A New Beginning (Chapter One) *ReViSeD*

“Oh my God, you guys! How long have you been planning this?” Violet exclaimed as she opened the small box to see a plane ticket. The three girls sitting at the table with her, her two cousins (Summer and Savannah) and her sister (Rory) were all grinning at her.

“A couple of months.” Rory responded, honestly as she tossed her blonde hair behind her shoulder.

“This is so great! Wait…you three are coming with me, aren’t you?”

“Well hell yeah. Like we would let you have all the fun. We’re all single, and we all know how many hot guys there are in London.” Summer replied, with a wink.

“I still can’t believe the three of you did this.” Violet responded. Violet, the one who everyone believed was in some sort of trouble, the one everyone thought needed to be saved, helped, given a shove in the right direction; because they all just new that she had ‘strayed’ from her path to success.

“Well, just so you know. This was all my idea. I know how much you love London. You used to talk about it all the time…about wanting to go back again, even if it was the last time you ever went. ‘Just so long as I can see it one last time’, is what you used to tell me.” Savannah added, smiling affectionately at her cousin. Savannah was the one who everyone referred to as, the ‘innocent’ one.

“Okay, but why now? Why not wait, and give it to me as a wedding present?” Violet asked, curiously.

“Because we’re all hoping that you’ll change your mind about that jerk, while we’re in London. Whether it is on your own or if you get a good looking man to help give you a little push.” Summer replied, bluntly. It was her way, she was never one to sugar coat anything she had to say. Violet gave a heavy sigh; she could practically feel the disdain that dripped from every word that Summer had said.

“He’s not that bad, you know.” Violet protested.

“Oh, right. He only beets the hell out of your every other day. He’s never home, and when he is he’s drinking, hell even drinks when he’s not home.” Rory replied, rolling her eyes. And to this, Violet had no response. They were all right about him, and she knew it, but to be totally honest she was running out of options. He wanted her…enough anyways. No one else out there seemed to want her. Violet glanced out the window of the small coffee shop; a man passed by the window and glanced inside. He stared directly at their table, but he wasn’t looking at her. Violet sighed again and turned back to the other three girls.

“So when do we leave?”

“Tomorrow, the plane leaves at noon. We figured we would car pool to the air port.”

“Car pool?” Violet snorted with laughter. “None of us have a car big enough to get all four of us to the air port.”

“Valid point, my dear.” Summer said, with a haughty air to her voice and a giggle. “Which is why, Savannah and Rory are going to ride together, and I’m going to come and get you.” She finished.

“Okay, so…it takes at least an hour and a half to get through customs.”

“We’ll be at the airport by nine thirty. So I’ll be picking you up at about seven, because the three of us decided that we want to have breakfast before we get on the plane.

“Sounds like a plan. I can’t wait.” Violet replied, with a smile and it was the first real smile that any of the other three girls had seen in a long time. Violet glanced down at her watch and then jumped up, as if someone had kicked her. “Oh no. I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you all tomorrow. Thanks again you three!” She added as she headed for the door of the coffee shop. Savannah sighed, and the other two just shook their heads as they watched Violet burst out of the door and hurry toward her car.

Violet threw her things into the passenger seat of the car and after clicking on her seatbelt she quickly headed home. He would be home from work in an hour, and she hadn’t started on dinner, or cleaning the house. She drove as fast as she could without getting herself pulled over. Something quick and easy to make, Violet thought to herself as she pulled into the driveway and hurried inside. She dropped her purse onto the small table next to the door and headed for the kitchen.

“What’s the rush?”

Violet nearly screamed as she jumped and whirled around to face him.

“Alex, I can-.”

“I already ordered some Chinese. But, what I want to know…is why you weren’t here when I got home?”

“Alex, you weren’t supposed to be home for another hour.” She replied, backing up slightly, as he took a couple steps toward her.

“Violet…that wasn’t my question.”

“I just went out for a little while…that’s all.”

