I'm holding a bag of ice against the side of my stomach. I was sucking up some crumbs with a miniature vacuum while Alex was watching basketball. I couldn't hear him when he said to turn it off so he took it from me and threw it at me. I think I'm used to the cold against my skin. It seems like I put a bag of ice to a new bruise everyday. "Hey can you make some sandwiches? Jeff and Mike are coming over."
"Yea." I reply. I've learned just to say yes because I don't like getting hit. I hate his friends. They are the most immature jerks I've ever met, I mean they act like they are still in highschool. They are just like Alex, they all want to be like Alex. He walks over to me and I look up. "I'll get started on those now." I say putting the bag of ice down.
"Ouch." He says touching the bruise on my stomach. "Did I throw it that hard?"
"What do you think." I say pulling down my shirt.
He puts a finger under my chin and I look up confused. "I'm sorry about that. I didn't really mean to throw it..."
"Yea right." I whisper.
"I'm serious. I'm really sorry. It's just that when I get into my games I get irrated easily."
"It really hurt."
"I know, I'm sorry." He says as his face gets closer to mine. He puts a hand on my back and he's about to kiss me when I manage to push him away.
"I'll make those sandwiches."
"What is wrong with you?!" He yells throwing the bag of ice at me. "You haven't had sex in months! Why won't you sleep with me?"
He is pathetic! Did he really think we had a moment or something? What the hell made him think I would sleep with him because he said he was sorry? He's such an idiot! "You're not my husband."
"Are you serious?" I nod. "You won't sleep with me because I'm not your husband? That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard! You're stupid husband is probably screwing some girl right now! You need to get over your husband. Face it. You're never going to see him, and you're never going to have sex with him ever again. So get over it and lets have sex."
I don't know why there are tears streaming down my cheeks but there are. Chandler is not screwing some other girl. He would never do that to me. He would never cheat on me... Unless he's thinking I'm cheating on him now... but still he would never cheat on me! What if he is? What if he's sleeping with some other girl right now? Oh my god! My husband is screwing some hot girl! No he's not. No I choose to believe he is not screwing some other girl. "My husband would never cheat on me!"
Alex gives out a loud laugh. "Are you kidding me?You've been gone for almost half a year, of course he's screwing someone else. He probably thought you left him and did the right thing and moved on. Nobody can wait that long to have sex."
"I can."
"I take that back... except for you."
"My husband wouldn't sleep with someone else."
"Why wouldn't he? You've been gone for a long time now. He's probably thinking my stupid wife left me. Give me some hot chick I can screw."
I shake my head "No he's not!" I scream hitting him. "He's looking for me."
Alex laughs. "Yea right. If he was looking for you don't you think he would've found you by now?" That's true... I mean does it really take that long to find someone? Maybe he isn't looking for me.
"Well you've gone almost half a year without sex."
He laughs. "Are you kidding me? I have sex all the time."
"No you don't."
"Yes I do. I'm not stupid enough to bring girls here but I have plenty of sex. I go on dates. I see women. You are not the only woman in my life. I have plenty of those. Where the hell do you think I go at night when there isn't a game on TV or having poker night?"
"Then why don't you keep them here? Why do you need me here? I don't understand!"
"I've told you! You're perfect!" He yells.
"I'm sure the women you go out with are much better than I am. Why do I need to stay? Why are you doing this to me?"
"No you are perfect. The women I go out with are not even close to perfect. My parents would never accept the girls I date."
"What?"
"Nothing.." He says looking away. "Start on those sandwiches. Those guys should be here soon." He walks out of the kitchen.
"Happy anniversary honey." I feel a pair of arms wrap around me and kisses on my neck as I sleep.
"Mmm..." I say with a smile as I open my eyes. Right in front of me is Chandler and another girl. I can't see her face, but he's kissing her. What is he doing? It's our anniversary. Ours. Not theirs! Why is he with another woman in front of me? Why would he do that?
"I love you so much, I'm so glad my wife isn't here." He smiles kissing here again.
If these aren't his arms... whose are they? I turn around and find Alex giving me an evil smile. "Your husband did move on. Lets have sex." He says touching my face.
I sit up and turn my head towards Chandler and the other girl. Her face is a blur. "I love you." Chandler says again. "I love you more than I ever loved... anyone."
"He never loved you. Nobody could ever love you." Alex says touching my hair.
Tears are running down my cheeks. I run towards Chandler and the girl and touch his arm. He doesn't notice me. He doesn't care I'm here. What's wrong with him? I open my mouth to say something but nothing will come out. I continue trying to get Chandler's attention, but he just won't look at me. Why isn't anything coming out of my mouth? I am now slapping Chandler's arm while trying to get the girl away from him. I'm trying to pry his arms off of her, but nothing's happening. They don't even notice me, they just keep going at it. I can't say anything. Why can't I say anything?
