Save Her by Abigail Osborne (i can read books .txt) 📕

Sophie seemed to have it all planned out, but she wasn’t sure where or when they would be able to settle.

On the run. Flora smiled at the ridiculous thought. This sort of thing just didn’t happen in real life. Surely Greg would get over it. He wouldn’t really spend the rest of his life chasing them, trying to get Sophie back. Would he? But then what did she know? She hadn’t seen that he was capable of strangling his wife. Sophie had told her time and time again the ruthless way they worked at Cavendish & Sons, but she had never really taken it in. Flora had no interest in what they did. It was corporate greed and she did not want to hear it.

Leaning her tender head back against the head rest, she thought back to some of the stories she had only half listened to. Sophie had been so full of enthusiasm when she had first joined the business. When she regaled Flora with stories of her day she would almost be bouncing up and down with the excitement of it all. But in the montage playing in her mind, she realised that gradually and almost imperceptibly the passion began to dull. Now she thought about it, Sophie seemed to almost drag herself to work and she spent more time with Flora than at the office. Again, she felt so overcome with shame that it took something like this for her to actually focus on her friend long enough to realise the shift in Sophie’s behaviour. She was really lucky to have Sophie in her life. Sophie loved her unconditionally. Despite the fact I’ve been a shitty, shitty friend.

Her phone screen lit up the car and she winced in pain. Sam was calling. She already had seventeen missed calls and three voicemails. Her stomach rolled but this time it wasn’t the effects of the alcohol. It was the knowledge that she had no home and would likely never see her husband again. Even though she despised his actions, she still loved him. It was impossible to turn off that level of emotion as much as she was trying. Before she knew what she was doing she answered the phone. A longing to hear his voice one last time had swept through her and taken over her subconscious.

‘Flora. Thank god.’

‘Sam.’ She didn’t know what else to say.

‘Where are you?’ His voice was laced with concern.

‘I love you, Sam.’

He paused. She could hear rustling in the background. She thought she could just make out Greg’s voice. He sounded angry. Oh god.

‘Flora, tell me where you are.’ Sam sounded scared.

Flora could see the dark figure of Sophie making her way back to the car.

‘Goodbye, Sam.’ And she meant it.

‘Flora, no. You have to listen to me. Sophie is–’ Flora cut the call and put her phone between her legs.

Sophie opened the back door and Flora could see she was shoving something into a black rucksack. Heaving it onto her back, Sophie came around to her side. ‘Come on. We are changing cars.’ She led Flora to a battered Ford Mondeo that had so many scratches and dents it looked like it had taken on a car crusher and won. Flora didn’t bother asking any questions. Sophie’s face was set with determination and Flora was too ill from all the wine to string more than a few words together. She wanted to ask what was in the black rucksack on Sophie’s shoulder. It was a far cry from the Prada handbag she usually had with her. But instead she focused on breathing and keeping down the bile that kept rising up inside her.

‘Get in,’ ordered Sophie. She was twitchy and nervous, looking around them as if expecting the police to show up at any moment.

Flora’s laugher rose unbidden. It was like they were acting out parts in an 80s crime television show. It just was not real. This could not be her life. Swallowing her laughter, she got in the car. The perfume of rotten food hit her hard and she opened the door she had just shut and vomited across the tarmac.

‘Shit!’ cried Sophie. She flung open her door and ran around the car to Flora’s side. She held Flora’s hair as she retched.

Finished, Flora wiped her mouth gingerly. Sophie’s cool fingers stroked her face and smoothed her hair. Flora moved back into the car and Sophie let go and went back around to the driver’s side. The smell was overpowering, and Flora looked in the back and saw several half-eaten cheeseburgers that were now a shade of green. The rest of the car was decorated with an array of beer bottles. A pattern of suspicious dark stains across the back seat stopped her inspection and she looked straight out of the window, trying to breathe only through her mouth. Sophie wound down her window and then lent over Flora to wind down hers for her. The scent of Sophie’s perfume was a welcome relief in comparison to the vile bouquet of mouldy food and stale beer. She put her face in Sophie’s neck trying to block out the invading stench and Sophie let out a giggle. She pulled Flora into an awkward hug and they stayed like that for a few minutes.

Sophie was the first to pull away and she put the key in the ignition and twisted it. The car made a pitiful whirring noise but did not start.

‘Damn it!’ Sophie hit the steering wheel hard. She tried over and over, her language becoming fouler with every failed attempt. ‘Come on, you bastard.’ Sophie looked like a wild animal, close to spitting with rage.

‘Do you want–’

Sophie turned to look at Flora with fury in her eyes. Her voice so loud it reverberated around the car. ‘No, Flora. I don’t want you to do anything. Just fucking sit there and shut up!’

Flora was stunned into silence. She looked