Potential ED, DV warning.
Chapter 7
I sat in the kitchen, with a legal pad and pen I had found in a drawer. I put different pets on each page, and made a pros and cons list for every one.
I had put a lot of pets down, ranging from the aforementioned bunny to horses to ducks. He came in after maybe a half hour and turned on the oven, putting the lasagna in.
"How's it going?" He asked, referring to my legal pad.
"Good." I lifted it up into my chest, as to not let him see what I was writing.
The corners of his mouth tugged upwards at this action, and he started to walk towards me. "Can I get a sneak peak?" He asked.
"No. I don't want to give you time to prepare counter arguments." I stated plainly.
"Okay, fair enough. Will you please set the dining room table for us?"
He used such nice language that I was a lot less bothered at the fact that I had to do chores now.
But, I just nodded.
"Brava Ragazza. The food should be ready an hour."
With that, he left the room.
I went back to my list, favoriting the ones I wanted most and thought were the most likely I could get.
Then, my mind shifted. So far today, the keys had stayed on Caesars body. But he wouldn't sleep with them in his pocket, right? The only problem was, we slept in the same bed. But he was awake all day today, which I think he was, and he also seemed to be up late last night, and up early this morning. He must be exhausted. If there was any night he was going to sleep well, it had to be tonight. I just have to try to see where he puts the keys before he goes to bed. That will make it a lot easier to get up and go. Speaking of which, I'll need to have snow boots ready. I'll try to casually leave a pair by the front door before I go to bed. So far he has always had me go to bed before him, so I will have to stay awake until he comes to bed, or at least a few hours after wards. I should make sure to sleep in sweats and warm socks as well.
I let my mind wander and tried to figure out how I should drive out. I would just have to hope and pray the front door wasn't alarmed.
I got up to set the table a little later, hoping the rest of the evening would go smoothly.
I was feeling driven and confident about my plan. He seemed to be in a good mood at dinner.
"So, the pet. What are you thinking?"
"I have a few. Should I start big or small?"
"Let's start medium."
"Okay. Duckling. They are very cute and friendly little pets. The only problem is they shit a lot. And they need a pond when they're older."
"You know, I feel like the climate might not work for that one."
"I guess that's true."
"What else do you got there?"
"What about a goat? Like a little baby goat would be so cute."
"Well I think those are social creatures, you couldn't just have one."
"Okay, then we can get more. There's a lot of space in this house."
"Greta. The goats would live outside." He stated plainly.
"No, they would be like little puppies inside." I pleaded.
"No, that's a no for goat. Do you have anything that's not a farm animal?"
"Yes, hear me out. Baby monkey."
"Mhm. Where would I get this baby monkey from?"
"I don't know. I thought you had connections."
He shrugged. "Alright. Well aren't they loud, don't they scream all the time?"
"Well yes, that's one of the cons."
"I don't think monkey is a keeper. We can talk about one more and then the conversation is over for the night." He stated firmly. He sounded so rude, does he have to be in charge of every little thing, even what the conversation is about?
"Why, what else do you want to talk about?" I demanded.
"We could have a normal conversation. Like talking about ourselves, our childhoods, things like that." He was trying to seems nice, but also he was stating it like it was obvious. Which it isn't.
"I don't give a fuck about your life." I immediately informed him.
He looked offended for a moment, then he looked mad. "I was being nice, there was no need for that." He stated.
I shrugged, I wanted him to think I didn't care for his criticism.
He looked down at my plate from across the table, frowning. "Finish your plate." He ordered, taking a bite of his own food.
"Then what?"
"Then you're going to bed."
I frowned a little, working the fork into my lasagna. It wasn't like there was anything fun to stay awake for, but I disliked his control over my schedule. It also was obvious he was offended and was trying to punish me for not caring about his life.
I finished my food and stood up and left, without another word.
He watched me leave, but didn't say anything. I grabbed boots from my closet and set them by the front door, hoping he wouldn't notice.
I took a shower in the bathroom off our room, hoping my hair would dry before I tried to leave tonight. The more I thought about the plan, the dumber it seemed. But like I said, he was probably gonna sleep the most tonight.
I found a plain set of grey sweatpants and a hoodie and a pair of warm socks to put on, and I brushed my teeth and got in bed.
I replayed the plan over and over again in my mind, trying to memorize the road we drove in on. The wind was getting louder and I could see it was snowing outside the window. That definitely complicated things a bit. I just was going to have to trust the capabilities of the car.
The old fashioned analog alarm clock on the side table told me it was two hours before he came in. He seemed tired, and moved slowly but deliberately.
