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Finally, he let go, but he didn’t step back immediately.
“Get out,” I said again, quieter this time.
A beat passed, then two, and within them, I felt his looming presence like a physical threat. Another second went by before he laughed like he’d already won something. With a grin plastered across his smug face, he finally turned and left my room. I wanted to scream, but like always, I swallowed it down. Would all these swallowed screams one day burn a hole through my oesophagus? I hoped not.
Suddenly, tears were streaming down my face, and I realised something very important. I couldn’t live under the same roof as Graham for a single day longer. I needed to get away.
And that was how I found myself packing my belongings into two backpacks and quietly sneaking out of the apartment.
4.
Erin
The Balfe Hotel was located right next to the beach. The cream-coloured building looked like it’d recently been given a fresh coat of paint, the window boxes overflowing with colourful spring flowers as wealthy-looking guests came and went through the entrance manned by a well-dressed doorman.
I caught my sister just as she was leaving at the end of her shift. She looked tired, and I hated doing this to her when she’d been working all day and was clearly exhausted, but I didn’t feel like I had another choice. She’d taken Graham back, and I couldn’t stand to share the same apartment as him any longer.
“Erin, what are you doing here? And what’s with all the bags?”
“I can’t live with him anymore, Sloane,” I blurted out emotionally. “I know you think you’re in love with him, but he’s a bad person.” Tears rolled down my cheeks.
“Hey, calm down. Come sit over here, and tell me what’s wrong.”
She led me to a wooden bench near the hotel that looked out onto the coast. It was a scenic spot, but I was too upset to appreciate the view.
“It’s Graham. You have no idea how uncomfortable it makes me being around him.”
She tensed. “Uncomfortable how?”
I drew in a sharp breath. “He talks to me differently when you’re not around.”
She clasped her hands together, her lips forming a flat line. “What has he said?”
“Well, before I changed my appearance, he’d comment on how pretty I was, how you and I were both his type. It’s why I dress this way now and why I lost so much weight. I’d only just started to put some of it back on since we moved here, but then he turned back up—”
“Wait a minute,” Sloane held up a hand. “You’re telling me you look this way because of Graham?”
I hung my head and nodded. “I didn’t want him looking at me how he used to. It made me uneasy. And that night when he tried getting into my room, I’ve never been so terrified.”
“Oh, Erin, he was drunk that night because he was at his cousin’s birthday party. He thought your room was our bedroom.”
“He was shouting my name. He knew whose room it was.”
She gave a dismissive shake of her head, still in denial. “You’re blowing things way out of proportion.”
“I’m not!” I yelled, and Sloane startled. “I thought we’d never have to have this conversation since you broke up with him, and we moved here. But now he’s followed you, and I need to say it, Sloane. Graham isn’t a good man. If the fact that he used to deal drugs isn’t enough of an indication, nor the fact that he landed you in the hospital with all your savings handed over to his debtors, then please listen to me when I say he’s a creep. If I hadn’t started changing my appearance, I’m not sure what he would’ve tried.”
“That’s enough,” Sloane said, her features tight with tension. “I’ve heard enough.”
“I don’t think you have. I’m serious. I can’t live with him anymore, so if you won’t kick him out, then I’m going.”
“Going where? You have nowhere to go.”
“Doesn’t that say enough? The fact that I’d rather sleep on the streets than stay living with him?”
I didn’t realise she was crying until a small, pained noise escaped her throat. “I did everything I could, gave up so much, but you won’t be happy until I have nothing.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper.
“Sloane.”
