There is no Prince Charming . . .

There is no Prince Charming . . .

Drying her eyes, she walks to the bathroom. She looks in the mirror. Her eyes are red. The little place right above her lip is red, too. It always gets red when she cries. She always cries when she watches those sappy movies.

Prince Charming. She knows now there is no such thing. She dreams it could still happen. Tom was supposed to be her Prince Charming. He seemed as though he was at first. Until he hit her.

The illusions started to shatter that day. Cracks began to appear in her happily-ever-after. He would hit her many more times before the illusion would be completely shattered beyond any hope of repair.

"Nice hair!" Those were the first words she remembered him saying to her. It wasn't long until she was heading to his work area whenever she had a break. Looking back, she realizes she should have seen the signs - red flags warning her this was not going to be a fairy tale come true.

That first time, she forgave him. He hadn't asked to be forgiven. He'd never even told her he was sorry. He blamed her. If she hadn't . . .

Was it her fault? She knew it wasn't. She had learned that the hard way through her last relationship. Jeff did tell her he was sorry. He promised to change. She had him arrested - a few times. Then there came the day she realized that she did not deserve to be hit. She hadn't said a word - but Jeff never hit her again.

Still, there were other ways to hurt someone. He was good at finding them. She had stopped that pain by leaving.

She would do it again. This time, she wasn't going to make the same mistake. New rules. The first rule: no falling in love until you have gotten to know someone. Second rule: it takes AT LEAST six months to even BEGIN to know someone. Third rule: REMEMBER THAT!

She dried her tears. Turned off the tv. Picked up her purse and her keys . . . and walked out the door . . .

As she started the car, she reminded herself, "There is no Prince Charming!"


Word Count: 359