Saturday's Storyteller: "This is the last time I'm doing this."
by Belinda Roddie
"This is the last time I'm doing this."
"What are you talking about?"
"This," replied Jenny. "This whole thing. The arguments, the angry texts, the constant back-and-forths. I'm not dealing with it anymore. Either something changes, or you're on your own."
Winston froze in his chair, the half-empty bottle of beer now dangling loosely from his fist. He then suddenly began to laugh. "Cute," he murmured. "And where, my dear, might you turn to?"
"Family," Jenny said. "Friends. Loved ones. It will be very easy for me to start over, Winston. You're not necessarily a strong glue holding my life together."
"I will make your life a living Hell," growled Winston, his mouth trembling like the dripping snout of an injured animal. "Do you hear me? I will make everything miserable for you."
"And the fact that you think that'll make me stay is both bizarre and absolutely disgusting," whispered Jenny. "Goodbye, Mister Baxter."
With that, she reached for the suitcase she had had packed and hidden, picked it up, and walked out the door. She closed her ears off to his screaming. She averted her eyes when, as she drove her pick-up away from the apartment, Winston tried to chase after her in his stained shirt and dirty boxers, waving his arms and screeching like a predator that had lost its prey. And that was just the way it was - Jenny had freed herself from the clutches of the sick man's talons. Now she had a door to knock on two cities away.
Maddie was there to answer it.
This week's prompt was provided by Kyle Oathout.
"This is the last time I'm doing this."
"What are you talking about?"
"This," replied Jenny. "This whole thing. The arguments, the angry texts, the constant back-and-forths. I'm not dealing with it anymore. Either something changes, or you're on your own."
Winston froze in his chair, the half-empty bottle of beer now dangling loosely from his fist. He then suddenly began to laugh. "Cute," he murmured. "And where, my dear, might you turn to?"
"Family," Jenny said. "Friends. Loved ones. It will be very easy for me to start over, Winston. You're not necessarily a strong glue holding my life together."
"I will make your life a living Hell," growled Winston, his mouth trembling like the dripping snout of an injured animal. "Do you hear me? I will make everything miserable for you."
"And the fact that you think that'll make me stay is both bizarre and absolutely disgusting," whispered Jenny. "Goodbye, Mister Baxter."
With that, she reached for the suitcase she had had packed and hidden, picked it up, and walked out the door. She closed her ears off to his screaming. She averted her eyes when, as she drove her pick-up away from the apartment, Winston tried to chase after her in his stained shirt and dirty boxers, waving his arms and screeching like a predator that had lost its prey. And that was just the way it was - Jenny had freed herself from the clutches of the sick man's talons. Now she had a door to knock on two cities away.
Maddie was there to answer it.
This week's prompt was provided by Kyle Oathout.
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