A/N: Well, I was just so flattered that my faithful and favorite reviewers understood so well the situation I'm in, I've decided to reward y'all with another chapter! Please remember to R&R! ^_^

Chapter 9

Arabella

(Three months later)

I peered through my window, watching as preparations for the Feast of Fools were being made. I sighed, and set my sewing down on the seat right next to mine. I wished with all my might that I could just go down there, and join them. To be with other people besides my husband and our servants.

Why hadn't I listened to Clopin? I couldn't possibly have forseen the horrible beating he gave me when I returned home. Or the way he forced himself on me in bed. Or how whenever he left, he would lock me inside so that I couldn't escape.

Of course I couldn't have seen this, I was blinded by love. Or, at least, a love I thought once was. I had been a fool. And how was I paying for it? Trapped, like a prisoner, inside of my own house. Forced to be some type of slave for my husband. Beaten senseless, until my body was covered with scars, most of which would never go away. Love.

I looked away from the window and brought out the one item that ever brought comfort to me: the puppet Clopin had given me the night he had saved my life.

Flashback:

I returned home, and found our room exactly as it was the night I fled, only three days ago. I heard Clifton close the door, and I turned to him, "Oh, Clifton, it's-"

I was met with a hard blow to my face. I fell down against the stone floor of our room, clutching my burning cheek. I looked up to see his pale face towering above me. "Don't you ever disobey me again. I trusted you once, and that was a mistake. I will teach you obedience, even if it's going to kill you!"

He kicked me in the mouth leaving me to cough out blood, all over the floor. Tears trickled down my eyes, as he spoke up again. "That gypsy man, did he bed you?"

"W-What?" I asked, frightened.

"Did that gypsy bed you?" he screeched, even louder. He kicked me in the stomach again, "Answer me, you whore!"

I curled up into a ball, clutching my stomach, "No."

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" he roared, "I will teach you respect, even if it means knocking some respect into you!"

I heard him close the door, and lock it. I cautitiously walked over to where I had dropped my cloak in all the madness, and wrapped it around me. I felt something lumpy coming from an instide pocket that I had sewn there. I reached in, and pulled out the puppet that Clopin made that looked just like him.

Knowing that this masterpiece was made by Clopin, I felt a pain in my heart, stabbing me. I fell to my knees once again on the cold stone floors, and clutched the little puppet. I held it to my chest and said repeatedly, only so that I could hear, "Clopin, Clopin. Why?"

End of Flashback:

I felt a single tear fall down my cheek, and I drew my knees to my chest as I looked out the window. I had to escape Clifton, once and for all. Somehow. I sighed as a gust of wind seemed to shake the branched of the tree that sat next to my window. If only I could feel that breeze, but I hadn't been outside for three months. The lack of sunshine had caused my skin to become an unnatural pale white. I got up, and walked to my vanity set, where I looked in the mirror for the first time since I had come back to Clifton.

I gasped audibly as I looked at someone who did not resemble me at all. I had a pale, pink scar under my right eye, a scratch across the bridge of my nose. My lip was cut, and I had two black eyes from my husband's latest beating. And that was just on my face. I did not dare to look at the other parts of my body where Clifton had defaced it.

I took a deep sigh. It was official, I had to get out of there. But how? I looked out the window for a possible route of escape (seeing that the bedroom door was almost always locked). At first, i sighed in defeat, knowing that there was no way out. Then I saw someone who could brighten up my say at anytime.

"Esmeralda!" I whispered to myself. Yes! That was it! If I could just signal to her that I needed help, I was as good as saved! I started waving wildly to her, trying to catch her attention.

Finally, after about ten minutes of my frantic waving. I saw her casually look up to my home, and see me waving from my window. She furrowed her brow, and I saw her mouth out my name, "Arabella?"

I nodded, and pantomimed someone punching me. I saw horror register on her face, then she nodded. At that moment, I knew that Esme would see to it personally that I got away from Clifton.

I waved manically, again, gesturing for her to hurry, when I heard a cold, icy voice behind me say, "Arabella, what are you doing?"

I whirled aroud, horrified. "Clifton," then I remembered his rule: to always look down when speaking to him. I bent my head down low, and whispered, "My dear, I didn't know that you would be home so early."

"You're excited to see me, I'm sure," he said stonily, placing his coat neatly in the closet, then turning to me again. "Were you waving to one of your gypsy friends?"

"No, my love, no!" I said, frantically, knowing that a beating was sure to come.

"You weren't trying to escape, were you?" Clifton said calmly, walking up to me, and placing his face so close to me, that I could feel his warm breath on my face.

"No! No, Clifton, no!"

"Don't lie to me!" he shouted, pushing me over, and slamming me into a wall, "You were planning to escape, weren't you? WEREN'T YOU?"

I whimpered, as a wave of pain shot through me, "No. No I wasn't."

"Liar," he whispered, slapping me across the face. He straightened, before saying icily, "I'm going to make you wish you were never born."

Horro welled up inside me as I shrieked, over and over again, "No! Please! Don't! It hurts, Clifton! It hurts...,"

A/N: Well, I hoped you liked this quick update, don't be too mad that I ended with a cliffhanger! Imma try to update soon, but I'll see where school takes me. In case I don't update before Halloween, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Remember to review, of Freddy will get you! (Best rhyme I could come up with in a minute!) ^_^