UNINVITED

Chapter 15

You’re dead, Elodie.

     I shivered when I remembered Tom’s message. Somehow my mind couldn’t shake them off. Tom would’ve killed me if I hadn’t struck his head with the pan. I was on the phone with one of my past male customers. Just as I ended the call, he stormed into the kitchen, snatched it from me, and snapped into the phone, “Who’s this?”

     When he heard a male’s voice, his face scrunched and he threw the telephone across the room.

     “You’re cheating on me!” he thundered and stomped toward me.

     I backstepped, colliding with the counter. “I’m not, Tom. It was a customer—”

     “Liar!” He grabbed my neck and choked me.

     I couldn’t breathe. “You’re hurting me, Tom. Please...”

     I snapped out of it, my pulse quickening. He was in the past now. I shouldn’t be thinking of him. Soon I wouldn’t be his wife anymore. Very soon.

     I locked the door and went into the kitchen, setting the burner on the counter. Picking up the liquid soap, I squirted a stream into my palms and washed my hands under the sink. I closed the tap, wiped my fingers across the napkin, and fetched a glass of water.

     When I placed a call to Shelby after turning on my phone, she picked up. She told me about Tom’s unexpected visit and the commotion he caused at the shop. I asked if she was fine. She said Tom hadn’t hurt her physically. He only threatened her. I sighed, telling her to take the day off and not open the shop till she heard from me. She insisted she could handle it, but I told her bluntly she couldn’t. What was about to happen, maybe I wouldn’t even be able to handle. After explaining the nature of the situation to her, she listened and said she’d close up.

     I ended the conversation and placed another call to Dr. Phillips. She answered on the first ring. Her soft voice that had soothed me months ago filled the line. “Hello, Elodie. How’re you? I haven’t heard from you in a while.”

     “Hi, Dr. Philips. Yes. I’ve been busy lately.”

     “Hope everything’s fine.”

     I wished so. There was no point in lying to her. Besides, that wasn’t why I called her. “No. He’s back to his usual self.” Then slowly I added, “He attacked me again. This time, he tried to kill me.”

     A gasp echoed. “Are you all right?”

     I pictured her slender face, her small eyes popped open behind her glasses upon hearing what Tom tried to do. “Yes, I’m fine. Physically. I hit him with the frying pan and got away. Luckily it was in handy.”

     I imagined what it would have been like if the pan hadn’t been there. Tom would’ve killed me. He was filled with so much rage that he didn’t realize he was depriving me of air. Till now, I didn’t think Tom was a killer. Every time he tried to hurt me, it felt like he had been possessed by a demonic spirit. His abuse toward me didn’t make any sense I started to think that maybe something which wasn’t my supposed infidelity triggered our fights.

     If it had been the other way round and the pan had been a knife, Tom would’ve been dead by now, and her Mom would be spending all her money to make sure I rot in jail. And because she didn’t like me, she wouldn’t believe me if I told her Tom was abusing me.

     “Do you want to schedule? We can talk about it.”

     “No,” I said. “I ran away.”