"He doesn't care. He loves her, and is happy you're gone." Alex says trying to pull me away from Chandler, but I won't let go. I'm still trying to scream his name, but he won't even look at me. He's looking at the girl lovingly. Alex finally yanks me away from Chandler and we float away. I scream as tears flow down my cheeks, and Alex laughs hysterically.
My eyes shoot open and I look around. I hate that dream. It keeps coming back and just won't go away. The only good thing about it is seeing Chandler's face. I mean the dreams are always a little different, but I still hate them. I mean they usually don't start off with happy anniversary... Oh my god! Today is my anniversary to Chandler! I can feel the tears drip down my face. I want to be home spending my anniversary with my husband. I hear the door fly open and I look up. I look at the clock and back at the door. "It's 3:20"
"Get out of bed!" Alex says pulling me out of bed.
"What's going on?" I ask wiping the tears off my face.
"My parents are coming!" He yells flipping the lights on. "My parents are coming TODAY and this place is a mess, there's no food for them to eat, you look awful. Come on." He says pulling me out of the room.
"It's 3 in the morning!"
"Yea I know! And we are so behind! My parents are coming at 5 tonight! Everything needs to be PERFECT! So I need you to start cleaning the bathrooms, I'll go find all of the gifts my parents sent and put them out. So start cleaning!" He says running towards a closet. I don't want to clean. I just want to go back to bed and cry. No, I want to be in my bed holding my husband. "Why the hell are you just standing there? We're losing precious time!" He screams.
I nod and walk towards a closet with cleaning supplies. This is how I will be spending my 3rd wedding anniversary. I know more tears want to come out but I won't let them. I won't think about my anniversary again today. I can't.
I slowly apply some red lip gloss to my lips. I put the tube of lip gloss into a little black pouch and look at myself in the mirror. My hair is down and a little wavy, I'm wearing a beautiful red dress, it's almost similar to a dress that I have at home, it's got a low neckline, and it has a pretty revealing back. It's beautiful and expensive, wow is it expensive. Alex bought tons of dresses and threw a huge bag at me. He made me try on every single dress for him so he could pick which dress I would be wearing tonight. All of them were beautiful and expensive. I looked at all of the price tags and wow. The dress that I have that is similar to this one was expensive but most definitely not as expensive as this. Oh there's a big bruise on my leg.
"Shit!" Alex screams and runs into the room. "My parents are almost here come on!" He says fixing his red tie. "Let me look at you." He says staring me up and down. "Crap we didn't cover up that bruise. Alright.. you slipped. Other than that you look gorgeous." He smiles. "Beautiful." The door bell rings and makes Alex jump. "CRAP!" He screams. "Ok. It's ok." He calms himself down looks in the mirror and checks his teeth. "Alright, lets go." He says taking my hand. He plasters a huge smile on his face and opens the door. "Mom, dad" He gives his mom a hug and shakes his dad's hand. "Glad you came, come on in."
"I missed you so much sweetheart." Alex's mother says giving her son a kiss. "Kate. You look stunning!" She looks at me a little while longer, "Actually, you look just like someone on television.. I don't know who, oh gosh I wish I did, but I know I've seen someone who looks like you on television." She smiles. Kate? I'm not Kate, that's not my .. oh yea I remember I wanted to use another name. "Even more beautiful than the last time we saw you." She gives Alex an approving look and looks back at me. I wish my mother would tell me I'm beautiful.
"Thank you." I smile.
"You do look phenomenal." Alex's dad gives me an approving look.
"She is great isn't she." Alex smiles putting an arm around me.
"What is that?" Alex's dad asks giving a somewhat disgusted look.
"What are you talking about Chris?" Alex's mother looks at her husband and down at what he's looking at. He's looking at my bruise. "Oh my.. is that a birthmark? Some sort of... skin condition.."
Alex looks down and stares at the bruise. "No mom. My beautiful Kate slipped on some water the other night. I accidentally knocked over a cup and went to get a towel to clean it and Kate came home, didn't see it, and slipped. I'm so sorry about that again sweetie." He kisses my cheek.
Grosse. "I'm going to go get appetizers." I smile and walk into the kitchen, wiping my face with my hand. I find the tray that I set up and pick it up. I sigh and slowly walk back into the room.
"Alexander, Kate is just perfect for you." His mother smiles and sips a glass of wine.
"Becky.." Chris says gesturing towards me.
She looks at me and smiles. "Hi there darling. I was just telling Alexander how perfect you are for him. Beautiful children... speaking of which.. when will I be getting these beautiful grandchildren? and this beautiful young lady as my daughter in law?" She looks at Alex who just smiles. Never. I will never marry that jerk and I will never have his kids.
"Mother, I haven't even talked to Kate about this yet.. I'm sure it can wait." He smiles and hands me a glass of wine.
"Well we can talk about this now." Rebecca flashes her husband a huge smile and looks at me. "So do you think there is a future for the 2 of you? Your father and I certainly see a beautiful one." She smiles and touches her husband's arm.
