"Acknowledging the good

that you already have

in your life is the foundation

for all abundance."

-Eckhart Tolle

Replaying the life I once had. I realize I have no idea where I am. The jolt of the pickup pulls me back to physical existence, as it slows down to a stop light just off the interstate. The morning sun is just starting to shine orange against the pines. With the light of morning I can see I had gotten in the wrong truck; this one is heading west, but only took me a few towns over. We pull into a gravel lot near the heart of town at the local "feed and seed".

When I hear the overhead bell chime from a distance, I know the truck is empty. Tying my hoodie around my waist and opening a granola bar out of the plastic bag, I start out on foot, to only God knows where.

Jason Pectin was a man of average height, and at first glance you could tell he came from wealth. He always wore slacks, and kept his collared shirts neatly tucked. Although he had facial hair, he always kept it short and perfectly lined. With his thick eyebrows sharply groomed, and never out of place.

A week after the night Jason and his men came, I agreed to Mr. Pectin's deal to marry his son and move on his ranch to clear my father's debt. I knew my father didn't approve, but it was only way. I knew in my heart if Jason came again, he would kill my father.

Early in our marriage I realized Wyatt was nothing like his father, Jason. Although he didn't smile or speak to me much at the beginning, somehow, he was much sweeter and far more different in appearance. Wyatt didn't inherit his father's empty blue eyes, his were a warm golden brown but carried pain inside of them. He was much taller than Jason, a bit paler with an olive undertone, I assumed inherited from his mom, and due to his job, his body was more built.

Wyatt looked out for me and tried to keep me away from the main house when possible. The Pectin's had over 300 acres for their cattle, most of it was cleared fields for rotation and to harvest hay for the year. But he kept 50 of the acres wooded for easy evening hunts where he built a small hunting cabin for convenience. However, he no longer had a use for it since he started traveling out of state for hunts.

Jason was cruel and spiteful but loved Wyatt, why else would he get his son a wife? After weeks of nearly begging and negotiating, Jason finally agreed to let us move into the cabin if Wyatt worked longer shifts on the farm and I continued the cook super and maintain his house during the day.

We moved to the far end of his father's property in his small tucked away cabin, for the both of us. Wyatt couldn't stand his father; Jason had a quick temper, and mistreated Wyatt since his wife passed away from ovarian cancer eight years ago this past June. Wyatt claimed he hadn't always been like this, that eight years ago, they were happy, he remembered back when they would throw the baseball in the front yard and laugh while his mama seat on the porch's rocker watching each evening before starting on dinner. But for me, it's hard to picture Jason any differently.

Over a year into our lives together we grew to become close friends; The man I once feared at the beginning, ended up being kind and would spend some of his extra money on books for me when he would go into town for groceries and supplies. Wyatt had always apologized to me for the way his father treated me and what he expected me to provide for this family. I'm too young to become a mother, and if Jason was only interested in the sole purpose of carrying on the family name and business, what was to come if what was birth wasn't to his satisfaction? Infertility was already crossing his mind, due to the amount of time that had passed with yet still no baby. Jason was cold hearted but not a stupid man, and it would have only been a matter a time until he figured out, we weren't having sex. He didn't look at me that way. Wyatt swore if he could get me out of this he would, if there were a way to keep me safe and a guarantee for my father's life.

When he would come back home from working with the cattle, we would talk for hours about an escape and a life out of this place and running away. Some days I thought he hated it there more than I did. In all our daydreams, I just never imagined we wouldn't get out together and my dad would be murdered for me to finally get the escape I had been longing for.

With me no longer being a part of my father's life. He started to fill his emptiness with booze to take away his pain. He started showing up to work late and drunk. Earning less from the lack of hours and falling back on rent once again. Jason had enough.

It was a month into fall, as the sun began to set, the evening breeze whipped into the screened windows. The smell of rain still in the air from earlier that morning. What is that? I could hear the fallen leaves crushing and small branches breaking as I folded a throw blanket, I peered out of the living room window to see my father!

"Abbie! Abs! Open the door!"

"Dad? What, what are you doing here?" fear washes over my face, I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone, especially him. My words are rushed. "Why are you running, you can't be here!"

"Dad, Jason can't see you here!"

Before he could speak, Jason and his workers busted in the door, grabbing my father, and knocking me down in the process!

