Lying in bed, Tara stretched out her arms feeling unprepared to start the new day. Sitting up looking at the pale yellow walls around her with brown furniture, she felt blended it.
Boring.

Following that unlikable thought came the pleasant mental image of Mark. Who invited her out to dinner last night. Who stepped out of his way to make sure she felt in place and comfortable. Who was nice enough to walk her out to her car.
Then there was Tim. She tried to make the memory end before Tim came, but she couldn’t. She felt a knot in her stomach, knowing that at that moment last night something changed within her relationship with Tim. Who could she talk to though? None of her family ever appreciated Tim the way she did, and she knew if she were to talk to Tim about it she would put herself in danger with his anger. Early on in their relationship, they had a vision of being a long-lasting couple. Not as long lasting as we thought, Tara muttered to herself.

Pushing the thoughts of Tim aside, she rose from the impression of the lovely memory foam bed and realigned her white tank top, heading to the bathroom to begin her morning routine. When she returned to the room, freshly showered and ready for the day, she heard the TV in the living room. Tim’s home. She threw on her usual black heels, pencil skirt and simple blouse with earrings that decorated the outfit, hoping that saying good morning and being in a visible rush to leave the house would be enough to satisfy their conversation for the time being.

Hearing her heels clink from out of her room, the darkest of eyes of Tim met Tara’s face.

“Good morning.” Tara smiled as their eyes met.

Tim didn’t respond. After shuffling around in their tiny kitchen, Tim spoke.
“So who were you with last night?” he went on to say.
“I told you, just some people from work. It was a long day so we decided to go out.” But she knew what he was really getting at. Mark…crap.
“Come on Tara, you know what I mean. That dude,” the sound in his voice getting more serious and threatening.
“That was Mark. Just a guy from work,” annoyance spilled out of the tone of her voice.
“Well don’t cancel something to be with him again.” he warned.
Or what? Rolling her eyes and flipping her long, perfectly flipped brown hair over her shoulder and said as unenthusiastically as she could,
“See you later” before pulling the brass knob to leave.


Before work even started, Tara felt drained. Logging onto the computer, she saw an email from Mark. Her mind brightened like the unexpected sun coming out on a cloudy day. She moved the curser to it, and opened it up. It read,

Hey. Hope there wasn’t a problem last night. We should do it again sometime. See you tomorrow.







-Mark

Again?! Yes again! Before she could get too excited, she calmed herself and got up to go get a cup of coffee outside her office. Emailing me after last night must mean something right? Fixed in her thoughts, she came back to reality as the hot coffee burned the top of her hand.

“Good morning,” his cool voice spoke. Her cheeks blushed when she turned around with the mess of coffee in front of her. Tara felt like a teenager, giddy with excitement that it was Mark.

“Hey there,” she replied as nonchalantly as she could.

“I had fun with you last night. Hope you weren’t in too much trouble or whatever that was,” he said with an intent of figuring out more information.

“Sorry about that. It’s Tim, my boyfriend. He was just worried where I was.” Saying this basically gave Mark the clue that he was now a factor in their relationship. Tara’s cheeks flushed as her brown eyes met Mark’s hazel eyes.

“Well, maybe next Friday we could go out again.” YES!

“Yeah, that would be fun. I’d like that a lot,” she replied nervously. One to many emails went unanswered as her thoughts locked her into imagining next Friday with Mark. Before she knew it, the day was over. Pulling her long brown hair into a pony tail, the bangs slipped behind her ears. Her phone reached up to touch the bare ears, trying to reach her mom to fill her in on what happened over the course of two days. Tara predicted her mom would be ecstatic to hear about a boy other than Tim, but figured it might be best that she didn’t answer considering there was no proof to show that anything changed anyway.
When she arrived home around 5:00, Tim was dressed in fitting denim jeans and a T-shirt. She could smell the hint of his masculine cologne. He was up to something.

“Since we couldn’t go out last night, I figured we could tonight,” he sweetly said to her as she was walking towards him in the living room. As tired as Tara was, she made sure to satisfy Tim and keep him from thinking she was drifting away from him. Even if she was.
________________________________________________________________________

Half way through their dinner, Tara’s phone buzzed. That’s weird. She grabbed into her purse to see. Another email. Mark?!

Feeling guilty, yet with a sly smile on her face, she shoved her phone back into her purse. Tim carefully watched her smile form and the flush of her cheeks turn slightly pink. When Tara looked up from her phone, she knew that Tim knew who it was. The awkward pause was broken when the waiter made his way over. For the rest of dinner, Tim drank whiskey.