Alex smiles at me and then looks at his parents. "Yes we see one as well, just not so soon. We like to take things slow." I would never marry you, idiot. I sip my glass of wine, oh it is good. They are still talking about the subject of marriage and I just sit here drinking my wine. I wonder what Chandler is doing right now. I remember our last anniversary... he was so romantic. He took me out to my favorite restaurant, bought me beautiful red roses, took me out for a long romantic... no that was 2 years ago.. what did we do last year? I don't remember last years anniversary... Hmm... Oh wait I do! He forgot our last anniversary! I remember because we were in Tulsa, and I thought he was going to plan something big and romantic, but he forgot. I mean he made up for it later but he forgot last year. I wonder if he forgot this year. "Kate honey..." I feel a tap on my shoulder.
I look up at Alex. "Yes?" I say a little irritated.
"My mother asked you a question."
"I didn't hear the question." I look at his mother who is smiling at me sweetly. She has the most enormous wedding ring.
"I just said that you haven't said much all night, what are your thoughts on marriage and your future with my son? Do you think you want to get married soon?"
"I uh..." How the hell am I supposed to answer that? I don't know what to say, I hate this guy!
"Of course she does." Alex smiles and puts his hand on my back giving me an incredibly hard pinch that really hurts. It's one of those pinches where you know you're going to get a bruise. He sips his wine and pinches me even harder. It hurts. He gives my skin one more big pinch.
"Ow!" I scream standing up.
He gives me a look and forces a smile onto his face. "What's wrong baby?"
"You pinched me!"
"Babe, my parents are here, I don't think they want to hear that." He says giving out a little laugh and taking my hand trying to make me sit.
"I'm tired of this. I'm tired of you hurting me! You know what today is? Today is my 3rd wedding anniversary! Instead of being with my husband, the man that I love, I am stuck here with your pathetic ass! And I'm stupid enough to put on a fake smile and act nice for your parents, and the fact that you still find some way to hurt me really makes me mad. " I scream and turn around to face his parents. I don't know what has gotten into me, or what happened but I just can't stop my mouth from moving. Maybe it is the wine. "You're son is a jerk. I've never loved him, I never will. I hate him. I hate him with ever fiber in my body. He abducted me, kept me in this place, abused me, and treated me like a slave. He took me away from my life so he can show me off to you because you don't like the women that he dates. Well get over it because the woman that you do like, that you think is dating your son is taken. I'm not who you think I am. I don't love your son and I'm not going to play along anymore. The only reason I am playing along is because you're son threatened to kill my husband. " I feel a drop of water on my arm and look down. I'm crying. There are tears running down my cheeks that I hadn't noticed before. "I love my husband." I turn to Alex and stare him straight in the eyes. "I hate you."
"What are you talking about?" Chris stands up and looks at his son and I with a furious look.
"Katie, sweetheart, I think you've had a little too much to drink." Alex says giving me a look that says I'm going to pay for what I just said.
"Is this true Alexander?"
I can tell he's trying to think hard. "Do you think it's true? Why would I abduct a girl just to show her off to you? Kate if you want to break up with me then do so, don't make a huge scene in front of my parents."
"This bruise is from your son." I say showing them the huge bruise that they saw earlier. "I slipped because he pushed me. There is no reason for me to make this stuff up. I want to get out of here. I want to go home and be with my husband on our anniversary. I want to see my husband, who I haven't seen in six months. Six of the longest months of my life. Maybe my marriage to my husband wasn't great, maybe it was struggling, but I love that man more than anything. Stop telling your son what to do and let him start living his own life so I can start living mine."
"We do not tell our son who to date, or how to live his life. He is a very independent man. You would be lucky to be with our son. Come on Christopher." Rebecca says coldly grabbing her purse and storms out of the apartment, her husband following her.
I watch as the door is slammed shut and I feel a cold hard slap against my face. "What the hell is your problem?!" Alex's face is turning red and he is glaring at me. He's so mad. "Why the hell did you do that?"
"Because I want my life back!I'm tired of you hurting me. I won't have my life back unless your stupid parents let you date whom ever, or at least hate me." He punches my face making me fall back.
"You want to go home? You want to see your pathetic husband? Fine. I'll let you go home if you can find your way there." What does that mean? He grabs my neck and squeezes it really hard. I can't breathe."You're going to be sorry for what happened tonight. I won't kill your husband because I want you to be sorry not your husband, who probably doesn't care about you." He throws me onto the glass table and I knock over everything. I try to stand up but before I can he kicks my stomach and kicks me over. "You sorry yet? You want to apologize to my parents? You need to start minding your own business." He kicks me again.
"Stop." I whisper through my tears. "Please." I feel like I can't breathe.
"Stop, you want me to stop?" He grabs my hair pulling me up and stares at my teary eyes. "You want me to stop?" Maybe if I say no he'll keep hurting me and eventually the pain will go away, maybe I should just give up. I'll never see Chandler, and either way it will never be the same. I don't deserve this. I don't deserve this. I'm a good person, I just wanted a normal life. Kids, a happy marriage, a good job. I've never done anything so horrible to deserve this. "Answer me!"
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