I don't know how, but I never saw this coming. I couldn't stop crying as I left that town behind me. I should've known this would happen, he had done everything he could do to isolate me from my old life. He made me choose between him and my best friend. He had made me choose between him and my family. I hadn't talked to my parents in two years. I hadn't talked to my best friend for longer. The last time I saw all of them together was when she was born. My heart pulled as I looked in the rearview mirror.

My heart was fast asleep in the backseat. She had no idea we were running. It was dark when I pulled her into my arms, she didn't see the bruises that lined my face when he heard me walking through the house. I was grateful she was so little. She didn't have to understand how horrible her father was. She didn't have to face the loss I was facing now.

Bubbah, our bulldog, whined from the passenger seat beside me. I rubbed his head and smiled at him, "you'll like this place," I told him quietly as I ran my fingers through his soft girl. I was hoping he was still there. I was hoping the offer he made me, before I gave him radio silence, was still valid. I needed my best friend now more than ever.

My hands were tight on the wheel. I felt relief once I sped over the town line and I knew he was behind me. He hadn't followed when I put our daughter in the car. He just stood watching me from the doorway, like he could scare me into staying. The bruises were more than enough to scare me. But I was done being his punching bag. I was done having a life that revolved around him.

The only good thing that came from our marriage was the little girl behind me. She was the spitting image of me, big blue eyes, long blonde girls. She didn't have a trace of her father in her features and for that I was happy. She was my world, I was doing this for her. She needed the protection I never had. She couldn't lose me before her life even started. I wanted to be there for all her big moments.

I ran my hand through my hair, speeding down the dark highway. I let out a breath wondering if I should've called him. My heart was racing and every once and a while I would glance in the mirror behind me, wondering if he was out there just waiting for me to think I'm safe. Our life together hadn't always been this way. We got married young, we had our daughter young. Maybe that was too much stress on him, maybe I had changed into someone he didn't want me to be.

I had changed, into someone I didn't want to be. I didn't want to be this scared little girl who obeyed her husband because he hit her. I didn't want to only be his wife, which is what he wanted. I had no life, no friends. I wasn't even allowed to draw anymore. I wanted to give my daughter the life I didn't have growing up. I couldn't do that under his controlling thumb.

The rain started to fall when we were close to his house. I didn't even know if he had moved, my hands holding the wheel tightly. I prayed that nothing had changed, I wish I would've picked up the phone when he called. I wish I hadn't been so scared of one man to lose my best friend.

I wiped away a tear, the diamond I had been wearing for the last three years catching light off the windshield. I looked down at it and I realized this was the last thing I had to do to get rid of him. I slipped the ring off and held it in the palm of my hand. Once upon a time this ring had held so much hope for me. I thought this was my fairytale, I thought I would get the life I always wanted with him. I loved him, more than I thought was possible.

Now I wasn't sure if I had ever really loved him at all. I knew he never loved me. He loved the control he had over me because I loved him.

I closed my fist around the diamond and my heart beat quickly in my chest. I rolled down my window and I said one last final goodbye to the life I had before this all started. I lifted my closed fist out the car and let the ring fall down on the pavement as my tires sped away from the last piece of him.

Bubbah whined again. I knew he was nervous, he never liked new places. He wasn't a dog that was good with change. But I couldn't leave him behind, not when I loved him so much. Who knew what that monster would do to this poor innocent animal just to get back at me. I put my hand on his head and he calmed down. I looked at him through my tears.

"We're almost there buddy," I whispered feeling my heart break again. I could only hope we were almost there.

Once we were married he thought it was a good idea to move three hours away from the home we both grew up in. Three hours wasn't that much, but it seemed like a lifetime once I realized I wasn't allowed to talk to them anymore. Once I realized I wasn't allowed to have friends I felt like I was stuck on a deserted island. I was cut off from the world and I hated that. I had always been so independent, I had always been strong.

He had broken that spirit and I hated him even more for that.

I didn't hear her wake up, "momma why sad?"

I squeezed the wheel trying to fight off more tears that were coming. I took in a breath and looked at her in the mirror, "I'm not sad. Go back to sleep sweetheart, we're almost home. Then you can sleep in a bed."

She sighed, but I saw her close her little eyes again. I hated lying to her. I hated to keep secrets from her. But she was only two, she didn't need to hear the pains of a life she didn't have to live yet. I was doing this for her, I would keep her safe. I would die to protect her. When she was born I knew there was no one I would love as much as my child. Even my husband took a backseat to the love I have for this little girl.

I understood my mom and all the nagging she had done when I wanted to marry him. I understood her hurt and pain when I walked away and chose him over my family. Because if her love was as strong as mine is for Dylan, it probably hurt like hell when I walked away.

I grabbed the wheel tighter and sped through the familiar streets. Once I pulled to a stop in front of his house, I felt nervous. I could only hope he didn't have me for the last two years. I mean he was there for the birth of my daughter, but after that it was radio silence. I hated ignoring him, but I had no way of telling him it wasn't my choice. I took in a deep breath and looked over at Bubbah. He was asleep, his wrinkled face peaceful. I wish I could believe that someone would take care of me the way he did.

