Another bruise to try and hide

Another alibi to write

Another lonely highway in the black of night

Some nights were worse than others. Kirsty could tell how bad it was going to be as soon as she got in. If Nita was upstairs, that was a bad thing. It meant Warren could, and usually would, start getting angry a lot sooner. He didn't lose his temper while Nita was around. Kirsty noted how careful he was in that respect.

"Where've you been?"

"Out." Why did it matter where? Nowhere was good enough an excuse. She could lie through her teeth and still get the same amount of stick for it.

"Who with?"

"People from work." Again, a generalisation. The less he knew, the less he could check up on her.

"Why?"

"It was Zoe's birthday." This time, the truth. Adam had persuaded her to come out, after all, it's not every day your colleague turns forty, and he'd promised to buy the first round. Kirsty couldn't keep making excuses not to go out.

"So Zoe's more important than your family?"

"Of course not." Why did he always bring it up? It was as though he didn't want her to have friends. Of course he didn't. Friends would offer her a way out of this mess. He couldn't have that happening.

"Nita's asleep now."

"Right."

Warren stood up, using the table to steady himself. He'd been drinking; heavily, if the empty cans that had been thrown to the bin were taken into account. That was never good.

"Do you love me?"

"Of course I do."

"Then show it." Warren grabbed Kirsty's ponytail, twisting her hair around his fist and pulling her painfully towards him. He forced a kiss onto her lips, pushing her against the fridge. Magnets dug into her back, but she couldn't move. His grip on her was too strong.

Letting go, he yanked her hair, pulling her to one side. She fell, her stomach catching the corner of the table. She let out a small cry of pain. Bad move.

"Do you want to wake your daughter up?"

Sprawled on the floor, Kirsty tried to sit up. Warren's foot on her chest kept her down. She shook her head, desperate for the ordeal to end.

"Talk to me."

"N-no. I don't want to wake her up."

"Then you'll be quiet, won't you?"

"Ye-yes." How had it become that she was so afraid of her husband; that she'd do exactly what he said to keep him happy? She hated what she had become, but there was no way out. She had to put up with it, for Nita's sake.

"Good." Warren picked up a mug from the side and dropped it onto Kirsty's stomach. It shattered into pieces, and she had to bite her tongue to stop her from crying out at the shock. "Now clean it up."

Kirsty sat up, breathing deeply. The mug drop was a new one. It was a test to see if she'd keep quiet; keep to what he told her to do. She understood his mind games, but that didn't stop her being drawn into them. Obligingly, she swept up the broken fragments with a brush and dustpan, tipping them into the bin on top of the cans.

"I think it's time you went to bed." Again, this was another of Warren's ploys. If she went upstairs before him, he could hear her footsteps. If there was too much movement, or not enough, he'd demand to know why. It also stopped her leaving the house, not that she'd be able to leave without Nita anyway.

Kirsty nodded, and walked up the stairs, her body still trembling. In the bathroom, she put her face into a bowl of cold water to calm down. Eventually she was able to go to bed, dressed in nothing more than a vest and shorts. Warren never did like her wearing a lot in bed. She supposed it let him see the bruises; control where the next one would be.

That's where she lies, broken inside
With no place to go, no place to go, to dry her eyes
Broken inside

A/N: Song lyrics taken from Savage Garden - Two Beds and a Coffee Machine and Avril Lavigne - Nobody's Home. I've got a longer Kirsty story in the pipeline; it may be a while until I post it though.