"Get off of him" I shouted, but my screaming pleads were swallowed in the loud noise of boots colliding with the wooden floors! They all pushed in through the door, forcing me to scurry into the next room before being trampled. All I can hear is yelling and glass smashing against the wall. I try to push and tug my way through the group of man to get to him. But they are all far too big for my small arms to move!

Suddenly, quiet filled the now destroyed room. I pulled and weaved through the men who tore apart my living room and when I finally broke pass the barrier my heart sank. There on the narrow staircase was my father, his body bruised and limp in a pool of red. My chest tightened, and knees gave out as I fell to floor gasping for air between my cries.

Through my sobs, I heard boots running up the porch, rushing into the house. Wyatt pushed past three of his co-workers, quickly towering over Jason and yelling in his face.

"You killed him! Abbie was holding up her end! She has done everything you said!"

Wyatt yanked another guy out of the way searching for me, but careful to keep Jason in his sight. His breathing was out of control, his eyes frantic, bouncing body to body until finally landing on me. When his eyes found mine, realizing I was alright, the softness turns dark, they are telling me to run!

Before I can get to my feet, he grabbed his father by the collar of his shirt and lifted him off the ground in an anger fueled rage. I'm pushed into a wall once again by another man rushing from the kitchen trying to break it up! One blow to the jaw was all it took, Wyatt and Jason fumbled onto the ground as the men circled around trying to pull Wyatt off, closing me out.

An hour or so into my walk, I cross an empty lot with mid-high grass and heavy dew. My flip flops collecting which seemed like each chilly dew drop in my path. The blades of grass running along the sides of my feet, a few even getting tangled between my toes as I walk. The bitter bite of the cold droplets causes a chill to run down my spine. Even with the morning sun, the air is still crisp. But soon enough the Louisiana heat will find me. With that thought in mind I quicken my pace leading to an old cracked and partly overgrown sidewalk. The moisture on my feet now collecting particles of dust, dirt, and sand. But through the grit I walked upon, I mustard up all the grace I had and continued my way. I couldn't stop, I had to leave. I had to keep my head held high. Brushing away the tears I stirred up in deep thought. I look ahead setting my eyes on my current destination and can see three neon circles shining into view.

"Miss, at the end of the day, I'm running a business here. Sure, it's a nice ring. But you aren't seeing my side of it, I've got to be able to resell it."

He studies my wedding band for a moment longer, pressing his lips together and furrowing his brow as if to further his concentration. Before turning back to me.

"The best I can do is a hundred and fifteen, unless you sell me your pearl earrings for a few more bucks."

They were my Mother's. Another item she had left to be forgotten. Why had I worn them all these years? Taking off the earrings, were surprisingly freeing, like lifting away the weight of her abandonment. The abandonment along with the self-doubt that consumed me. I don't want her with me any longer. The heartbreak she caused me to weigh me down that made me believe I wasn't worthy of love if my own mother couldn't even stay....for me. Squeezing the small studs in my palm, I part my ways before placing them in the Broker's dry and rough hands.

Finally, after negotiating on a number to sell him both, we shake hands and I sign my pawn slip with a fake name. I wouldn't put searching nearby pawn shops for me past Jason Pectin. And I can't risk going back, even if there was a small chance that going back would be a guarantee for Wyatt's freedom too.

"Have a great day Miss Davis!" yells the broker as I walk out the door with the cash in my worn denim pocket. Feeling the corners of my lips tugging slightly upward, I begin to smile before a buzzing in the center of my chest tingles as though my heart is wildly fluttering. Adrenaline? Nerves? Sorrow? But it wasn't any of these things. The feeling I felt made me want to walk taller, made me want to want better. Freedom. I felt free, for the first time...ever in my life. Free from my mother, free knowing in some way my father's sickness was gone and his soul was set free. And free from Jason, and his hands that tied me down in fear.

>><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><<

Please leave me some comments! I love positive feed back and please call me out on my typos! it's the only way i'll get better.Thank you reading, and stay tuned for more! if you like what's being written please vote on my chapters. I can only see how many people have seen it

A caring note to all my Caspers out there (I see your readings, thank you), Please don't ever be afraid to comment! I'd love to hear from you!❤ Buttt if you are that is also more than okay, just remember to vote per part.❤