March 21st 2022
I stayed at Michelle’s house last night. Even though we text or talk every day, I feel like with Craig around, I never get the chance to spend quality time with my sister anymore. He doesn’t like her; he thinks she’s a whore and judges her on situations he knows nothing about.
We ordered takeout from her favorite Thai restaurant and spent too much time watching reruns while Riley begged for food.
Even though we barely spoke the entire night, it was healing to spend time with someone I was comfortable around.
My mind wasn’t used to taking a break from constantly trying to predict someone’s next move or what might set them off.
I made a huge mistake, though. I had turned my phone off the entire night while I was with her. Craig rarely responds to my texts anyway. He always says if he texts me, then we won't have anything to talk about when we get together. He’s trying to prevent himself from getting bored with me.
So I don’t push it. Honestly, I didn’t think he’d notice my phone would be off, since unless he needs something, he never texts me. Of course, the one night I try to take a much-needed mental reprieve from the whiplash I get with his moods, he tries to get in touch with me.
When I turned on my phone this morning, I had over thirty missed text messages and a dozen missed calls.
My heart beat rapidly against my chest as all the possibilities of what he could possibly do in retaliation ran through my mind at once, overfilling my brain to the point of giving me a migraine.
One night, I just wanted one night away.