I Forgive You

Livonia turned the key and entered the apartment she shared with her boyfriend Mason. They had been living together for three years now, ever since she was a freshman at college. He had gotten a job as a junior manager at a renowned tech firm and had surprised her by asking her to move in with him. She loved living with her boyfriend, he was an amazing guy. Everything was peachy until a year later when he decided to show a different side of him, she had never known; the personality that comes out when he drinks. Half of the time now was elbows, emergency rooms, and emotional torture.

She knew he was home, so she tried to be as quiet as a church mouse as she tiptoed to the bedroom. The lights were off so she figured he must already be asleep. It was 11 p.m. and she had been studying with Faith for over five hours at the campus library.

“Why are you sneaking? You have something to hide?” A voice growled from the dark living area.

Mason switched on the torch on his phone and shone it on her.

Liv stopped and turned to him. Now that she was standing still, she got the whiff of rich alcohol in the room, “No, I thought you were already asleep. I didn’t want to be loud and wake you.”

“Well, I am not asleep, am I?” He smiled and hiccupped. He stood from his chair and stumbled towards her, “Where did you go? I missed you.”

“I was at the library, I called you and told you, remember?” Liv reminded him.

Mason seized her chin. He could barely stand up straight and he reeked of booze. He was always one to have a couple of drinks per day and get drunk during the weekend but ever since he lost his job six months ago he had gone over the edge completely. Livonia didn’t like talking to him when he was like this.

“Hmm. And yeah, I am having that party for Neil tomorrow, you should be there, it will be fun.” Mason slurred and twirled his fingers in her dark hair.

“Tomorrow? We talked about this, Mason. I don’t think it’s a great idea to have this party. I mean our finances are very tight at the -,”

Before Liv could finish her sentence Mason grabbed a fist of her hair and yanked her head back, “Don’t tell me what I can or cannot do, Liv! Finance this, finance that. What? Do you think you are already a fucking banker? Shut up already!” He shoved her backward.

Liv stumbled and her back crashed into a wall behind her. She winced against the pain and tried to remain calm. She started for the bedroom, the best thing to do when Mason got like this was to simply walk away and let him be. As she turned her back, she felt a sharp pain in the middle of her back. Mason’s kick had her flying forward and crashing violently on the ground. Before she could get her bearings right, another kick found her abdomen. Liv cried out in pain and curled into a fetal position.

“Fucking tell me what to do again and see what I am going to do to you!” Mason spat and staggered back to the living area where he slumped on the sofa and grabbed the half-empty bottle of Vodka.

Livonia was a twenty-three-year-old girl from the quieter part of the country. She had met Mason when she used to volunteer at her mom’s workplace. Her mother was a psychiatrist and Mason’s father was one of her patients. She fell in love with how he would take care of his dad. He dropped and picked him up from his appointments; picked up his prescriptions and always hugged and comforted him when his dad needed it. He would always find her at the pharmacy counter, she was better with numbers than dealing with people’s broken minds. They hit it off immediately and fell in love quickly. Once she received her acceptance letter from the university of her dreams, Mason promised to follow her there and managed to land a job at Paco and Fittz, a renowned software company.