Love Like This

A Cry For Help

Chloe's POV

It has been two days since I found a man on the verge of taking his last breath. I nursed him back to health, and now he looks like he is going to make a complete recovery. Well, at least his physical side; it is the mental health I am worried about.

In the last couple of days, the man doesn't remember anything, not his name, not his family, not even what happened to him. The snow hadn't stopped falling, and we still had no WiFi network.

So, instead, he has been working on getting back on his feet and getting out of my hair. Yesterday he told me that he needed to find out what happened to him. I agreed with him on that. I didn't think that he would ask for my help to do it.

To be honest, I am not even sure I can help the man; I mean, I am already dealing with so much on my own. Derrick is out there looking for me. The media hasn't been much help. Besides this man, no one has seen me since my friend told me.

Now I get to spend another evening with a stranger, I don't know his name, so I thought that I should call him by his initial, D. Until we know his name and what happened to him, he told me that he would like to stay a bit longer.

" Hey," I said as D walked into the kitchen, I was making us dinner. He already looked so much better.

" I think I remembered something about my accident," he said to me.

" Really? That's good, right?" I said to him.

" I guess so. It's all still a bit blurry, but I remember that I jumped out of a plane," he said to me.

" You what? That can't be right; you were hurt but not enough; what I am saying is that if you had jumped out of a plane, you would have a lot of broken bones or even died," I said to him.

" Except that I had a parachute, and I wasn't alone in the plane; I think that I was fighting with someone; they stabbed me," he said to me and touched his shoulder. It explained the deep wound on his shoulder.

This is all confusing. Let's say that he was on a plane. Why would he have needed a parachute? Could this mean that he could have known that the plane was going to crash?

If it did end up crashing, why didn't I hear it? This man found my cabin. He couldn't have traveled far to get to me, could he? I mean, I don't even know how long he was out there or how far he had to travel to get to me.

I am glad that he is getting his memories back, but I am beginning to get worried. The man could be dangerous, maybe like some terrorist or something worse.

" Chloe, are you alright?" he asked me.

Of course, I was not okay. This might just be the most foolish thing I have ever done in my life. Having a stranger I know nothing about sleep under my roof, he could be a serial killer; what if he was just letting me let my guard down so that he could get me when I least expected it?

" Yes, I am fine," I said and went to the stove.

" Is that all you remembered?" I asked him.

" Yes for now..." He said to me.

I didn't say anything, I took a spoon and stirred a pot that had nothing but boiling water. I closed the lid and sat down beside him.

" Look, D, I know we don't know the kind of man you were when you came to me, and I don't want to lie, I am scared," I said to him.

" Scared of me?" he said to me.

" Yes, I don't know you, you were hurt badly when I found you, and yet you didn't want me to call 911," I said to him.

" Look, I know that all of this is scary, but I want to make you a promise. Whoever I was before I came here, I know that I would never hurt a woman,

Chloe, you saved my life; I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you; I would never do anything to hurt you, okay?" he said to me.

I know I don't know this man, but his words gave me some comfort. Then again, when it comes to handsome men, I wouldn't even see it if it was like that. I mean, look at the man I married.

When D asked me about him, I couldn't tell him what happened to me; for one, I don't know if I could just tell a complete stranger that I was on the run, especially with a million-dollar reward for my return. No one must know who I truly am.

" Okay," I said to him.

" Thank you," he said and slowly stood up. He walked back to the living room couch.

" Hey, the TV is on," he said from the other room.

" Really? That means that the power is back on," I said to him.

I took my phone and plugged it into the charger.

" It looks like the snowstorm is about to come to an end. We are expecting it to melt as soon as tomorrow," the weatherman said.

" Is the WiFi back online?" he asked me.

" No, not yet," I said, checking the network on my phone.

I have to call my friend back, I have to let her know that I am fine. We last spoke on Christmas day. Even though I am down for helping this man, I need to think about my life and how to move forward from here.

Derrick will never let me go, I know that, but what I can do is force him to give me a divorce. It's a risky move, and when my bestie suggested that I use what I knew against him, I didn't think that I could do it.

Now, I know for certain that I can do it, but before that, I had to do something else. I have been going through emotions for over two weeks now, and the time for that is over now I need to think about what to do next.

" Hey D, can I ask you something?" I said to him.

" Sure," he said to me.

" So I have this friend of mine, she is married, but wanted to leave the marriage, so she ran away, but her husband reported her missing, plastered her face all over. How could she let everyone know that she was not missing without being tracked by her husband?" I asked him.

" This friend of yours, what kind of man is her husband?" he asked me.

" Does it matter?" I asked him.

" Yes, men deal with things differently. Why did your friend feel that she had to get away from her husband?" he asked me.

" Let's just say that he didn't treat her right. She feared for her life," I said to him.

" So this friend of yours, is she safe wherever she is now? " he asked me.

" Yes, at least for now, but her husband is persistent. He wants to find her badly," I said to him.

" That means that her husband is a dangerous man, a man like that doesn't like to lose; he will find her, lure her out if he could; if I was your friend, I would tell her to stay put," he said to me.

" What if someone sees her? The man has offered a lot of money to anyone who could help him find her," I said to him.

" Like I said, the best thing she can do for herself is to stay put; if he hasn't found her by now, then she must be doing a great job," he said to me.

" I'm sorry; I know that you are dealing with a lot right now; forget I said anything," I said to him.

" Chloe... I know that there is no friend; I mean, I can see that you're hiding from someone; it's okay; he won't find you here, that I am sure of," he said to me.

" How can you be sure? that he won't find me here?" I said to him.

" This is a cabin in the middle of the woods unless he knows about this place, which I doubt because your husband would have been here already," he said to me.

" I wasn't talking about me," I said to him.

" Look, I might not have my memories back, but I am not an i***t. You told me that you came here to get away from everyone and said that your husband was fine; I have been here two days, and not even once did you concern yourself about trying to contact him, neither were you worried that he might try to contact you," he said to me.

" I don't know what you are talking about," I said and stood up.

" Why are you so afraid of him? What did he do to you?" he asked me.

There is a lot that I could say about Derrick and what he put me through, but then I know what he will say and what he will ask me. I should have left him long ago, but I didn't, I am not about to wear my shame like some badge of honor.

I didn't realize it at the time, but my biggest mistake was agreeing to marry that man, a mistake I intend to correct as soon as I possibly can.

" It's getting late; I'm going to bathe, and seeing that you can now walk on your own, you can use the bedroom upstairs; sleeping on a couch can't be comfortable," I said to him.

" Chloe... I want you to know that I won't let anything happen to you, memory or not, he will not harm you, not when I am around," he said to me.

" You don't know my husband. If you want to help me, stay away from that man," I said to him.

My husband is a criminal lawyer; he represents the biggest criminals, and I know how he works; the man will do anything to win, from bribing officials to making witnesses disappear and more; the man will do anything to win.

My husband is dangerous; I know that he is affiliated with a lot of dangerous men, and that is why it took me so long to leave him; I will not go back to that man; I will do anything in my power to make sure that he doesn't find me.

Right now, we are in two different states, as far away as I can be from that man; Christmas is over, we are heading towards a new year, I can reinvent myself, and I refuse to let Derrick control my life anymore. I need to begin with the divorce, make it clear to him that he won't see me again.

I gathered up as much as I could on the man, I can only hope that it would be enough to keep him at bay.