One Thousand Miles

Chapter  |  Dead End

Part  |  Two

I wasn't crazy and I wasn't going crazy. Well, at least I didn't think I was. This was my second time seeing John, or at least thinking I saw him. It couldn't be a coincidence that I was seeing John look alike's everywhere I went. Seeing him today at the church was all I needed to realize John knew where I was and what I've been up to probably all summer. But how long has he known? He already knows about the "relationship" I have with Travis so he must have been around for either a month or longer...

As soon as I let my guard down, John just has to ruin it for me and make me put my walls back up. I hated that I couldn't be left alone and just had to be hunted down. Why couldn't he just let me live a happy life with my son and maybe Travis? John was a wealthy thirty year old man who could get any woman with a snap of his finger, but no he still felt like it was his mission to bring me back to New York to beat me to a pulp day in and day out. Now if he weren't so abusive I would have been went back to him, but he needed to get some help before that ever happened.

I mean don't get me wrong, I loved the man to pieces, but I was done being his punching bag, so until he got some sort of help he could find somebody else to terrorize and leave me to heal.

As soon as we arrived back at my grandmother's house, I quickly unbuckled my seat belt and ran out the car as fast as I could. I unlocked the door with the spare key and kicked my shoes off at the door before rushing up the stairs and into the bedroom. The first thing I did when I ran into the room was run into the closet and pull out my suitcases. I threw them on the bed before ripping clothes off their hangers and packing all of Cameron's clothes, diaper and wipes.

As I'm bringing a handful of clothes out the clothes and towards the suitcase, Travis steps into the room and stands there in the doorway watching me, watching my every single move. I look over at him annoyed before turning back around and shoving my clothes into my suitcase. "What?" I snapped.

I hear him sigh from behind me before I hear the sound of his footsteps coming towards me. He places his hand on mine just as I reach my hand out to pull a shirt off its hanger. Without thinking I whip around and smack his hand away from me. He looks at me with narrowed eyes before crossing him arms over his chest. "Stephanie, what do you think you're doing?"

I glare at him while I take the shirt off its hanger. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm packing my bags so I can leave. I'm not going to stay here waiting for John to come and beat the hell out of me."

He rolls his eyes and follows behind me as I walk back over toward the bed. As I'm placing the shirt inside the suitcase I feel him place his hands on either side of me. He pulls my hair to the side and places his lips on the back of my neck causing me to shiver slightly. He continues to pepper the back of my neck with light kisses until he stops and says, "Come on Stephanie, don't shut me out now, at least not when you need me most."

I sigh and turn around to face Travis with my arms crossed over my chest. "Travis, I don't need you and I'm sick and tired of people thinking I need them to help me. I am fine doing things on my own. I can fight John by myself."

He groans. "You see, that right there is your problem."

I narrow my eyes. "What are you talking about?"

He shakes his head and takes a step back. "You know exactly what I'm talking about Stephanie. You act like you don't need anyone's help, you think you're fooling us, but you're really not. Stephanie, in case you haven't realized this, it took you five years just to leave your husband. It took you five years and a baby to realize that what he was doing to you wasn't right. It was like you didn't even realize you were in a violent marriage. You brought a poor innocent baby into all your drama and decided to stay with that man, for what? Because you knew he could help you take care of him?"

I look down at the ground and mumble, "No."

He humorlessly laughs. "Well then why? Because you were too scared? I'm sure you were scared, but you couldn't have been too scared to get your own son away from such a dangerous man."

"No," I say, raising my voice a little.

"Why then Stephanie? Because you were so in love with John you couldn't leave him just for that bundle of happiness downstairs!"

"No!" I yell. My hands are clenched into fists at my sides and tears are in my already in my eyes. With a shaky voice I say, "I didn't leave because I thought that John would get better for the sake of his son. I thought Cameron would help him see that there were still so many good things we could get out of our marriage if he would just get some help." I take a seat on the bed and look down at the carpet. "We were somehow lucky enough to have Cameron. Before the abuse, John used to always say how much he wanted a baby, a baby girl to be precise, but after he became so violent it became harder to even try to have a baby. Cameron wasn't planned, but he wasn't a mistake either, so it wasn't my choice to bring him into our home. If anything he was a miracle. I know I'm wrong for keeping him in that house for so long, but I thought he had changed. He hadn't hit me for about a month after Cameron was born, so I thought he had tried for us. Even after he started to hit me again, I just thought about how he went for ten months without laying a hand on me and thought if he's done it before, what was stopping him from doing it again?"

He's silent and I know he's taking everything I just said in. I couldn't look at him, at least not after telling him everything I just said. I was selfish and I'm sure he was thinking the same exact thing.

I gasp when I suddenly feel his index finger underneath me chin before he lifts it up and brings his lips to mine. The kiss is slow and lasts until we're both out of breath. He stares into my eyes for a few seconds before quickly pecking me once more. "You know what Stephanie? You and everybody else may not see it, but I do. You are a strong woman believe it or not. Even though you used your own child to try and work out your marriage, I can tell you still love that baby to pieces if you managed to eventually get the two of you out of that house. You are so determined and I think that is what I like most about you. You tried to fix something that can never be fixed and you're still trying to fix it."

I knew exactly what he was talking about. He thought there was no possible way to repair my marriage. Maybe there wasn't a way, but after being with John for so long I just can't let him go...

I sigh and stand up once again before looking up into Travis' eyes. I bring my hands up and cup his face in my hands before bringing our faces together once more and kissing him on the mouth. Once I pull away I don't take my eyes away from him for even a second. "I'm leaving Travis. I don't want to, but just let me go. I don't know if there will ever be an us later on in the future, but we'll just have to see where the present takes us."

I can see the sadness in his eyes and that just made my heart ache. The man had grown so fond of both me and Cameron and now I was just leaving unexpectedly.

Shockingly he nods his head. "Okay, Stephanie, but promise me that you'll keep Cameron safe. I don't know how I'd feel if something was to happen to him or you even."

I nod my head and bite my lip to keep a gut wrenching sob from leaving my mouth. "I promise."