“Regina. Where the fuck you at?” Will said as he walked through the door and saw the house looking the same way before leaving. Regina walked out of the bedroom with a black eye and her hair all over the place. “I told you to have the house cleaned when I came back,” Will said, walking over towards Regina and slapping her across the left side of her face so hard, causing her to break down to her knees as she begins to cry.
“Naw, bitch get up! We don’t got time for all that,” Will let out, demanding Regina to get up and clean the house and make him some food. “You got twenty minutes or else,” Will added, going into the bedroom to change his clothes.
Regina slow-paced around the house, sweeping up glass and putting up the pictures back on the wall where Will choked her and causing a small hole in the wall. “I got to get out this shit!” Regina kept reciting as she put back the last picture of her and Will on the wall.
She quickly glanced at the picture and went back to the day they met. Everything between the two went well for them; they went together like cookies and milk, but that quickly changed when Will put a title on their relationship status.
“Alright now,” Will said, standing behind Regina looking at her while she was in a daydream. “Get in there and make us something to eat,” he added, smacking her on the ass.
Regina was a lost 27-year-old woman who struggled to find herself but got trapped in Will’s web of love, lies, and money. She made her and Will some tacos, yellow rice, and corn on the cob. “Baby, the food is done,” Regina stated, going to get him from the porch.
They sat at the table in complete silence as you only heard the giggly kid’s voices from outside and their forks hitting their plates.
William AKA “Will” was a 38-year-old dope head who sold crack and sometimes got high off his supply. His habit stemmed from when his first wife left him because he abused her, and he thought his money was gon’ keep her, but once she left, his addiction to crack went from every once in a while to everyday use.
Regina got up from the table, grabbed both plates, and poured some Minute Maid fruit punch into their glasses. “Don’t fill mine up. I got some Cîroc in there. Go get it,” Will mumbled as he watched Regina head to the bedroom to grab his fifth of Cîroc.
“Yep, that’s it,” Will whispered to himself while taking a sip from his glass, seeing that he poured the right amount to equal out the juice.
Regina noticed that Will sat at the kitchen table longer than usual after eating. Still, Regina didn’t mind because she went around him as she washed the dishes and put the leftovers into containers.
It was when Regina heard sniffing that she knew why he sat at the table. When Will was on liquor and crack, she knew that he would be dead to the world after a while, and it was the perfect time for her to escape.
“Bitch don’t look at me,” Will stated as he saw Regina looking over her shoulder to clarify what she already knew. Regina was scared of Will, but a part of her already knew he was a pussy, and it was only time that he would get his payback from putting his hands on women.
She left Will at the kitchen table and went back into the bedroom to take a hot bath. Regina felt like somebody was sitting on her for a whole day between her black eye and body. “Damn, that hurt,” she mumbled while she softly pressed against her left rib. She saw the bruise Will left from beating her ass and knew it might be fractured, but the hospital was the last place Will would take Regina.
She sat in the tub until the hot water ran cold while she occasionally overheard Will talking to his homebody, Kyle, on the phone. “I’ll be there in thirty minutes,” Will yelled through the phone, and Regina could tell her was extra high as he kept repeating himself.
Will had a lot of faith in Regina, seeing that she knew not to leave him while he left. So, he didn’t lock her in the bedroom, limit her access to things in the house after he left out. He assumed his threatening ways would scare her enough not to test him, but little did Will know that Regina was carefully planning her escape so he wouldn’t find her.
“Gina, I’ll be back later,” he yelled from outside the bathroom door and left without waiting on Regina’s response.
It was 7:42 pm on the bedroom clock, and Regina knew she had an hour to get to the Greyhound bus station. So, Regina oiled her body down and put on some black leggings, a long black sleeve shirt, and a black baseball cap with glasses so people wouldn’t notice her black eye and try to help her.
She grabbed her packed bags with her identification, clothes, personal belongings and headed for the door.
Before she left, she looked around at the living room and briefly went back and saw herself beat down and crying in every corner of the house and knew she wasn’t going to miss any of that.
