One Thousand Miles

Chapter  |  Power And Control

Part  |  Three

That next morning I woke up to the bright sun shining in my face instead of the loud alarm clock. My eyes widen in surprise and I quickly shoot up in bed. I look down at the clock and notice I am two hours late for work. I look down at where John normally slept in the bed and noticed he was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly the bathroom door opening up caught my attention. I whipped my head around and found John walking out the bathroom wearing a white T-shirt, khaki shorts, and black Nike's. I look at him for a moment trying to figure out why he didn't look pissed at the fact that I hadn't woke him up at the time I was supposed to. He looks back at me before taking a seat next to me.

"Good morning," he says as he looks back at me.

I stare at him wondering why he wasn't screaming at me. "Why aren't you dressed for work?" I ask quietly as I point toward his outfit.

He looks down at himself for a moment before looking back at me with a blank expression. "I'm taking the day off."

"What? Why?"

He lets out a long breath through his noise before raising his hand and bringing it up to my chin. He looks me in the eyes and lets out a sigh. "You know that little stunt you pulled yesterday wasn't okay, and I refuse to let you keep disobeying me. There is where I draw the line Stephanie."

I look up at him and try to figure out what he meant, but find nothing. "What do you mean John?"

He narrows his eyes slightly. "I no longer want you working with that Todd guy," he says, and then it hits me. He was making me quit my job. I shake my head as he continues to speak. "We will go over there and get whatever is yours and leave. I don't want you talking about to anybody; I just want you to get your stuff and leave, okay? Now I---"

"No," I say. He looks up at me with a raised eyebrow, as if he were saying "excuse me?" I shake my head and continue to speak. "No, you can't do that. I-I worked so hard for this job John, and I can't just leave! I didn't go to college for four years just to quit my dream job. Plus my boss doesn't even know that I---"

"I told you I would take care of it didn't I? Well I did. And does it look like I care how long you went to college for this job? You should have thought about that before you went behind my back. Plus it's not like you need the job when you have me," he says as he stands up from the bed.

I look up at him and fight back my tears. "But John this is my dream job! If I quit then college would have just been a waste of my time! Please don't make me quit, I'll stop talking to Todd, I promise!"

He shakes his head before leaning down and placing a kiss on my lips. The kiss lasted for about ten seconds before he slowly pulled away. "Baby, don't say that. We know that if you hadn't gone to college then we wouldn't have met."

I loved John, but at this point I really wanted to shout "I don't care!" "Please don't make me quit please, please, just please don't!"

He looks down at me for a moment before turning and walking towards the door. Without looking at me he says as he's walking out the door, "five minutes!"

I look down at my feet and mess with the string hanging from my sweater sleeve as I make my way towards my shared office. John was right behind me holding a cardboard box that I could place my belongings in. It seemed to take forever to get to the office, but finally after about another minute we made it to the room I shared with Todd. Well the room I now used to share with Todd.

On one side of the room was Todd's desk and belongings and the other was mine. I glance over at his desk, but quickly look away as I walk toward my desk. John sits the box on the rolling chair and starts to quickly place things inside it. Extra make up I kept here, pencils and pens, and pictures of John and me during college and a few on our honeymoon.

I stood there pinching myself a couple of times just to see if I would wake up from this nightmare. I was just hoping that maybe I'd wake up and find myself wrapped in the blankets on my bed. Or maybe back at the Starbucks almost five years ago...

"Okay Steph, that's it, let's go," John says making me snap out of my thoughts.

I nod my head and mumble a quick okay before walking out the door behind him. To exit we have to the way we came which was right where Todd and I did our shows together. As we're walking by I notice him talking to another one of our co-worker and feel tears burning my eyes.

He laughed at something she said which caused a tear to slowly fall down my cheek. That used to be us before everything started to go downhill. I just wanted my life to go back to how it was...

"Come on Stephanie!" I hear John call from down the hall. I turn towards him and notice he has stopped to wait for me. I turn to look back at everybody I now used to work with before lowering my head and slowly catching up with John.

Afterwards we ended going to McDonald's for brunch. The same one John had caught and I together at yesterday.

I sit there in the passenger seat looking down at my hands while John sits there looking at me. I hadn't spoken one word to him since we left what once was my job. I was upset and angry at both him and myself. I was upset with him because this was my dream job. I had worked so hard just to get it and now it was gone. I was upset with myself because I should have just listened the first time John told me to stay away from Todd, my now ex-friend.

I was so deep in thought I hadn't even realized John had gotten out the car and open the door for me until he lightly tapped me on my shoulder. "Stephy..."

I look up at him for a moment before unbuckling my seatbelt and getting out the car. I don't bother saying thanks and go straight inside to wait in line. John is by my side about a minute look with a blank expression on his face. 

After ordering our food we take a seat at a table in the far corner of the room and quietly eat our food. Well John ate while I just sat there glaring down at my food. John hadn't noticed this for a long while before finally he asked, "Why haven't you touched your food?"

I look up at him before looking back down. "I'm not hungry."

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair before looking at me with an apologetic look. "Look, baby, I know how much you loved that job, but I was tired of seeing you with another guy," he says as he places his hand on top of mine before continuing. "Plus it's not like you need to work. The company pays enough money for us to pay the bills, buy groceries, and still have a lot left over to do whatever we want with it. Now that you're no longer working you can just sit back at home and relax."

I continue to glare down at my food which causes him to let out a sigh.

"It's for the best, okay?" he asks softly.

I don't answer because I knew if I did I would burst into tears.

Here I was now lying in bed with a box of tissue's lying next to me. I locked myself in the bedroom as soon we arrived home and cried my eyes out. John knocked on the door a couple of times, but I didn't let him in. He stopped after a while and finally went down to his office to finish some paperwork.

I couldn't believe I had let things get as far as they did. I knew the things between John and I was...rough, but I never thought that he would actually make me quit my job over a guy I had no feelings for. No matter how many times I tried convincing John that he was the one I loved and that Todd was just a friend he wouldn't believe me. 

I was probably more scared more of my husband now that I knew he had the power to take anything I cared about away from me in a matter of minutes. He'd taken away my job which included my co-worker Todd, so now I was alone. Well I still had John or at least the monster as I called him. I knew deep down that the John I had met a few years back was still there somewhere, but I knew if he didn't come back any time soon then,

He'd never come to me.