“With who?”

“Family.” She retorted bitterly.

“You should have been home well before now.” He told her, with a sinister smile. “Just look at this place, I like it clean when I get home, but it’s a mess.” And with that he knocked a row of pictures off the wall. Violet flinched slightly.

“Clean it up. I’m going to get dinner.”

“What? But Alex, I-.”

“I SAID clean it up!” He yelled. And in one swift move he caught her by the throat and slammed her back against the wall. “You know not to question what I say. How many times do we have to go over this?” He asked, tightening his hold around her neck. Violet started groping and scratching at his hand, trying to get him to loosen his grip.

“I want an answer, Violet!”

“Please…” She murmured, desperately trying to feed her starving lungs.

“Are you going to clean up your mess?”

“Y…yes.” Was all she could manage.

“Good. Are you going to question me again?” He demanded. She tried to respond as the room started to blur. “I’ll take that as a no. I want this all off the floor when I get back. Make sure you get every little piece of glass swept up. You wouldn’t want me stepping on any, would you?” He released her, and she slid to the floor, gasping for air. Her lungs felt like they were on fire. Alex walked out the door, laughing as he closed it behind him. How much longer am I going to let him do this to me? Violet thought as she began to pick up the mess of broken picture frames and shards of glass off the floor. There had only been three pictures hanging there, and luckily two out of three of them hadn’t shattered too badly. She had the mess cleaned within minutes after he had left. She walked to the trash can to throw away the picture frames and the glass. She looked at the pictures that she had taken out of the frames. They were all of her and Alex. One was from their first date; another was from the first time that she brought him around the family, which had just happened to be at a big family reunion that her family had every year. The third was from three months ago, just before she had moved in with him. They were at a wedding; one of Alex’s friends had gotten married. He had been the best man, and oddly enough they had asked Violet to be the maid of honor. It was a picture of the two of them dancing. They looked so in love. Violet shook her head and tore the pictures into tiny pieces. Love…she thought. There is no such thing…it’s only a figment of our imagination…a girl can only hope to fall in love…and make herself believe that she is in love…I’m living proof…I thought I was in love once…ha….

Violet climbed the stairs and pulled out her only suitcase. She didn’t need more than one, she never packed too terribly much, and what she did pack she was able to fold up small enough to get it all into the suitcase. It was rather nicely sized, one of the larger ones. It had come with a set, but she never used any of the other things so she gave them away. Violet walked around her room, back and forth between her closet, and her dresser drawers, then to the suitcase packing the things that she either wanted or needed to take. She packed up four pairs of jeans, two pairs of denim capris, three sweaters, three regular long sleeve shirts (not thick enough to be sweaters), ten t-shirts (she liked sleeping in t-shirts, as well as wearing them out from time to time), three pairs of sweat pants, two pairs of shorts, two skirts, three tank tops, a handful of socks, and a handful of under things. She also threw in two extra pairs of shoes. A pair of cute high heeled sandal dress shoes, and a pair of sneakers. She stepped back and looked inside her suitcase, then glanced around the room. Ah…my favorite perfume…Alex hates this scent…he wont notice it missing. It was a full bottle of her ‘Lucky You’ perfume. She loved it; it was nearly a full bottle. She had only gotten it a few days before meeting him, and only wore it a couple of times since then, because he said it made him want to vomit. So he picked out a new perfume ‘Curious’ the Britney Spears scent. Violet hated the smell, but if she wore anything else he had a tendency to throw a fit. She gathered some of her favorite jewelry into a small baggy and added it to the suitcase. Anything else I can get on the way to the air port in the morning…I would like to have some new clothes though…She hadn’t bought new clothes for herself in months, and it was killing her. She used to love to shop. But Alex had told her time and time again that the only shopping she needed to do was the shopping for their food. Violet rolled her eyes and sighed. Maybe I will find someone while I’m away…and if I do…I swear I wont come back…she thought as she closed the suitcase, just as the front door opened and closed.

