Susie's Song

Meet Me at Figs

Lol, guess I fibbed. Here's another update. Enjoy!!!!!

...

Sue's alarm went off at seven the next morning and she sighed because she realized it was Monday again. Having her own photography business had its benefits, though. She only had two photoshoots this morning and then she didn't have another one until Thursday. She turned over in bed to try and get an extra five minutes of sleep but felt uneasy when she looked at Joshua sleeping in bed next to her. They had gotten into a huge argument the night before and Sue was still so emotionally drained over it. She had locked him out of the bedroom but he must have picked his way back in to sleep in bed.

Flashback

"Oh, Jesus Christ, Sue!" Joshua shouted, pounding his fist against the counter. He inhaled sharply as he continued his spew, "Get over it already. I'm all you got. Your parents are dead—hell, your mother didn't even want to be around you—she went on and killed herself. Says a lot that your own sister doesn't want to be and she's still alive! You're not a great person Sue—your own family doesn't even want you."

Sue felt her whole body trembling with anger and sadness, "Shut up!" She yelled, shoving him forward. "Why are you so cruel recently? I don't fucking understand it! It's like you hate me!" Sue yelled, tears welling up in her eyes.

She felt absolutely defeated. Things with Joshua had been awful over the past year and it had been even more terrible in recent months. It was hard for her to leave, though.

Joshua laughed in hysterics—his eyes getting bigger as he stepped closer to Sue, causing her to take a few steps back.

"Stay away from me." She spat, putting her hand up in a stopping motion. "Don't get any closer to me, Jay, I mean it."

He laughed again as he stepped in, "Or what, Sue?" She backed herself all the way to the wall and he followed her—trapping her in with either hand on both sides of her head, "I can treat you however I want—you know why? Because you're never going to leave me." Sue opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out and Joshua continued, "You have nowhere to go, Sue. No parents' house... you don't even know where your own sister is living... no family at all. You're stuck with me."

Sue shook her head as tears rolled down her face. In that moment she had wished she was with Emily because when she wiped the tears away from her cheeks a week prior when she was breaking down in her apartment, she felt this calming feeling with her—she didn't feel scared with Emily like she did with Jay. He still hadn't laid a hand on Sue and she didn't think he ever would, but the verbal abuse and the closeness he would get to her when he was angry after she told him not to was abusive enough for her to want to get out and leave.

"Shut up!" She finally yelled again, "God! Shut the fuck up!" She was screaming on the top of her lungs. She shoved him out of the way and he was laughing so unpleasantly that it sent shivers up Sue's spine. She turned around to look at him as she approached the door to their bedroom, "You're sleeping on the fucking couch tonight!"

She went into the bedroom and threw his pillow out of the room and slammed the door shut. She clicked the lock and pressed her back against the door. Slowly sliding down it as she sobbed silently. She leaned her head back into the door and continued to cry even harder as she heard him still laughing on the other side of the door. She really didn't understand what she had been doing so wrong to make him like this. He started drinking heavily a year ago, and things had just gotten progressively worse. He was a full-blown alcoholic now and it changed him terribly—he never used to treat Sue like this when they first started their relationship. She knew the alcohol had everything to do with his behavior change and she wanted to help him, but she couldn't help but feel like she was a problem because he made her feel in such a way that she was.