Nicole laid on the cold tile floor curled up like a little shrimp trying to gather her thoughts and her strength as she sobbed.
'Will this torture ever end? What did I do to deserve this?' She gritted her teeth in anger, hating herself for being so weak.
After a while her anger and self-loathing drifted into numbness, her ragged breath became more even. She could hear the shower water running upstairs. Though her head was pounding in pain, she knew she needed to get up soon.
She was laying on her left side since her right side had taken the hits. She rolled to the left and got her knees underneath her and she was able to sit up on her knees. Instinctively Nicole began to reach up to touch her head but as her arm made it halfway up an intense pain in her ribs made her wince. She jerked her hand down and sucked in a breath as the pain from her ribs shot through her body. After a second, she tried again but this time she used her left hand.
Her fingers made it to her hair and touched her scalp. She could feel a cool sticky liquid and shards of glass were entangled in her hair. At least the blood had quit flowing. She looked at the blood on her fingertips and then she looked at the mess around her. She wanted to tend to her wounds, but she knew if the mess wasn't cleaned up by the time Richard came down, there would only be more wounds to tend.
She grabbed the table with her left hand and pulled herself up onto her feet. The simple motion made Nicole dizzy, and her head had a sharp pounding as if someone were hitting her over and over with an axe. She took a moment to steady herself.
After a minute she made her way to the pantry and grabbed her broom and dustpan. Slowly she cleaned the vomit, blood, broken plate and washed the remaining intact dinner dishes. When she was done the time on the stove read 2:37am. She made her way to the bottom of the stairs and stared as if it were Mount Everest.
One step at a time, Nicole conquered Everest. She quietly tried to sneak by the bedroom door so she could go to the bathroom and get the glass out and clean herself up, but as she passed the door a gruff voice called out, "Come to bed. It's late." Nicole froze in the doorway. "I need to use the restroom first." It came out as barely more than a whisper.
"God Nicole, are you a child? You can't hold it for 3 hours?" The menace in his voice was clear. Without another word she walked into the room and headed for the pallet on the floor that she slept on when he was at home.
He made her sleep on a pallet when he was home. He said she disturbed him in bed, and he couldn't get a good night's sleep. Once she offered to use one of their other three bedrooms so they could both get a good night's sleep. He accused her of cheating and the events that happened that night still made her shiver with repulsion. She never mentioned using another bedroom again.
She was about to lay down on her pallet when Richard called out, "Up here." Nicole froze. "You- you want me…on the bed with you?" Nicole didn't want him to think she was questioning him, but she was afraid to make the wrong move. Even in the dark she could feel his cold gaze on her. "Did I stutter?" he asked. She just stared. "I've got business out of town over the next week, I want to be close to my wife. Is that a problem?" She wanted to refuse but she knew better.
She delicately climbed into the bed and laid with her back to him careful not to make any contact. He moved his body closer until he was almost molded into her, and he wrapped his long arms around her small waist, one hand squeezing her breast and one hand tightly clenching her right side. The pain was excruciating but Nicole did not let out even a whimper.
She lay like that for over an hour until Richard fell asleep and his arms went slack. Even then she dared not move. Eventually the exhaustion won over and she fell asleep. When she woke up light was pouring into the room and Richard was nowhere in sight.
Her body was even more sore and stiff than the night before. She struggled to get off of the bed and made her way to the bathroom. She ran her shower and began to undress.
Her hair was matted with blood in a couple spots, and she had dried blood that had ran down by her temple. Her eyes moved down to her torso. She had a large dark bruise on her abdomen by her belly button, and a large yellowing bruise covered almost the span of her ribcage on the right side. In the large yellow bruise were four smaller darker circular bruises where Richard dug his fingers in.
She was pretty sure she had at least two broken ribs, but she knew from experience there was nothing the hospital could do. She would simply have to wait for them to heal.
After her inspection was complete, she stepped into the hot shower. The hot water scorched the sensitive parts of her skin, but after a while that sort of pain felt good. She was slowly washing off every touch, every blow, every insult. She put her head under the water and blood and glass washed down her burning scalp. Every hot shower was like a baptism of redemption, an attempt to wash the past off of her body. She absentmindedly put shampoo in her hand and began trying to wash her hair.
