Today, for a change of pace, I thought I would give an excerpt from my novel, Eternal Bloom...my PERSONAL story, shall pick up tomorrow. Happy reading!
As soon as he pulled up into the garage, Kalb hit the button for the garage door to close behind us. I hopped out of the car and I ran to the door fumbling with the keys while Kalb began taking off his belt. I saw him coming at me with it, so I got the door open, and ran into the house. I looked for a place to go, and so I decided to run upstairs and try to get to the bathroom before he could catch me, and lock the door. No such luck. He caught me by my waist, picked me up off the stairs, and headed towards the family room. He threw me on the couch.
“So you’ve been flirting with my co-workers?” he roared.
“No!” I said. “Why would I? More importantly, how could I?”
“Why would a whore do anything?” he asked? “Whose children are those I’m raising?” he asked.
“Yours!” I said.
He raised the belt and brought it down on me. It hit my face--the buckle landed squarely in my eye - I screamed.
“Those” Whack! “Aren’t” Whack! “My” Whack! “Damn” Whack! “Kids!” he screamed while he was beating me with the belt. He stopped for a moment, trying to catch his breath.
“Whose are they?” he panted, and cracked the belt on me again.
I tried to slide off the couch and crawl away, and he kept beating me the entire time.
“I said whose are they?” His lashes were cutting deeper as he was hitting me with the buckle, and gaining more force with each crack.
“Yours!” I screamed. I began crawling away from him. I felt the belt crack on my back again, and this time, I felt the blood rolling down my back as freely as the tears were running down my cheeks.
“Liar! You’re such a fucking liar!”
I clawed at the carpet in my attempts to get away from him.
He sat on the arm of the couch and began to cry. “How could I marry such abitch?” he said to the heavens. “Here I am, about to go out of town on business for the firm, and I have to worry about whom from my office, my wife is fucking!” he sobbed.
“Divorce me.” I said hoarsely, crawling slowly from the intense pain.
“What?” he said. He jumped up and came over and stood over me. “What did you say?” he raised up the belt over his head and hit me again. “You got some shit to say, do you?” he hit me again.
“Divorce me.” I said again, this time a little stronger.
He hit me again.
“Oh God!” I screamed from somewhere deep within. “Why don’t you just let me out of this farce of a marriage?”
He hit me harder and then stood there panting.
“We both know you don’t love me, never did, never will.” I was crawling away.
He hit me again, this time the blow was so hard I slumped down on my stomach.
“I do love you!” he screamed down at me. “I need you!” he screamed. “I need your love…your understanding…your forgiveness…” He brought the belt down across my back again.
“I love you even though you are a whore! Even though you are a bitch!” he screamed.
“Love me?” I cried from where I was laying on the floor. I laid my head on my arm to rest for a minute. “Need me?” I began to chuckle silently.
The blood from my back was causing my clothes to stick to me. I began pulling myself across the floor.
“Love...suffers long,” I panted dragging my body along the floor. I was trying to reach the stairs to go up to the third level where the bedrooms were. He hit me again. The pain was overwhelming, and the blood oozed freely.
“Love does not envy.....love does not parade itself....is not puffed up...like you.” I spat back at him.
“Shut up!” he yelled and hit me again with all that he had in him.
I stopped, winced, and began pulling myself again. Funny how I always hated the size of this house, it was never big enough to keep me from running into him. Now it seemed to be too big in order to run quickly away from him!
“Love does not behave rudely... does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil....can you say those things about yourself, Kalb?” I asked. I had no idea where this intensity was coming from! Where were all of those words coming from? How come I had never stood up for myself before???
He cut the belt across my back again. The tears rolled down my face faster, but I refused to cry out, not this time!
“I will beat you until you shut up!” he roared.
I coughed. Blood came up. I didn’t care. He brought up love, so I was going to have my say. I winced. No matter how my words caused me pain!
“Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth....it bears all things…believes…all things...hopes......all things...endures....all things.....love….never…fails.....”
It was becoming increasingly hard to talk. The feeling of blood, thick and warm, the very life of me, was draining out through every pore in my body. The darkness was coming, I could feel it coming, I wanted to welcome it, embrace it - but not until I was finished!
“Let’s stop...lying.” I said. I stopped crawling, I was at the bottom of the stairs. I lay there on the floor panting, darkness was just around the corner, all I had to do was to let it take me.
“I may be trapped in this marriage by your death threats, but there is no need to lie to one another.”
“I love you!” he yelled and hit me.
“That’s why you....hit me?” I asked.
“I hit you because you make me hit you!” he shouted and hit me again.
“And now abide faith, hope, love.....”
He hit me harder, I was going fast. Too much blood lost.
“These three, but the greatest of these......” I laid my head on my hand with my face to the wall, saliva mixed with blood was running out of the corner of my mouth. “....is love.......” my voice trailed off as I could no longer fight the darkness, and I was swept away with it.
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