She had never felt so humiliated in her life. When she stepped out of the bathroom, she nearly ran into her husband. “Come on, sweetheart, I’ve got everything ready,” he said with a grin that made her stomach turn. The moment Emily crossed the bedroom threshold, she froze in raw fear.
The room was lit with dim, gloomy light, and the only real piece of furniture was an enormous metal bed frame. When she looked closer, her blood ran cold. Heavy chains were fastened to the posts, and in the center of the bed a pair of steel handcuffs caught the light. “What is this?” Emily whispered, her voice shaking, finally realizing that the rumors about her husband’s sadism had been true.
“I hope my naughty little bride appreciates the surprise,” Richard said, slowly lifting a thick leather whip from the floor. “You’re sick,” Emily shouted, then bolted into the hallway. “Get back here!” he roared, charging after her. Emily ran outside in nothing but a bathrobe and house slippers.
By some miracle, she made it over the tall fence and tore down the dark streets without any sense of direction. One thought pounded in her head: get to Linda’s house and tell her what had happened. It was well past midnight by the time she reached her aunt’s neighborhood, cutting through the quietest side streets she could find. A few late-night passersby stared at the disheveled young woman in a robe, and a couple of men muttered crude jokes under their breath.
Then she saw Richard’s SUV parked outside Linda’s house. Emily stopped short and slipped into the shadow of a large tree. “Now don’t you worry, Richard,” Linda was saying loudly from the front porch. “If that girl shows up here, I’ll call you immediately. Ungrateful little fool. Let her wander around. She’ll come crawling back, but I won’t make it easy on her.”
“I’d appreciate that, Linda,” Richard said calmly. “Please let her in if she comes, but call me right away. I’m very attached to my young wife. She’s just frightened and doesn’t understand what’s good for her.” “Of course,” her aunt replied at once, her tone warming.
“And this is just a little something for your trouble,” Richard added, pulling out a thick stack of cash. “For household expenses.” “Oh, that’s very generous,” Linda said in a syrupy voice, quickly tucking the money away. Hidden in the dark, Emily let out a muffled sob. The last path to safety had just closed in front of her.
Tears spilled down her face. She had never imagined the only family she had left would sell her out for cash. Numb with despair, she turned and walked aimlessly through the sleeping streets. At that point, she no longer cared how she looked or who stared.
Luckily, the town was quiet and the sidewalks were empty. Emily looked up at the dark apartment buildings with aching envy. “Those people are lucky,” she thought bitterly. “They have warm beds and locked doors. I don’t even have that.”
Trying to come up with any kind of plan, she eventually wandered to the local train platform. All she wanted was to get as far away from that place as possible. But how? She had no money in the pockets of her robe, and her ID and papers were still in the house she had fled.
Exhausted, she sank onto a wooden bench and sat there waiting for something—what exactly, she couldn’t have said. Before long, the sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn. Then she heard the scrape of a broom.
Turning, she saw a tired woman in an orange work vest and hurried over. “Excuse me,” Emily said quietly. “I’m in real trouble.” “Who isn’t?” the woman replied with a shrug, smelling strongly of stale alcohol. “Can’t help you.”
“I’m not asking for money. Do you maybe have some old clothes you could spare?” Emily asked. “Look at you,” the woman snapped. “What do I look like, a charity closet? I barely get by myself. Move along before I call somebody.”
Realizing there was no point pressing further, Emily walked away. Just then, the whistle of an early commuter train sounded, and almost without thinking, she climbed aboard. She found a seat in an empty car and leaned her forehead against the cold glass. As the train pulled away, she watched her hometown disappear and made herself one promise: she would never come back.
“Please stand clear, doors closing. Next stop: St. Mary’s,” the speaker crackled, pulling Emily from an anxious half-sleep. The car slowly filled with tired people heading to work. No one paid any attention to the strange young woman in a robe.
A memory surfaced from a school field trip years earlier. Her class had once visited the monastery near that stop, and back then the strict life of the nuns had seemed unbearable to her. She had honestly wondered why any woman would choose to shut herself away behind cold stone walls.
Now, though, the thought felt like her only chance. A quiet, structured life protected from the cruelty of the world suddenly seemed almost enviable. The moment the train stopped, Emily jumped off and headed into the woods. For nearly two hours, she made her way through the damp forest.
