My poorer, well-beloved man, who did nought but care for me, was to be cast aside like rubbish."Sign it, Christie," Noah
This restaurant, with no other patrons, felt very quiet, eerily so. It was as if the place had been abandoned, and in a lot of ways, it had—by force. Noah had made sure this was the case by emptying out the place so we could have some sort of "private dinner." He claimed that was all this was, but the reality was much darker than this. I was a prisoner, confined in this elegant cage of sparkling chandeliers and polished silverware, which seemed to mock the horror of my situation.Noah sat opposite me, his demeanour quite calm and collected, in pungent contrast to the turmoil now rising inside of me. His cold, calculating eyes used to be warm and familiar, but now they belonged to a stranger, a man who remained unrecognized to me. He smiled at me, but it was nothing like the real thing. It was that smile of a predator, one pleased with his catch."Isn't this nice?" he asked, his voice smooth and deceptively gentle. "Just the two of us, enjoying a meal together. It's like old times, isn'