Madison slammed her foot further down on the gas, her heart pounded so hard in her chest she thought it would burst through her flesh, her pulse raced and her breathing came in sharp pants that hurt her chest. She had done it; she'd finally broken free. Madison had spent the last 5 years living in fear and pain at the hands of her husband Drew, she couldn't pin point exactly when he had changed from the carefree, happy guy she'd dated and married to the sadistic monster he was now, maybe she just didn't want to remember, she didn't even know what it was that finally woke her up today and made her realise if she wanted the pain to end she had to either kill Drew or run, she chose the latter. That evening went like every other evening, Drew would wake up and get ready for his night shift, and Madison would place his dinner in front of his on the table, he would eat the whole thing in his own unique piggish way, throw his fork down and stand up in total silence, slap Madison across the face with the back of his hand and spend 10 minutes insulting her with everything he could think of, then he'd grab his bag and leave. Madison stood up, her cheek hot and throbbing, she grabbed the bags she'd hidden under the sink and went into the back garden, her neighbour Mrs Whitely was waiting in the garden, looking nervous. Mrs Whitely had known of the abuse for years but she was a recluse, she didn't have a phone and no one visited her so how could she warn someone, instead she had befriended Madison and cleaned up her wounds when Drew left each night, now she stood at her fence with keys in her hand, Madison jumped the fence and the two of them walked to the garage, Madison opened the door knowing it would now be too stiff for the old woman, Madison looked at the beat up old car with pure happiness that she hadn't felt in years, that beat up piece of junk was her escape, she was shaken from her thoughts by Mrs Whitely;
' I put the boxes you asked me to hide in the trunk dear'
' Thank you Mrs Whitely, for everything' Madison knew the boxes referred to items that Drew had threatened to burn if she didn't remove from his house, all her photos, yearbooks, birthday cards and keepsakes had laid hidden in an old woman's garage for years now they were as free as her.
' You don't need to thank me dear, I'm just so happy you're finally getting away from him, promise you'll write to me and let me know your ok?'
' Of course I will' Mrs Whitely handed her the keys and she threw her bags into the backseat and started the engine up, she gave Mrs Whitely one last smile before pulling out into the road. And now here she was, she'd driven for hours knowing Drew's shift would end soon and she wanted a giant head start, and soon the inevitable sound of her phone ringing started, she answered to hear Drew screaming at her,
' Where the fuck are you, you bitch? What right do you think you have to leave my house without my permission?' she struggled for a moment feeling as though she was back in that house waiting for him to slam her head against the wall, before she remembered she was on a highway heading god knows where, but it was away from him,
' Drew I want a divorce, you're never gonna see me again' with that statement she closed her phone and threw it out of the window, watching in the mirror to see it smash. She suddenly relaxed into the seat feeling a huge weight lifted off of her, no more threats, punches, kicks, being thrown around like a rag doll, broken bones, explanations at the emergency room it was over. She hadn't realised how tired she was until she jerked awake and swerved the car in the road, luckily there was no one else around. She drove on a little further until she saw a sign that read 'Bon Temps', she didn't know why but the name of the town rang a bell with her, she drove on keeping an eye out for a hotel or motel or somewhere she could crash, she saw a young blonde woman walking down the street and pulled over, the woman instantly stopped and smiled at Madison,
' Well you're new in town, you lost?'
' Yeah sorry is there a hotel or motel round here I need to crash'
' Oh yeah there's a motel down the street, are you staying long?'
' Great, erm…yeah I suppose I am'
' Well great, I'm Sookie Stackhouse, nice to have you joining us here in Bon Temps'
' Madison Cole, nice to meet you Sookie'
' Well have a nice night, if you're feeling lost again I work at Merlotte's feel free to drop in whenever'
'Thank you I just might' with that Sookie walked away still smiling, Madison couldn't help smiling, if everyone was this nice in Bon Temps she could quite happily stay.
She found the motel and checked in, she lay back on the bed letting sleep take her over.
When she woke up she showered, dressed and started going through the boxes in her car, she jumped when there was a sharp knock on the door, fear gripped her, he couldn't have found her, there was no way, she stood up and quietly crept over to the door, she looked through the spy hole and felt sweet relief wash over her when she saw the little old lady that co-owned the motel,
' Morning Miss Stokes' Madison had switched back to her maiden name, ' I brought you a local paper, so you can look at local properties and this letter was waiting on the matt for you this morning'
' Thank you' Madison took the items, the letter drawing all her attention,
' No problem dear you know where we are if you need anything else'
' You didn't see who left this did you?' Madison gestured to the letter,
' No sorry dear'
Madison shut the door and tore the letter open, a bank card fell out with a post-it stuck to it, a pin number written on it, she pulled a letter out of the envelope, there were phone numbers written on it, a lawyer, an estate agent, and one for a different country, she picked up the motel phone and called the number for the lawyer, before she even said hello a voice spoke,
' Hello Miss Stokes we've been expecting your call'.