Run From Him
Oh, hello, friend! Emily slipped into the chair next to Grace. Long time no see. How are you getting on?
Hi, Em, Grace replied, her voice a little sluggish. Everythings absolutely fine.
Then why are you avoiding my eyes? Emily scrutinised her. Dont tell me Marks been up to his old tricks again? What is it this time?
Oh, dont be so dramatic, Grace rolled her eyes, already regretting ever coming into this tea shop. Im alright, honestly. And Mark and I are getting on splendidly. Hes wonderful, really. Lets just drop it.
Without letting Emily protest, Grace got up and left, abandoning the last bite of her Victoria sponge. She didnt want to hear any of it, convinced in that dreamy, wishful way that everyone was simply jealous.
Mark was so brilliant. Handsome, well-off, considerate. True, he had some rather peculiar demands sometimes. Like, he forbade Grace from dyeing her hair a lighter colour.
That was the first time they truly fell out. They nearly broke up all over something so trivial!
Grace had nipped into the salon for a trim. The hairdresser, a sort of friend, insisted she looked every bit a natural blonde. She couldnt resist. Grace returned home with a shimmer of platinum curls.
Mark turned white with fury. A book hed been reading quietly on the sofa moments before went sailing across the room at her. Words sharper than tacks followed, and an ultimatum: change it back. Now. No blondes under his roof.
Grace, choking back tears, dashed out to the nearest salon. The stylists tried to talk her out of it the blonde did suit her but seeing her sob, they did what she asked.
Mark only nodded, satisfied. He said nothing more, but the next morning presented her with an expensive bracelet, like some kind of apology.
And then there was the matter of white clothes. Red, blue, green any colour she liked, but not white. She once jokingly asked what colour her wedding dress would be, and the look he gave her was so strange she never asked again.
Run from him, Emily had pleaded. Dont look back. Today you can’t wear white, tomorrow what not allowed out the house? No matter how nice he might seem, you need to find someone else. Someone normal.
Everyones got their quirks, Grace only shrugged. Were serious. Were even planning to have a child. Mark wants a girl hes already picked out a name, Daisy. And you want me to run.
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Grace should have listened to Emily. She was right about those oddities. Soon, Grace would have a chance to see for herself.
There was one room in the house where Grace could never go. It was always locked, key vanished. Once, Grace joked:
Are you related to Bluebeard or something?
Dont worry, Mark answered with a twisted sort of smile, I dont keep my ex-wives bodies in there.
End of that. Until, by a stroke of dreamlike luck, she glimpsed inside. Shed got in from university earlier than planned the lecturer away on a sudden conference. She knew Mark was home; she couldnt find him anywhere. Passing the forbidden door, she heard a muffled, strange voice. She nudged the door; through the crack, she saw something that froze her soul.
A vast portrait, covering the wall, of a laughing young woman with her arms stretched out to someone unseen. Mark was kneeling before it.
The girl in the painting was smiling graciously, handing invisible arms to someone. She looked hauntingly like Grace theyd have been taken for sisters, except for her fair hair. The stranger in the painting was a blonde.
Just a while longer, Daisy. Soon well be together, Mark was chanting. Grace felt something break inside her; she was about to burst through and demand an answer, but the next thing he said stopped her cold.
Shell give me a daughter, I know she will. Then your soul can slip into that little body, and youll be back with me. Forever. Ill look after you, and when youre grown, well fall in love all over again.
Madman, flashed through Graces mind, and she scrambled for the front door, shaking with terror. The others were right so right! But what now? How do you outrun a lunatic? And, worst of all, Grace really was expecting a tiny new life just beginning. Too soon to know for sure, but she felt it.
Her parents were far away, and her only close friend was Emily. So thats where she went.
I never imagined Mark could be like this, Grace muttered, hands clenched tight with fear. If I hadnt seen it with my own eyes, Id never have believed it.
Breathe, Emily offered her a glass of water. Grace drank obediently. Now, what are you going to do? Stay with him?
Never! Grace shook her head frantically. Hes completely mad, Em. Im scared for me and the baby. She attempted a smile. At least now I know why I wasnt allowed to dye my hair or wear white. He wanted me to look like her, the girl in the portrait.
Thank goodness you knew before the wedding, Emily reasoned. You havent told him about the baby, have you?
I wanted it to be a surprise
Well, dont. Tell him youve met someone else and youre leaving. Emily sighed. Its probably best for you to go home, get away. Transfer to a local uni, finish up there. Most importantly, keep your distance.
I suppose youre right.
*****************************************
The next half year was an absolute whirlwind for Grace not so much physically, but in her mind. Moving home, explaining everything to her parents She had to give up her studies because of the pregnancy there was no way shed ever consider an abortion, the baby was innocent. A little girl, just as Mark had wanted.
Contrary to all their fears, Mark let her go without fuss. He only made an ominous remark about her keeping stories to herself. He didnt even ask where she was headed as if it completely didnt matter to him.
Sometimes Grace wondered if shed made a mistake leaving him, not telling him about the baby. On this particular evening, she put her daughter, little Ellie, to bed and stood at the window, lost in thought.
The bell rang a delivery man, bringing her dinner. Grace had never learnt to cook. After a quick meal, she turned to her textbooks; she planned to resume her studies.
But letters danced across the page, her head spun Grace reached for her phone to call for help, but her hands wouldnt move. Couldnt move. Heart pounding, she saw Mark, gently cradling newborn Ellie, before everything went black.
***********************************************
Grace woke up in a hospital bed. Her mother, by a miracle, had decided to visit just in time.
The police searched high and low for the little girl to no avail. Mark, vanishing with Ellie, left not a footprint behind.
Only years later, the grief-stricken mother would find a trace. A photograph: Mark, arms wrapped round a beautiful, fair-haired girl.
