It Was Supposed To Be Love

Twenty one

Cassandra  bustled around the kitchen, wiping  the kitchen slab and peaking in on
the food that was in the oven. Her parents would be over at seven and Zach  would be home before then. The bruises and marks on her body were long gone ; he had been  very careful to keep himself from hitting her throughout the last week to make sure her parents didn't find out about him hitting their daughter. However, he still found things to yell at her over and leave her in
shaking, crying mess.

Cassandra  remembered just yester-night, he had yelled at her because dinner wasn't ready like it would normally have every other time he came back from work. His words were still ringing through her mind sharp and clear, " You only have one, only one  job to do in this house and you can't even do that! Here I am working to provide for you and you can't even cook a simple dinner? God dammit Cassandra!" When she closed her eyes she could still see Zach's face just inches from hers, she could  still see him standing threateningly  over her...He was at least a foot taller than her, his arms twice the width of hers...She had felt so trapped with him standing so menacingly over her and there was no where to escape because she was pinned up against their bedroom wall.

"I'm sorry Zach, I'm sorry. I just fell asleep. Zach .................."

She could still remember pleading with him. She remembered how terrified she was when she saw him curl his fist....................It had come down so fast she was sure it was going to hit her............Knock her out and leave her bleeding on the floor................

That didn't happen though. However, his fist went whizzing past her ear and connected with the
wall behind her. There was a loud thud on the wall that scared the shit out of her. She  trembled terribly as he left the room and slammed the door so hard that more dust fell from the hole in the wall.

He had apologized about an hour later and things were pleasant again between them. She 
pushed the bad thoughts away to the back of her mind as she concentrated on making the
house look nice for her parents. Ever since he  had given her permission to invite them
over for dinner she had made it her number one priority to make the house look nice for
them. She vacuumed, swept, mopped, and dusted every day for the past week. She's also
been working outside, mowing the grass, watering the flowers and sweeping the
walkway.

On a norm, she  was not the  one who just to sit around and watch TV,  so she found herself cleaning nearly all day until he  got home. She never realized how nice it was to have a job and work hard to earn your next paycheck, but now she does. She even wished that she could at least have a kid to take care of and keep the infant busy and happy...But Zach didn't want kids. She suddenly felt a cold hand on her arm and nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Fro goodness sake babe , calm down. It's just me." Zach said and twisted her around so she was  facing him. He wrapped  his arms around her and pulled  her in for a kiss. First it started off gentle but suddenly he started kissing her
more hungrily, pushing himself on her...

"honey, stop." Cassie  said pushing away from him slightly.

"Oh relax babe. C'mon let's go into the bedroom---- -"

"No, Zach. My parents will be over in an hour, remember?" she reminded him weakly.

Zach sighed dramatically and walked over to the fridge to grab a bottle of  beer.

"Zach ........Honey?"

"What?" he asked as he opened up the can of beer with a loud crack.

"Could you um, maybe, uh, not drink?.Maybe? Just at least until my parents leave? Maybe?" she  asked.

"Excuse me?" Zach asked, disbelievingly.

"I'm sorry....It's just that you get a little out of control when you drink and - " she was 
 cut off by Zach's voice which was growing louder by the second.