One of the first things he did was take out keys from his pocket, and a gun from his waist, and set them on his side table. I was facing outwards from the bed, so I could only hear him take off his clothes and bring them into his closet. He went into the bathroom next, then got in bed.
I tried to calm my breathing, as if I wasn't freaking out.
I felt him move closer to me and he wrapped his arm around my waist, squeezing me a bit.
"Buona Notta." He spoke softly, and kissed the side of my head. Then he let go, and moved back over to his side.
I gave it another hour, just to be sure.
Alright, come on. You can do this. Don't be an idiot.
I slowly moved towards the edge of the bed and swung my feet down and stood. I turned around to look at him, and he didn't react. I made my way around the bed, arriving at his side table. I took a deep breath. Slowly, I grabbed the keys with two hands, and they barely made a sound. He remained still.
I backed away away slowly, now focusing on the closed door. My eyes were adjusting to the light, or lack there of. I grabbed the doorknob and slowly turned it.
No movement from him.
I twisted it all the way and opened the door.
Still nothing.
I stepped out, closing the door behind me. I didn't hear him move.
I left the room and I have the keys, I can't get caught now.
Moving quickly, I made my way to the front door and sat down to put on my boots.
I pulled them in and tied them up tightly, and peeled out a window. The snow fall was moderate, nothing impossible, but the howling wind made me a little nervous.
You're from New England. Come on.
I grabbed a jacket, probably his, that was hanging up and put it on, putting the hood up.
I took a deep breath, keys in hand, and grasped the door handle. I opened it quickly and stepped outside, shutting it behind me. A light came on above me, probably motion-sensed. I hope it didn't trigger anything else.
I looked at the car again, and froze.
You have got to be kidding me.
A brown bear, a big fucking brown bear, stood next to the car, sniffing around. It noticed me, and stopped and looked up.
Shit, I'm either supposed to play dead or make a lot of noise. I forget which one. Oh shit. Oh shit.
I reached back to open the door, but it had locked behind me.
Oh shit.
I didn't want to look the bear in the eyes, I heard somewhere they think that's a challenge. Caesar would probably wake up if I started banging on the door, but I didn't want that to trigger the bear. It went back to sniffing the car, and I stood there, frozen. I was in shock, my legs couldn't move.
I used my hand to reach back and knock on the door, lightly at first.
That's not going to wake him up.
Maybe I could wait the bear out. How interesting can the car really be? I just have to wait for him to go back into the forest and then I'll be on my way.
But the bear had other plans, and he started to move towards the front door I was standing at.
Oh no no no.
He moved leisurely, yet still covering ground quickly.
I reached back and tried the doorknob again, but it was definitely locked.
The bear reached the bottom of the steps, when the feeling of the door on my back suddenly disappeared.
Caesar yanked me inside by my arm, slamming the door behind me.
I immediately clung to him, not quite processing yet that I was back inside, safe. I began to cry, my body finally registering the situation I was just in. He reached behind me and flicked on the light, before holding me. It lasted a few moments, and then he grasped my shoulders and pulled me away to look at me.
"Are you okay?"
I nodded, tearfully.
"Okay." He pulled me back into him, grabbing the keys from my hands as I wrapped my arms around him.
He rubbed my back as I cried, even thought he was part of the reason I was crying.
He only had on boxers, while I was fully dressed to go through a snow storm.
"Okay, okay." He spoke softly, stroking my hair.
"Take off your jacket and boots." I looked up at him as he pulled away, and felt a little bad. He looked exhausted.
I shrugged out of the jacket and hung it back up, then sat down on the bottom step of the stairs to take off my shoes.
He crouched down in front of me, his boxers riding up.
In a way, he looked a lot younger wearing only underwear. But his toned torso and arms made him seem very powerful.
"Greta?"
I looked up to meet his eyes.
"Do you know what could have happened?" He seemed very serious.
I nodded.
"Even if the bear was not there, you would have either crashed or gotten lost until you ran out of gas."
I didn't say anything.
"Do not ever go outside here at night like that again."
I felt the flow of tears pick back up again in response to his tone.
"I think you learned your lesson on your own this time. If you do it again, I will use my belt." He threatened.
I began to fully cry and nodded.
"Okay. Let's go to bed piagnucolone."
He held my hand and switched off the light, before leading me back up to our room.
He released my hand when we got in there, and went into his closet to put the keys somewhere. I heard some locks turning, it must have been a safe.
He joined me in our bed, and didn't say or do anything else before going to sleep. He really was tired.
I was still terrified and had more trouble going to sleep, it must have taken at least an hour.
