Unresolved Issues by Wanda B. Campbell Read Free Book Online

eyes.
    â€œDerrick, talk to me. What’s bothering you?”
    â€œI’m tired of this!” he yelled, then walked to his closet and removed a suitcase.
    Staci stared at him like he was an alien with two heads. It took a minute for his actions to register in her brain. He was packing his clothes.
    â€œWhat are you talking about? You’re tired of what?” Staci’s voice was steady, although her body trembled.
    â€œI’m tired of everything. Life. This house and you!” He continued packing.
    Staci leaned against the door frame to keep from falling. “How can you be tired of me? You haven’t been with me.”
    He continued packing without responding. Staci watched in silence as he grabbed things from the closet, then the chest and the bathroom. With every item he packed, she felt like he was taking a piece of her. She felt her world crashing down on her, like she was sinking into darkness. She didn’t realize she’d slid down the door frame and was now sitting on the floor until her hands touched the carpet.
    That’s how she was when Derrick finally looked back in her direction: sitting on the floor with tears streaming down her face. Derrick’s facial expression softened, but just slightly.
    â€œStaci, I just need a break.” His tone was more gentle, but his resolve the same. “I need some time to think about my life and what I want.”
    â€œAnd you can’t think here, in our home?” she questioned, searching his eyes for the Derrick that used to love her. The one who vowed to love her until death. The Derrick she loved. “You don’t want me anymore? There’s someone else.” It was meant to be a question, and his answers were supposed to assure her that he loved only her. His prolonged silence, however, made it a statement of fact. She turned her head away from him, not wanting him to see how deeply he’d hurt her.
    â€œI just need some time alone,” he whispered, then grabbed his luggage and left.
    Staci remained quiet on the floor. When she heard the front door close, her body shuddered. She didn’t allow the sobs that would tear her spirit to shreds and leave her gasping for air to come until after she heard the SUV drive off.
    â€œOh God!” she screamed over and over. Nothing in her life ever hurt like this. The pain was too much. She lay on the floor in the fetal position crying and holding her stomach until everything went black.

Chapter 9
    Staci stretched and looked up at the ceiling. The florescent lights quickly reminded her that the nightmare was indeed real. Derrick had left her. She crawled to her bed and used it to support her weight as she tried to stand. She was too weak and collapsed on the bed.
    â€œWhy, God?” she asked with a new batch of tears. “I did everything I knew to do. How could he just leave?” When the silence didn’t answer, she turned over and bawled some more.
    Her cell phone rang, and she jumped up and ran to the dresser to answer it. She didn’t check the caller ID, believing it was Derrick, saying he’d made a mistake and was on his way home.
    â€œDerrick!” she yelled into the phone.
    â€œNo. Where are you?” It was Marcus. What was left of Staci’s heart sank. “Staci, did you forget the meeting with the attorneys?”
    Staci looked at the clock on her nightstand. It was four o’clock. She must have stayed on the floor for two hours. “I’m sorry,” she said between sobs. “I’m at home. I can’t make it.”
    â€œStaci, what’s wrong?”
    She couldn’t answer him.
    â€œStaci,” he yelled into the phone. She still didn’t answer. The line went dead.
    She summoned the strength to clean her face and went downstairs and unlocked the front door. It didn’t take a genius to know Marcus was on his way over, and probably with her younger brother, Craig. The two had always been