"Ow! Goddamn it!" she hissed as the stinging of her scalp caught her off guard and sent salty tears down her already wet cheeks. Sometimes she stopped herself from crying but this time she let it flow.
As she moved her hand through, she felt a sharp pain. Her hand quickly retracted. She slowly put it back and lightly felt around trying to find the source of the pain. Her fingers lightly fumbled until she felt it. A small shard of the plate was stuck in the flesh of her scalp. She tried to pull it out with her hand, but her fingers couldn't grip it and slipped off. She tried a couple more times and gave up when it just wouldn't budge.
She finished cleaning herself, got out of the shower and dressed herself in a loose navy sundress that she wore after events such as last night. She wore it so her wounds would be comfortable and also because it's hard dressing in anything else when you can only really lift one arm above your head. Kind of sick really. She couldn't help but wonder how many other wives had a beating recovery dress.
She brushed the bottom of her hair the best she could but left the top alone and had no choice but to leave it down. She went to the medicine cabinet and stared at the mirror. Her eyes looked her own image over. She could see a faint semblance of her youth, but the woman before her looked weary, ragged, an invisible weight crushing her aura. She hated the person that looked back at her in the reflection. She saw someone weak and useless and stupid. She hated Richard too, but she hated herself the most. Hated herself for falling into his trap.
After a moment she opened the cabinet and fished out the tweezers. She tried to feel around and pull the shard, but just like her fingers, the tweezers kept slipping off the ceramic. After the fifth time her frustration got the better of her. She threw the tweezers into the sink."FUCKKK!!" she growled.
She was trying to gain her composure when she heard the front door open and shut. Nicole's heart skipped a beat as she hurriedly grabbed the tweezers and threw them back in the medicine cabinet and shuffled out the bathroom towards the stairs.
"Nicole!" Richard called impatiently through the house."I'm right here!" Nicole called back in the most natural voice she could muster with adrenaline pumping through her veins.
Richard looked up from the entryway as Nicole made her way down the stairs.
"Well don't you look beautiful today. I really like that dress." The compliment smoothly rolled off his tongue and would make most women melt.However, Nicole internally rolled her eyes. He's seen her in her beating recovery dress more times than she could count so what he was probably really admiring his own handiwork that put her in that dress.
"Well, I always want to look nice for you." she dutifully lied, and she could tell by Richard's relaxed body language that her response satisfied him.
She made it to the bottom of the stairs and Richard swept her into his embrace and kissed her as if last night did not exist. As if he didn't ruthlessly assault her. As if they were some normal, happily married couple. She tried not to let the pain show as he held tightly her injured torso.
"I've got a beautiful gift for a beautiful woman." He said as he released her and reached into his pocket, pulling out a gold chained necklace. He turned her around to place it on her. It was a round gold pendant necklace with an engraving of a rose on the front. It was simple and elegant.
"Every time you see it while I'm gone, you'll think of me."He finished clasping it and studied her face. She thumbed the pendant deep in thought. He'd given her presents in the past when he leaves out of town. A diamond tennis bracelet, beautiful pearl earrings, a few rings, even a crystal statue. Richard's brow furrowed a bit, as he was growing impatient from her lack of response, so he continued,"You know…you're lucky to have a husband who spoils you so much. Many women wish they had a husband like me."
This brought Nicole out of her daze, she recognized the storm brewing in Richard's eyes. Quickly she smiled and said,"I don't need a present to make me think of you. You're always on my mind," It wasn't even a lie, she never said she thought of him warmly. "but it's very beautiful, and I'll be proud to show it off.
This seemed to appease big ego Richard as the lines on his face smoothed and his charming smile made its appearance. With that he said,"I would stay and give you that baby you've wanted for so many years but I'm already running late for the airport. When I get back maybe we'll make me a son after all."
He looked at her deviously. She just smiled and nodded. He slapped her ass hard and headed for the door. As he made his way out, he turned and looked at Nicole. His light eyes penetrating her dark ones with a clear message."Oh and while I'm gone curfew is 6:00 since you can't properly manage time. If you break curfew this time your punishment will be much worse."
He didn't wait for her response as he shut the door and headed off for the airport.