“Oh God.” She mumbled, and quickly zipped the suitcase shut.

“Violet, I’m home!”

“I’ll be right down!” She called back and quickly but quietly stuffed the suitcase back where she had gotten it. She stepped back to make sure it didn’t look any different.

“What are you doing up there?”

“Just…freshening up!”

“Ah, good! Put on that little red number I like and the heels too!”

“Yes dear!” Violet groaned and walked over to her dresser. It was a very skimpy piece of cloth, a teddy that he loved to see her wear. He could see right through it, and whenever she wore it, his eyes never left her body. In some cases that would have made her feel good but in this case…it made her very uncomfortable. She applied Alex’s favorite perfume and also his favorite shade of lipstick. Bright red, she hated it. It made her look cheap. ‘It brings out the fullness of your lips’ he had told her when he plucked it off the shelf after she had jokingly applied some to her lips at the store. She walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Alex was sitting at the dining room table where he had a clear view of her moving around the kitchen. Every light in the house was turned off, accept for the kitchen light. He had lit a single candle on the table, his effort to be romantic. Violet put Alex’s food onto a plate, and grabbed him another beer, he rarely drank anything else, and then took it out to him before getting her own food. Once she sat down at the table, she looked up at him. He was still watching her, and even with all of the qualities that made her fear him, the startling blue of his eyes always made her want to smile, and so she did, she stared into his eyes and for a second, she was able to smile at him, almost lovingly. Love for the man she had seen in those eyes so long ago, love for the man she thought he was, love for the man that she had so desperately wanted and needed in her life. She ate her food slowly, trying desperately to avoid what she knew he was going to want after dinner.

“I’m finished.” He told her, nearly thirty minutes later; Violet had hardly eaten any of her food, announcing that he was finished, was his way of letting her know that she was finished as well.

“I’ll just wash the dishes and I’ll be up to bed.” She told him as she reached for his plate, but he grabbed hold of her wrist.

“No, you can get the dishes later; when we’re finished. I know you’re trying to avoid this, like you’re going to keep it from happening. You know it won’t work, now let’s go.” He said, as he stood and tightened his hold on her wrist.

“Okay…ouch…Alex, you’re hurting me.” She replied and glanced up at him. “Please, Alex…not tonight…please, perhaps tomorrow. Please, Alex…you always hurt me when we go upstairs…please…I don’t want to tonight…please.” Violet pleaded, tears shining in her eyes.

“DAMNIT VIOLET! You’re not getting out of this!” He cursed under his breath and lifted her by her arms out of the chair and to her feet, he nuzzled her neck softly, pressing a soft kiss to her throat. “Come on, Violet…I wont hurt you tonight…let me love you. I want you to enjoy it Violet…I don’t want you to always think of it as a chore.” He whispered, nipping at her ear.

“Alex...” She whimpered, trying to fight the warmth that filled her heart, something that so rarely happened anymore, while at the same time trembling with the fear of going up to bed with him.

“If you won’t give it to me then I’ll go somewhere else to get it.” He replied, finally realizing that she wasn’t going to budge on her decision, and before Violet had the chance to start collecting the dishes again, Alex’s hand landed hard against her cheek, causing her head to jerk to the right and she stumbled back a step, before tumbling to the floor. He stepped over, yanking her to her feet again, before cursing loudly and releasing her with a shove. Violet sighed with relief, and then groaned. She was relieved that he had left, but she wished he would have done it without hitting her first. She lifted herself off the floor to collect the dirty dishes, and gathering them in the sink to wash them. Once they had all been cleaned, dried, and put away she made her way upstairs. As soon as she stepped into the bedroom she stripped off the skimpy outfit that Alex had asked her to wear and pulled on a t-shirt. She went into the bathroom and wiped the lipstick from her face. Finally she pulled on a pair of sweat pants and crawled into bed. She curled up on her side, and closed her eyes.