Free Me Before You by Sylvia M. Roberts Page B

bigger than a prison cell, but at least Annie was free. That is, if you could call freedom to the life that was waiting for her.
    After all, she had lost all what really mattered, such as reputation, marriage and especially her beloved son.
    Annie kept only a few belongings from early life, it was enough to remember the arrogant man who learned to hate every day for the last three years. The thought gives her a hand tremor and she barely managed to get the last hanger in the small closet.
    She knew he had been suspended, but as soon as the dust was settled, he would get back to work.
    Very simple! She concluded in thought.
    For him everything would return to normal. Her life, however, would never be the same, especially without Jimmy.
    The first night in that tiny room Annie couldn’t fall asleep. In the few moments she managed to doze off, nightmares plagued, forcing her to wake up screaming and her face bathed in tears.
    The next day, for several times she tried to contact Frank, but she end up always talking to the assistant
    “I'm sorry, he is currently busy and can’t answer."
    She tried to talk to him many times, but didn’t succeed. It was useless not to know how Jimmy was.
    Time is slow-dragging and uneventfully. The early spring that year was different. Instead of clear, sunny days, the rain was intermittent and stubborn.
    At dusk, Annie readied herself to sleep while listening to the heavy drops of water crashing against the window, causing a monotonous noise that accentuated the loneliness she felt.
    Suddenly the doorbell startled her.
    - Mrs. Anderson? Mrs. Anderson? - A male voice repeated loudly, as the man insisted knocking on the door with his knuckles.
    - Who is it? - She yelled while she unlocked and opened the door. - If it’s a reporter, please let them go away. I'm tired and I have nothing to say that they don’t already know...
    - I ... I ... - the man hesitated. – It’s Richard Edwards. He needs to talk to you.
    The unexpected revelation left her bewildered and making an uncontrollable rage, Annie threw open the door and stared at the man who had the audacity to go there.
    - What do you want? Aren’t you pleased already with all problems you caused? - She screamed, so loudly that the door across the hall opened and the figure of a white-haired dishevelled appeared, peering curious to know what it was.
    Richard, sheepishly before that explosion, whispered:
    - Please let me in. It only takes a minute. I need to talk to you.
    - But I don’t want to talk to you. I’m no longer obliged facing you. I am now a free woman. I’ve got out of that damn place, where your lies and your bad character played me ... I am free also to send you to hell! - Saying this, she tried to close the door. Richard, however, put his arm around the door to stop her.
    - Please ... - he insisted, pushing the door a little bit to enter the room.
    Annie tried in vain to block the entrance from the intruder, but he had a force according to the muscular mass of his body.
    - What's wrong with you, huh? You don’t know how to take a no? - She blurted finally opening the door, since she couldn’t beat him. - Damn, after all, what do you want now?
    Richard hesitated and almost gave up his intention to see her so nervous. If only the woman had looked once for his dejected face, unshaven and she undoubtedly would realize that the owner of that sad and tired features, deserved an opportunity to express themselves.
    - Say just what you want and go away - she intimated, with a challenge in her voice.
    - I had to come. Couldn’t bear leaving things as they were - explained Richard, speaking softly trying to calm her.
    - If you mean the suspension, I think it was too little for what you did to me - she teased with a voice even more challenging, and shot it with her beautiful brownish eyes.
    Somehow that penetrating gaze made Richard remember the first time he saw her.
    He had gone to her apartment to ask some questions about the