One
Cold. Ice cold fucking water all over my already brittle frozen body.
You'd think I'd be numb by now, but that would be too nice of him.
"Wake the fuck up slut!" His voice has me bolting up right faster than the freezing water that soaks into my bloodied clothes. His hand is around my throat before I can comprehend my surroundings.
He lifts me from my blanket that lays across the floor before taking his right fist to my cheek causing me to spit up blood. I hang my head too weak to fight back. My head falls forward as I become dizzy and I'm slammed against the wall. Pain shoots up my spine causing a horrifying scream to leave my throat.
"There's my girl. Wakey wakey bitch. We've got company coming over. I want you and this house cleaned up before 3 and if it's not," he pauses lifting his hand to me making me whimper and flinch as he laughs.
"Get yourself cleaned up before my guest get here. I don't want to see even a hint of a bruise." He lets me go and leaves the room locking it from the outside. I slide down the wall as tears fall from my eyes.
I use the nightstand to lift myself. My sore arms barely bringing me up and my weak legs shaking all the way to the bathroom.
I stare into the mirror, and I see all the 'love' on my face. Straighten up Tia no time for tears. We have to clean up and quick.
Today is the only day this will work, the only chance I'll get.
I strip naked and get into the shower. The hot water soothes me as it hits my body. Washing the dirt out my hair and blood from my face. I watch it all go down the drain. All though my body may look clean, I feel so dirty.
So trashy.
I sit on the shower floor under the water for just a bit longer until my tense muscles loosen just the slightest. I step out the shower and wrap myself in the last clean towel I have.
I avoid the mirror as I limp back into my room and over to the closet. I pick out a simple outfit fit enough to cover my bruises on my legs and arms.
I go back to the bathroom putting my hair into a bun. I look around my counter at all the makeup I am about to use.
He may be a piece of shit, but if he ever did anything good for me, it was buying me all this expensive makeup. Although it's for his own benefit it's still nice makeup.
I grab my sponge and foundation ready to dab on a good amount. After having a shower, I can clearly see now how swollen my face really is. I guess I should ice and clean as I go.
I sigh softly and begin to softly dab the foundation on my face flinching at spots that hurt just a bit more than others. I dab around my left eye the slightest bit to keep from hurting myself. After getting covered I pull out my concealer and slowly streak it under my eye. Dabbing my eye with the sponge to blend it in I set down my sponge and look myself in the mirror.
I hold back tears as I see my past self in the mirror. No bruises. No emotional trauma. Just me. I fan my eyes to keep from crying and take a deep breath.
I put on a small amount of mascara and eyeliner to hide that my left eye is slightly more closed than my right. I walk out of the now unlocked door and quietly make my way into the kitchen to grab a bag of vegetables from the freezer for my newly swollen cheek. I turn around only to be surprised by my husband.
"Sweet Lucy you startled me, John." I say quietly. He looks me up and down and then at my bag of vegetables.
"You better hope this makes the swelling go down." He pushes me aside to grab a beer out the fridge.
"Get your dirty clothes out your room and wash them. No one needs to know our business." I clutch the vegetables to my chest and nod scattering away. I get into my room and shut the door.
Now is my chance to pack my things and put them into place. I grab my stashed duffel bag and grab my makeup and shower thing and shove them into the bottom of the bag.
I rummage my closet for the money I also stashed away that I got from my mother without him knowing. I grab as much clothes as I can get and shove them into my bag and zip it up. I open my window and place it outside up under my window in the bushes where it can't be seen.
It has to be tonight. Otherwise, I'm screwed.