“You ready?” Tara carefully questioned. Tim’s glazed-over eyes looked into hers and nodded. He took the keys out of his pocket and forcefully shoved the chair back managing not to knock it over. Embarrassed, Tara kept walking in front, ignoring the mess behind her.

“Tim, I’m driving.” Tara stated as bluntly as she could in the parking lot.

“I’m fine. Get in the car,” he commanded back.

“I’m not letting you drive. You’re not okay to drive Tim,”

“I’m fine!” he yelled back. Other couples walking back to their cars could see the obvious tension between them.

As Tara walked closer to Tim, her phone buzzed again. Not now. As quickly as she could, she tried to silence her phone.

“Oh, who’s that? On our date, who the f*** is trying to talk to you?” the evident anger in Tim’s voice began to scare Tara. His muscles were tense, his body looked bigger, and his voice colder than ever.

“It’s an email from work. Cut it out and give me the keys. I want to go home,”

“Princess wants to go home. Well get in the car then, princess,” he said mockingly, beginning to poke and tease her.

You’ve gotta be kidding me.

He wobbled to the other side of the car and pulled the handle. Stay an arm-length away.

“Unlock it!” he demanded. She fumbled to pick up the keys and steady herself, now afraid of the way Tim was acting. Her manicured nails quickly pressed the unlock button on the key and allowed him to get in first before she did. Tim was silent in the car until they were home.

“Let’s go inside,” Tim whispered, as his hand reached over the console skimming her soft arms. Goosebumps sprouted on her arm in fear.

“Knock it off Tim. I just want to go to bed,” and she began shuffling her body away from his touch in the car. He tried to grab her arm as she got up, but she made sure to be fast. Tim’s slurred voice screamed obscenities at her and he slowly made his way behind her into the house.

Tara’s brown hair was in knots. Her eyes swollen from tears. A bruise on her arm, and scratches on her legs. Scrambling for her phone, she needed an escape. Tim was passed out on the side of the bed. I need to get out of here. Wiping tears off of her red cheeks, she looked for her dark blue duffle bag. As soon as it was in her hands, she threw in two outfits, toothbrush, and her work items and locked herself in the bathroom closest to the kitchen. Please answer, please. The ringing went to her mother’s soothing voicemail but it wasn’t comforting enough to know that she was still under the same roof as Tim.

Why would he do this? HOW could he do this? Thinking of the event before made the tears flow more heavily.

“Mom,” she took heavy breaths in between, “It’s Tara. Please call me back when you get this. I need to leave. I’m okay but I need to leave. Love you. Please call me back soon.” and she hung up the phone. Feeling desperate, she called the person who made Tim the most jealous.

Please answer, Mark, please. At the other end of the line, a deep and raspy voice picked up, questioning “Who is this?”

“Mark it’s me, Tara. I need help. Is there anyway you can please,” deep breath, “pick me up?” Mark felt the desperation in Tara’s voice, suddenly worried.

“What’s wrong? Yes of course,” his voice was clearing as he was waking up. Repeating her thank you’s she gave him the address and tried to calm herself down.


Tara’s head was resting on the side of the bathroom wall, when the buzz from her phone woke up her up.

-
Mark -

“I’m here…would you like me to come get you?” he sounded protective.

“No, I’ll be out in a second,” and within seconds she silently sprinted her way out of the house, with a loud slam of the door behind her.

Tara pulled for the car door handle and took heavy deep breaths once she was in the car. Mark was taken back by her appearance – so visibly scared and hurt, not put together like she always was.

“Its okay Tara, we’re leaving now,” he cooed gently. She felt the kindness in his voice and was grateful.

“Thank you,” she whispered back.

Night turned into morning, and Tara found herself in a strange room. Scrambling for her stuff in a quick panic, she then remembered she was safe with Mark. Looking for a clock, the time read 10:30.

10:30?! I never sleep this late. S***. Tim. Where is he?

She threw the blue sheets off her body and walked around to find Mark. He was in the kitchen, with cereal on the table and the aroma of coffee filling the room.

“Good morning, sleepy,” he said kindly, and then looked her up and down to take in the scratches and bruises that were left on her body. She followed his gaze down, and felt embarrassed when her eyes saw what Tim had done. Feeling a wave of sadness that was about to crash out of Tara’s soul, Mark assured her he had called the cops last night and that she didn’t have to worry about Tim for some time.

She walked over and unexpectedly hugged Mark. Mark held on to her tight, and she held on tight too. He tilted his head down and let his lips skim her forehead. She tilted her head up and his gazed promised that everything was going to be alright.