Ashley Johnson
Stories (2)
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Happily Ever After
Proposals. They are beautiful moments in the journey through love, and they are usually planned to be a surprise. The thing is most people get a feeling, an intuition if you will, when it is about to happen. They will spend the whole day before what they feel is about to be that “special date” getting their nails or hair done, buying a new outfit or whatever else the case may be while also trying to not make it look like they know.
By Ashley Johnson5 years ago in Fiction
A Chocolate Escape
Sandra stood completely still watching the rain drip down her kitchen window as a tear streamed down her face. It was a mix of the physical pain as well as her nerves and fear, she just couldn’t move. She had been stuck in this relationship for 6 years with seemingly no way out, until now. She glanced over at the laced chocolate cake she had baked. She had dealt with all the physical and mental abuse for so long and her attempts to go to the police had only made matters worse. The last time ended with him kicking her stomach and locking her in the closet, which happens to be where she hatched up her plan. She would make his favorite dessert, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting topped with some chopped walnuts.She looked back at the window and as she stood there staring at her reflection she played back all of the moments of the past. It all began about a year into their relationship, he had hidden that side of him so well before then. It started with him stumbling in drunk and yelling and throwing things. At first Sandra thought that would be it, he was just an angry drunk and she would try to convince him to drink less. That escalated pretty quickly to when he was shoving her down when he hadn’t been drinking but had a stressful day at work.. She tried to talk to the police but with half the force being his drinking buddies that made things incredibly worse. The night she ended up in the closet he came home drunk of course. He had been out with said buddies and they told him that she had went to the police station trying to get charges pressed against him and a restraining order but there was no evidence at the time to go off other than her word so they were warning him to lay off before it got to that point. He went home and immediately grabbed her “you think you can embarrass me like that” he screamed so loud it echoed through the house. He grabbed onto her hair at that point and dragged her down the main hallway to the linen closet, threw her down onto the floor of it and before slamming the door kicked her in the ribs and stomach. She sat there in pain for what seemed like days but in reality was about three hours but in that time she decided she couldn’t take this anymore and if the police weren’t going to help she would just have to take care of it herself. The thought itself troubled her, she wasn’t violent but in this moment of desperation she didn’t see another way. She played through so many scenarios, most of them worse case. What if he got suspicious and made her eat some? What if she didn’t put the right amount and he just simply got sick? Those scenarios continued to play through her mind as she walked over to the counter to finish up the dinner she had prepared for them to have before the final desserts. She had also went to the store and bought a single slice of cake for her to have in an attempt to help the suspicion scenario so she went ahead and cut his cake and put it on a plate next to hers. She heard the door open and her heart pounded in her chest. “I’ve prepared dinner, as an apology for embarrassing you.” She sat the plate down at the table. He didn’t say much, the conversation was light and tense, the anger was still there just below the surface. They finished their food and she took the dishes into the kitchen and went to grab the cakes. It was at this point a new scenario she didn’t plan for popped into her head, what would she do if she put both pieces of similar looking cake on the exact same type of plate right next to each other. She tried to remember which side she had put hers on. She felt certain it was the right but there was a seed of doubt. She knew if she didn’t go back soon he would wonder what was going on so she decided to go with her instinct and give him the piece on the left and she would just pick at hers and not really eat it. She walked hesitantly back out of the kitchen wondering if she could really do this. She wasn’t a killer, she didn’t have much of a plan for afterwards either all she knew was she couldn’t take the abuse anymore so she sat the cake on the table and waited. He ate the entire piece pretty quickly as Sandra just shuffled hers around on her plate, luckily he didn’t notice this or didn’t care. Once he finished he got up and went to the living room to watch TV. Sandra brought the plates into the kitchen and glanced at the couch where he was sitting. She wasn’t sure she could handle waiting long enough to find out if this worked or if she gave him the piece that wasn’t poisoned. She looked back into the living room and noticed he was doubling over in pain. She went in and asked what was wrong and he said his stomach felt like it was on fire. She began to freak out even more, everything was beginning to feel so real and she couldn’t take it. She told him they should get to a hospital so she drove him and got him rushed in. She knew that they would figure out what it was so she grabbed the doctor to have a private conversation. She explained everything fully prepared to face whatever consequences came her way. The doctor luckily seemed sympathetic, he said that the amount she put in wasn’t enough to have killed him or do any significant damage besides the stomach pains and vomiting. He also said that luckily they have a few protocols in place to help protect domestic abuse victims in situations like this at the discretion of the doctors.. While it seemed unethical to her the doctor said he could tell him it was food poisoning from the shrimp in their pasta she had made. Sandra just stared for a minute, in shock almost, she in one way felt relieved because she couldn’t believe that she had almost killed someone but also terrified because he was still going to be there to hurt her. The doctor said they would keep him overnight and he wouldn’t be released until around lunch the next day so she had some time to figure out a real plan, one that didn’t involve actual murder. She thanked the doctor and sped home where she packed up what she could. She had to use public transportation after because the car was in his name and she was worried he would say it was stolen and have it tracked to find her. As she sat on the bus with her two carry ons she began to cry. She may not have anything or anywhere to go yet but at least now she felt free.
By Ashley Johnson5 years ago in Fiction
