Chapter 1: TASHA
“Mark don’t start this shit today!”
“Get the hell out of my face! What the fuck is wrong with you, are you losing your mind or what?”
“Tasha you’re not going to just walk out this house like that, who are you getting all dressed up for? I’m taking you to work!”
“First off, no you’re not and second I dress like this all the time, why all of the sudden you have a problem with it now? Whatever you’re not taking me to work today!”
“Why not? ”
“Because I want to drive myself to work. You’re never on time picking me up. I’m cool, you know I have to be at work right now, so why are you doing this shit?”
“I don’t give a fuck where you have to be, you’re not leaving this house without me!”
Yelling at the top of his lungs holding the car keys in his hand.
Tasha sitting on her bed holding the sides of her head as she daydreamed trying to block him out.
I thought that Mark was different, he started out as this nice dude. A late night movies and popcorn type of nigga. He rubbed my feet and made me feel like the most important person in the world. That was something that I wasn’t familiar with at all.
Things just changed, I think the nigga is bipolar or some shit. One minute he’s cool and the next minute he’s flipping out. I try to be considerate, because I know he lost both of his parents at a young age. Seeing both of his parents shot in the head, as he watched from right under the bed. I don’t think anyone could come back from that. All he really has now is his brother.
They’re pretty close, he’s his go to when I kick his ass out for a few days.
He sits up and watches all those crazy ass shows that come on like, The First 48 and Snapped. If he not doing that he’s running the streets with him.
I usually give in, but today it’s not happening, plus he didn’t step in here until five this morning.
“Start what Tasha!”
Mark’s voice boomed, intruding her thoughts. He was now standing over her pacing back and forth.
She could have sworn he had been smoking something and it wasn’t weed, he was really out of it.
“Give me my car keys Mark! Why do you send me through this shit!”
“Why I send you through what Tasha? All I asked is that you let me take you to work, I don’t see what the fucking problem is!”
“You’re the problem!”
Tasha now coming to her feet, looking him in the eyes.
“Your so fucking selfish, I can’t stand your ass. You think just because I fuck you from time to time, you have the right to control me! You go out, take the car and stay gone all fucking night, doing whatever and whoever now you’re so insecure.
You must be the one out there doing something because I’m not doing shit! You take your money and do whatever the hell you want to do with it. I pay the mortgage and all these bills by myself. If I don’t go to work who’s going to do it, Mark Huh?”
Tasha ranting not giving him a chance to answer as he stood there with rage building in his eyes. He rubbed the sweat off his bald head with the palm of his hand, as she continued to give him every little piece of her mind.
“Sure in the hell, not you, you have the audacity to stand over me, yelling and screaming in my face. The whole neighborhood can hear you, don’t you get tired of them calling the cops or looking at us crazy every time we leave out the door?
That don’t bother you? Cause the shit bothers me! I’m done with your stupid ass, get your shit and get the fuck out of my house for good this time!”
Mark’s eye widens and his face now red with rage, he couldn’t believe It. Tasha had lost her damn mind talking to him like that. Before she knew it his six-foot frame was launching in her direction.
“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKIN TO LIKE THAT! ”
Mark yelled so loud, that it seems like everything in the bedroom shook. He grabbed her by the throat lifting her off to her feet.
“Mark..”
Tasha’s words struggled to reach his ear as tears start to stream down her face, her legs kicked in the air trying to find the floor.
Mark’s eyes were cold and heartless like he wasn’t choking the life out of the women he was madly in love with but someone he hated.
Slamming her on the bed and climbing on top of her legs pinning her down. Mark still had a tight grip on her neck. Tasha’s face and eyes were now turning red and her vision started to get blurry. She could still hear Mark yelling, as she tried to fight him off.
“Bitch you’re going to respect me or leave this mutha fuckin earth today!”
Digging her fingernails into his arms and hands, trying to claw at his face, he snatched back so she couldn’t grab a hold of his skin.
Tasha frantically felt around the bed trying to grab a hold of anything that she could use to get him off of her.
Her hands finally found her purse that was laying on the bed above her head. She grabbed it, closed her eyes and start swinging it at him. Not caring where it landed, just as long as it landed. Mark still not letting up as his eyes looked as if they were looking right through her.
This purse was a gift from Keena it had like fifty buckles on it, it has to do some kind of damage. Tasha thought as she kept swinging. She could feel Mark’s grip getting looser as he rolled off of her and on to the bed.
Tasha still dizzy, gasping for air as she rolled off the bed, she crawled to the bathroom, while tears ran down her face. Her sight was still blurry as she struggling to come to her feet, she finally gained ground.
Coughing and throwing up until her breathing became normal again.
Tasha splashed water on her face trying to stop herself from crying as she dried her tears with a pink face towel. Looking in the mirror at her face that was still red and her neck bruised from Mark’s hands choking damn near the life out of her. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail as she nervously ran her hand to the back of her head.
She told herself the last time that she would never put herself in this predicament again. Why does this shit always happen to me? Is it me? She thought as she turned and looked at Mark, who was laying on her queen-sized bed. Bright red blood coming from his forehead. His eyes were closed as he laid there with one hand hanging off the side of the bed and the other lying on his chest. Tasha started to cry even harder as she slowly headed out the bathroom towards the bed whispering.
“Mark!”
