Short Story of Solace

Here's a little story to think about.

....

January 17, 1980

Unnamed northern city

A woman strolled through the cold barren streets of her own city at night. She was currently seeking to leave everything she worked for behind and start a new, less stressful life.

So long as she kept her golden ticket and take the train at 12 am sharp she would have an easier time finding and adjusting her new way of living.

In the distance the spotted the hill where the train station resided in her city. The woman gripped her black, wool purses and grey polyester suitcase as a cold breeze swiftly went past her arms.

She nervously peeked at her watch as she continued to speed walk towards the station.

"11 pm... Let's not waste any time" she mumbled quietly to herself as she eyed the station with a fiery determination.

As the young woman made her way to her destination, from the shadows of the streets three men eyed the woman walking all alone. The group then looked at each other and nodded silently with intended malice.

"Excuse me Miss!" The first man shouted at the woman. "Are you not freezing?"

The woman did not respond and kept on walking through the cold streets, predicting what was going to come out of the man's mouth.

The tall man sighed as he purposely bumped into the woman, knocking her large suitcase and purses over.

"Oh my!" The first man stuttered in a nervous manner "Please, miss forgive me for myself being so clumsy! I'll pick up your stuff right away."

The first man purposely stared into the woman's eyes and gave her a stunningly warm smile. As he finished picking up her items he held her hands and said...

"My name's Parker, again I'm really super sorry for knocking your stuff over. Aren't you the woman who worked at the office on Main Street? May I ask why you have all of your stuff with you?"

The woman said nothing to Parker and kept walking down the street.

"I'm sorry for being a little annoying, and I get I'm a complete stranger but why are you leaving? You looked so happy around your own coworkers and doesn't your family live in this city? Won't you begin to feel homesick when you miss everyone here?"

The woman kept on walking, tightly gripping her baggage and having her eye focused on the train station.

"Miss? What will happen to you if people try to contact you and you don't answer? I personally think moving away alone is a silly idea to be honest. I would like to be your friend for sure. I'd love to buy you a coffee and a sandwich at the bakery around your work..."

No response.

At this point, Parker was edging to grab the woman by her hair but he decided to keep to himself a bit longer and see what she would say. With a red face Ethos began really trying to push the woman for a response .

*mentions of domestic violence ahead*

Don't you think you may hurt other people's feelings if you just ran off so soon? What would your family say about quitting the job you've spent years at? Do you think you're being some sort of idol for women just because you're running away from your problems? DO YOU REALLY THINK SOME MAN WON'T SNATCH YOU IN THE NIGHT AND LEAVE YOU FOR DEAD? WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOUR EX BOYFRIEND TRIES AND TRIES TO KILL YOU??"

While Parker was in a blind rage the woman scurried off into the night. She had taken another path even before he got mad because she thought that man was really annoying her from the start.

"11:10 pm, better get back on track" she mumbled to herself.

Despite taking a detour the woman was content at the pace she was going at and even felt a small feeling of happiness for pushing herself to pursue a new life.

The next man eyed the woman with a stack of papers in his hand. He walked behind her as she walked towards the train station slightly closer to her field of vision.

"Excuse me ma'am, would you be so kind to hold these papers while I take a call?" A middle aged gentleman politely asked the woman.

Though she wasn't interested in loosing track, she aided the gentleman anyways out of kindness.

"Thank you!" The older gentleman replied happily as he reached for his cellphone.

"Hello? Evening, this is Logan. Did you finish the domestic violence report, Riley? Ah alright, quite a shame that around 85% of women end up being victims to their male partners around these parts. Even when they try to escape sometimes their former partners trace them down. I also heard that abuse survivors have a hard time adjusting to their new lives after escaping abuse. Many men hold power over their partners heads and give them a walloping if they ever speak out..."

The woman was shivering from both the freezing weather and at what the man was saying. At that point she almost wanted to give in into a mental breakdown because the business man was right about what he was saying. She thought to herself that if she were to move her ex was the kind of guy to seek revenge.

But she already knew all of this and pushed herself to keep going. The woman dropped the man's papers onto the snow and realized the time was 11:40 pm.

"Sorry I have to go!" The woman shouted as she ran up the hill towards the station.

Logan grunted in anger and threw his cellphone towards the snow.

After running up the hill the woman saw the train pull up at the station.

"11:50 pm, with ten minutes to spare" The woman smiled with pride as ran towards the train.

Suddenly she saw a man standing in front of the station.

A face that was unfortunately she recognized.

"________, what are you doing here?" A man in a suit asked "We have work tomorrow!"

"Mr. Etzel, I said this afternoon that I was quitting-"

"And I'm afraid that I can't let you quit. I see that you're moving but you still need to have an income. You have no house, no car, and it's going to take you a while to find a new job... You can't do this to yourself." Mr. Etzel said in a surprisingly calm tone.

"My boyfriend is abusive and he's obviously going to look for me at my work. Every time I see him it's always threatens me over the smallest things. He controls and stalks everything I do and this is my one chance to leave."

"Did you ever call the police on him for domestic abuse?"

"I did a long time ago, his friends testified for him and my parents refused to help me out because they blamed me for getting into a relationship with him" the woman sighed

"Can't you just video tape what he says and show it as proof?"

"He won't let me out of his sight, that's why he also has the office job and you placed him beside me...He follows me everywhere and I only bought items under his permission-"

The woman eyed her watch "11:59 pm" and quickly hopped inside the train. She didn't even give her Boss a second look. She knew her situation and decided to answer to no one else.

By the time the woman looked outside the window, her Boss was walking down the hill in frustration.

Though she knew this plan was strange, she knew it was the right choice given her horrible situation. She was anxious about the off-chance her ex boyfriend would somehow find her again. The woman even worried about other abusive people coming into her life.

For now she gave herself a pat on the back for taking her first step towards her real destination. She had multiple destinations in fact and was going to face them head on.

For now, she sat comfortably in her warm seat as she found solace in her small but rewarding victory.

END

....