Northern_Lights_2021

33 She quickly made a ham and cheese sandwich and cowered in the corner hoping that Jett wouldn’t come into the kitchen. She saw a notebook on the counter and wrote a note to Jett that said, “I am very upset, please give me time to calm down. I will be sleeping in the bedroom by myself tonight and I will be locking the door. Please respect my privacy. We will talk tomorrow, but I just need some time.” Right when Victoria was writing the last sentence, she heard Jett leaving the bedroom. She knew that she probably only had one shot at making it to the bedroom, so she slowly started making her way closer and closer. When she was right around the corner, she saw that the bathroom door was closed, and the light was on. This meant that she had a chance to put her note on the couch and go into the bedroom. Once inside, she locked the door with no intention of opening it until the morning. The only problem was that it was only 6 p.m.; she had all evening in the bedroom by herself. She sat on the bed again, grabbed her computer, and opened her online journal. She started writing and she didn’t stop until 9:30 p.m. She wrote about the night before and about work that day and the recent events. She didn’t know what to call it or really what happened. It escalated very quickly, and she didn’t even know how she felt about it. When Victoria had finished writing, she was exhausted. The next morning Victoria woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs again. She wasn’t sure how to approach Jett, so she took her time getting ready and it was 7:30 a.m. by the time she went out to the kitchen. Jett was waiting for her in the kitchen and her note was on the counter in front of him. Victoria wasn’t sure what was about to happen; she was nervous, and Jett could sense it. He then walked up to Victoria and gently touched her arm where he had grabbed it the night before and saw the bruise. He apologized repeatedly and hugged her gently. Victoria, feeling like a fool for getting so upset over the previous night’s events, forgave him, ate the fresh breakfast, kissed him on the cheek, and took the SUV to work. She arrived at work at 7:50 a.m. and was surprised to see that the lights were all on and the open sign was lit up. She walked in and saw three customers hovering around the register and Alex struggling to keep the peace while also trying to ring one of them up. Victoria quickly got to the register to help. She started by assuring the three customers that they would get to everyone and said, “We appreciate your patience.” Then she helped Alex with writing down all the instructions for each customer’s clothing. Victoria’s arm brushed Alex’s but she didn’t think anything of it. Little did she know that Alex was immediately distracted, and he struggled to refocus. When each customer had been helped and left, Alex became extremely aware that they were alone. He was oddly nervous and said in a rush, “I’m going to go get started on these” and made his quick escape to the backroom. Victoria was oblivious to Alex’s nervousness. At the end of her shift, she got in the SUV and headed home to Jett. When she got to the apartment Jett was lying on the couch and holding the same amount of alcohol that he had the night before. She convinced herself that last night wasn’t going to happen again and went to the bedroom to change her clothes. She went out to the living room when she was done changing and sat on the couch next to Jett. He looked happy and content, so she let her guard down again. That is when it all went downhill. Jett knew what it took for her to feel safe and he used it against her. This time, Victoria didn’t even say anything to set him off. He just grabbed her arms and started screaming at her, “This is what happens when you disrespect me.” He slapped her face so hard that she was stunned and couldn’t see for a minute. He kept wailing on her, but he only hit her face once. When he finally stopped, she went to the bedroom, locked the door, and cried herself to sleep. When she woke up to bacon and eggs, she convinced herself that she was overreacting. Then she ate her breakfast, kissed Jett goodbye, and went to work. This became a continuous cycle that lasted for two months. Every day that Alex and Victoria worked together, his feelings towards her grew stronger. After a month of working with Victoria, Alex noticed something wasn’t right. He saw that she always wore long sleeves even though it was summer in California, and sometimes she would wear sunglasses in the building for her entire shift. One day he asked her if everything was okay, and she lied and said yes. The pattern continued for another month. One day at a quarter to five, Alex couldn’t take it anymore and he finally confronted her. He asked, “What is going on? You know you can talk to me, right?” Victoria didn’t reply. “Come on, Vic, is it something I did? You’ve seemed off for a while now.” And being her oblivious self, she replied, “Nothing is going on, and yes, I know that I can talk to you. Did you do something? What do you mean by that?” Without hesitation, Alex said, “You know that I have feelings for you, right?” Victoria was taken aback; she was not expecting that to come out of his mouth. “What? Why would you say that to me? You know that I am in a serious relationship! And I’m sorry, but I don’t feel the same way.” Alex was shocked; he thought that she knew about his feelings for her and shared them.