But I knew I could take care of myself. I always had. Now I had a daughter to take care of and I would do whatever I had to do to keep her safe.

I sat there looking at the house, thinking of all the things I had gone through there. My best friend might have been a guy, but we still did the normal best friend things. We had sleepovers until we were too old for them to be cool. We would sit on the phone and talk about life until two and three in the morning. He got his license before me, he would pick me up for school and we would drive around town. His little sister sometimes tagged along, but to his dismay. I didn't mind, I had loved her as much as him. I loved his family, they were the family I chose.

I hadn't been back home in three years. He wouldn't even let me bring our daughter to visit her grandparents. She didn't even know the people who raised me, she had never seen this town. I hated how sheltered he kept us. I hated that I couldn't even put my foot down because I was too afraid of his temper. I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to pull myself together. I didn't want to see him for the first time crying.

There was nothing I could do for the bruises that lined my cheeks, the cut that split my lip. I knew there was dried blood on my lip too, it took almost the entire car ride for it to stop bleeding. I looked like a hot mess, but that was nothing compared to the purple marks that were on my stomach. I could barely sit in the car it hurt so bad.

I took in a deep breath and then unbuckled my seatbelt. I walked around to the back and lifted Dylan out. She was sleeping again, but when I moved her she woke up.

"Walk," she said and I sighed. She was in the phase where all she wanted to do was walk. I nodded my head, putting my finger up to my mouth so she knew to stay quiet. It was almost two in the morning, no one was awake.

I grabbed Bubbah's leash and woke him up. He jumped out of the car slowly and then I grabbed Dylan's hand. I took in a deep breath as we walked up the walk and I locked the car. I would get the bags tomorrow, if he was here. I closed my eyes, praying my best friend was on the other side of that door. I brought my closed fist up and knocked.

Dylan giggled as I groaned and then I hit the doorbell. I didn't want to ring it, because Bubbah started barking. I quieted him down, and then I heard a crash behind the big wooden door. A deep voice spit out a line of curse words and I smiled. He was here, I knew it was him behind that door. No one else would say those things in that order.

The light turned on and I stepped back. Dylan grabbed my leg as the wooden door swung open and the only thing that separated us was the screen door, "what the hell —" he stopped short when he saw I was the one standing there, "Clarke?"

I nodded, feeling the tears thick in my throat once again. I never thought I'd see him again. I had missed him, his deep voice that could tell me the world would end and it would be okay. His hair was longer, the curls almost touching his eyes. I smiled, even though it hurt, as his eyes went down to the little girl holding my leg.

"Hi," I finally answered as Bubbah whined on the other side of my feet, "I uh. I know it's late. I just, we needed somewhere to go."

It took him a second to pull himself together, "shit yeah, come in," he said quietly as he opened the screen door. Bubbah ran into the warm house, his leash leaving my hand as he walked around sniffing the room. Dylan had a death grip on my leg, so I couldn't move. I looked down at her, and away from him.

She looked at me with worried eyes, "sweetheart this is Bellamy," I pulled her arms from my leg and lifted her up into my arms, "Bellamy this is my daughter, Dylan."

He smiled, one I hadn't seen in a long time, "I was there when you were born," I stepped into the house as she kept staring at him, "look at you, you're all grown up."

Dylan smiled as she laid her head on my shoulder and I kept my back facing him. I was bracing myself for when he saw me completely. The shadows had helped hide the bruises, the evidence that this was real and had actually happened. Bellamy cleared his voice, "she looks just like you, Clarke. It's amazing."

I smiled, "yeah, everyone says she's my mini me."

This was more awkward than I thought it would be. We had known each other since we were three years old. I didn't think I could ever feel like a stranger in this house, but I did. It had been two years but to me felt like it had been a lifetime.

"Are you okay? What happened? I mean I'm happy to see you, but it's two in the morning," he ran his hand through his unruly hair and I bounced Dylan on my hip. Bubbah had made himself comfortable on the couch. She was getting heavy, so I sat her down beside Bubbah and she curled up into herself. She was still half asleep.

I let out a breath and I knew I had to turn around and face him. The lights were bright, my body was ready to stop fighting. The adrenaline that had fueled me on the drive here was wearing thin. I was exhausted, the pain throbbing throughout my bruised body.

Finally I turned to face my best friend, the only person from my past I would actually show this version of my face to. His eyes went wide and I winced. He brought his hand up to his mouth as he gasped at my beaten state. I looked away, fighting off the tears. But he didn't let me turn away, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me.

I winced as he hugged me tightly, "Bellamy," my voice broke as the tears broke through the damn I had been building. I buried my face in his shoulder as he held me as tightly as he used to. I loved his hugs, he would pull you in and never let you go. He smelled like Bellamy, his shoulder curving perfectly to my chin the way it always had. This was my home, here with him. There was no one else who could help me through this.

"I'm going to kill him," his deep voice vibrated through my shoulder.

I held onto him like he was my lifeline. His eyes went towards Dylan and I shook my head, "he never touched her," I whispered as I pulled away and he ran his thumb gently down my cheek, "I made sure he never did."

Bellamy nodded his head and then pulled me into his side. It might have taken me two years to find my way back to him, but now that I was here I knew this was exactly where I belonged.