The next-door neighbor knew it was something suspicious going on. Still, since she saw Will coming and going, it was hard for her to pinpoint what was going down until she saw Regina coming out from inside the house, peeking and looking around with a big suitcase as she quickly got into the cab.
“Illinois Terminal,” Regina announced to the cab driver before pulling off. She and the neighbor locked eyes, but somehow Regina trusted that she wasn’t going to say a word.
I’m finally free,” Regina said as the driver pulled up to the Greyhound Station.
“Thank you,” she told the driver, passing him a twenty-dollar bill from her suitcase. Regina has been pickpocketing out of Will’s pockets for the whole year they have been together. A little here and there while accumulating almost a thousand dollars.
Regina stood outside in front of the bus station, and she felted weights had been lifted off her shoulders. “Yesssssss...I need a new life other than the one I got,” she explained to herself, walking through the doors and headed towards the customer service desk.
“Good evening; how may I help you” the lady behind the desk stated while waiting for Regina, seeing her looking at the board behind her. Regina saw it was 8:15 pm, and the next bus left at 8:30 pm headed to Texas.
“Yes, can I get a one-way ticket to Houston, Texas,” she said urgently in her voice, passing the lady a fifty-dollar bill.
“Okay, here’s your change, and be sure to be standing at Gate 8 at least five minutes before boarding so the driver can check your ticket. “Thanks,” Regina said as she grabbed her ticket and took a seat closer by the gate.
Regina knew this fresh start would be scary and lonely, but nothing good came from it but a roof over her head since she dealt with Will. She was tired of being his sex slave and punching bag when he was highly intoxicated, but overall, she was TIRED!
If anyone were looking for Regina, she would surely give herself away. She was pulling her glasses up and looking around every minute. Finally, Regina looked down at her watch that said 8:28 pm and grabbed her bag then headed towards the gate waiting for the driver.
All the while, Regina didn’t have a clue what she wanted to do, but first thing first, “get a hotel,” she thought to herself, making a half-smile.
“GATE 8…GOING TO HOUSTON, TEXAS. BOARDING,” the lady on the intercom said, causing Regina to look around one last time to make sure no one was watching her.
Shortly after 8:30 pm, the driver came through the door and immediately started scanning tickets and instructing people on the bus with one bag. Finally, the driver got to Regina and suddenly stopped in front of her before grabbing her ticket.
“Here you go,” Regina mumbled, handing the driver her ticket, not knowing what was going on, but she didn’t wanna make a scene on herself. So the driver made sure everything was good before he handed Regina back her ticket.
“Texas, huh” The driver added, looking at Regina through her glasses. “Yeah, visiting family,” Regina let out, trying not to be awkward.
The driver instructed Regina to sit anywhere on the bus with one bag, and the rest had to go under the bus. She looked down at her bag and right away got scared, but knew she had to do this. “Okay. Thank you,” Regina responded, walking ahead.
Regina’s bus ride was a breeze because all she did was sleep through it until she heard the driver on the speaker telling the passengers that the next stop was Houston, Texas.
Regina sat up as she fixed her clothes, looked out the window, and felt a chill run through her body. What’s going on,” she quietly said to herself, still looking out the window watching the driver turn into the Greyhound station.
Everyone got up from their seats grabbing bags, and headed off the bus. Regina got her bag and slowly walked towards the front when the driver was waiting at the door.
“Thank you for riding Greyhound,” the driver said to Regina. She nodded and kept walking, grabbing her other bags.
Regina looked around and seen food, gas stations, and Walgreens nearby. Of course, the first thing was a hotel, but Regina needed a phone, so she walked towards Walgreens.
“Pay-As-You-Go. $15 for 100 minutes, naw muthafuckas gon have me on hold,” Regina whispered to herself. “Here we go. Prepaid. I can do this,” she added, reading into the details walking towards checkout.
Regina looked up and seen the driver from the bus and became frightening. He looked at her and just walked past, and, in that instant, Regina glanced at his name take and took note.
“Hello. Did you find everything okay?” The lady behind the counter asked while scanning her items.
“Yes, Regina responded, promptly giving the lady the exact change and quickly exiting the store. Then, she walked inside McDonald’s and sat out of the windows view before making her next move.