Thread: Being Together is Difficult (~Isabella~ and Pigeons)

Emily had once been a happy woman but it seemed like a lifetime ago. She was a beautiful young girl, she attended one of the best colleges in the country trying to become a teacher. She had always been cheerful, her spirited blue eyes and bright smile making anyone a little happier, nothing seemed to be able to get her down. She married young, a man she had told everyone she loved and for awhile it had remained true. Nowadays though that wasn't the Emily people knew, she was a quiet, shy, and sometimes jumpy for the strangest reason, the spirit in her eyes faded long ago. Despite her dreams she became another woman who just lived at home doing housework and not going out even if it is to spend time with old friends. Most people thought she just calmed down or they theorized that she was depressed but that wasn't really it. The truth was her husband, the man she had loved so much was the cause of all her pain. Her parents had asked her not to get married so young, to wait but she had been so sure. If only she had listened to them. He hadn't always been so bad though, at first it had started with simple arguments. Things like her telling him what she wanted to do which made him angry to the point where he would complain that she was being too independent and not devoting herself to their marriage. That was only the first step, it started with him shutting down her dreams and making her cease to go to school. Of course it escalated to the point that going out with friends or even trying to go somewhere alone drove him to hateful words and accusations of unfaithfulness. That was when it had reached a point that she was fed up with it, with his ridiculous arguments about how her smallest freedoms were hurting their marriage. Of course she was strong back then, she put up a fight, trying to remain calm and not let things get out of hand. She tried to do the things that kept her happy but for some reason it just kept getting worse and worse before finally it became violent. She can still remembers the first night it happened. It had been a nice day, she had cleaned the house and went to a movie for the first time in months with some of her friends. She got home and he was already waiting, sitting in a small wooden chair just watching the door. When he spoke his voice was colder than usual, the anger beneath the surface evident even before his volume escalated. He asked her where she had been and she answered calmly, goosebumps on her usually smooth skin from the tension. When she mentioned being out with friends he lost it, standing up and going over to her, his large hands slamming her back against the wall with force. She tried to push him off but he was much bigger than her, she had always been small but this was the first time he had made her feel so tiny. As she told him to get off he simply backhanded her to the face leaving a deep red mark. He hadn't stayed that time though, he couldn't handle it. Instead she was left to cry by herself on the bed wondering where everything went wrong, wondering where all the love went. Of course as time went of it became normal for him to hit her, he would even stick around and try to blame it on her. She was starting to believe it at this point, every time he hit her she was the one apologizing. It wasn't like anyone noticed though, her husband had become more tactical about it hitting her where bruises wouldn't form or making sure it didn't leave a mark. She was like a zombie, obeying everything that came from his mouth and never trying to speak her mind. It wasn't what she really wanted though, she cried quite a bit when she was alone, stayed indoors and just thought about happier times as she watched the world continue moving around her. It hurt though, to be in this kind of relationship and Emily was constantly thinking of ending it, ending their marriage and getting away and sometimes when something really bad was done to her she would go as far as to contemplate suicide. She didn't have the courage for either of those things though and instead chose to obediently obey her husband not thinking of anything but avoiding the pain he could give her at the slightest urge. It was another day for her, she was cleaning, cooking, and just sitting around the house when she got a phone call. Apparently his brother and his wife were going to be joining them for dinner, a threatening tone coming over the phone as he warned her to make everything perfect for their arrival. She knew what that meant, not only was she supposed to make sure the house was neat and to make something delicious for dinner but it was his way of telling her to get cleaned up and to make sure all the bruises were covered. She of course told him everything would be perfect and got to work on the preparations, dinner was at six and it was currently 4 so getting everything done would be easy enough, she had become quite the amazing cook ever since her new life started, though that was about the only thing she could take from their marriage with any pride. She went to the kitchen, a small and homely room, smaller than most of the rooms but she liked it. Everything she needed was already stocked from spices and food to bottles of wine. She began preparing everything deciding to make a baked salmon with vegetables and rice. The rice wouldn't take long so she would put it in later but she went ahead and prepared the fish and vegetables before preheating the oven and sitting them inside. Emily took advantage of the free time she would have while it was cooking and went towards their bedroom, it was up a small flight of stairs on the second level. The bedroom was a place with more bad memories than any other room and every time she entered she felt a little nauseous, this time not being an exception. She tried to ignore the feeling though and went over to the closet opening it up and looking inside. Peering down at her right arm there was a fresh bruise from this morning, she had asked him for more money for groceries and he had blown up slamming her against the wall and squeezing on her arm so tight it left the deep mark. He had ended up leaving her the money but he made sure to tell her she was spending too much and it was her fault he got mad. Like always she had accepted the fact that nothing he did was his own fault and took all the blame herself finding it easier to agree than be hurt again. She picked out a long sleeve cream colored shirt from the closet and a pair of black pants to go with it, a set that would cover up anything she needed to hide from the guests. She proceeded to grab a pair of black 1-inch heels and went to the bathroom, she needed to freshen up if guests were to come. When she got in the shower the hot water hit her causing some of the newer wounds to sting and making her sigh in frustration. It was horrible to look down and see several old bruises accompanied by a new one or two. She tried not to look down ashamed of her own body at this point. Her once smooth impeccable white skin marred by bruises and the once happy cheerful expression always sullied by the burden she carried. Of course she was still beautiful, her body almost perfect, her slender frame making every subtle curve of her body easy to appreciate. She stood at about 5'8 and had a very pretty face that told of the underlying softness in her heart. She washed her long straight black hair, it lustrous shine one of the few things she still had the right to take care of. It was something that caused her more grief than pride making her husband angry from the slightest look from another man labeling her a whore or slut simply because she was gifted a beautiful appearance. She lingered under the hot water for awhile though, as long as she could letting the sound of running water silence her thoughts. She had to get out though and when she did she dressed for company and went back to the kitchen to finish preparing, she knew if it wasn't ready her night would be much worse once company departed. Besides she had to put the rice on and let the fish finish and only had 30 minutes left to do so. As she put the rest of the food on she began setting the table, the fine china making the first appearance in a long time. This was really the first guests they had in the past few months and while it was exciting she was also nervous. Standards would be raised to almost impossible levels and chances were no matter what Emily did she wouldn't have everything perfect in his eyes. As she was finishing up the place settings she heard a car pulling up from inside and hurried to finish up what she was doing. She got the places set, ran over and pulled out a bottle of white wine to go with the food, and began putting the already cooked dinner on serving plates. Her heart was beating fast as she finished up looking over everything to make sure nothing was missing. She didn't know who had arrived first her husband of their guests but if it was him she wanted to make sure he didn't become upset before they arrived, the last thing she needed was to be yelled at prior to tonight. It was going to take everything she had to put up a happy front.