I MARRIED A MAD MAN (Part 1)

CHAPTER 6

When I got home that evening, I unexpectedly met David at home. He wasn't usually back home at that time which was surprising. He was watching TV while laying on the couch when I got in, so I greeted him and was about heading to the room when he called me back.

"Isabella where are you coming from?"

Just when he spoke out, I froze. I don't know if it was because I was scared but I froze. I slowly turned around to answer David when I saw him stand up and walk towards me.

"I, I went to to the beach." I stammered.

Immediately David laughed and retuned to his stern look.

"What were you doing at the beach Isabella? So you have started running off with young boys to have fun eh?"

At this point, I got irritated. I had been crying my eyeballs out because of him and this was all he could say.

"C'mon David. What do you mean by that?"

Before I could even say anything else, David hit me.

"So you're now challenging me ehn. Since when Isabella? You finish from work and instead of you to come home and prepare dinner for your husband, you go to the beach with young boys to have fun."

"David..." I said already in tears. ".....Why are you talking like this? Which boys do I want to run off with? If I had known you would be back early, I would have been home earlier preparing something for you. Yesterday, you complained about the food you requested that I make, and there's already stew in the fridge. You would usually warm it and boil rice if you wanted to eat now. What is all this David? Please let me know if I have wronged you."

And again, he hit me right in the eye. I fell down and groaned in pain while David stood beside and watch. I was in so much pain from not the hit alone but from heart break. I cried out loud and didn't hold back anymore. David didn't even try to help me get back up, he just stood there, panting like he was about to devour me, with anger written all over his face. I feared for my life that evening.

He later went back to sit down on the couch that he had been laying on while I went to the room to drop my stuffs before heading to the kitchen. I washed some rice and placed on the fire to boil before taking out the stew from the refrigerator. When the rice was ready and I had microwaved the stew, I dished out David's food and went to serve him in the sitting room where he was still seated. As I placed a table in front of him, about to bring his tray of food, he said;

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I want to serve your food."

"Which dirty food do you want to serve me? Did I tell you I was hungry?"

"But you were complaining not too long ago so I went to prepare your food. David, I'm sorry now."

"I'm not hungry."

"But I've already dished it."

"I am not hungry!" he shouted.

I took the tray of food and went outside to look for the security guard who I gave the food.

The next day, I woke up with so much pain around my right eye where David had hit me. When I saw myself in the mirror, I saw the swollen area around my eye. It wasn't very obvious but one could tell that it wasn't normal. At work, my boss called me into his office to give me some assignments but just as I was about to leave, he called me back and told me to have a seat. He said that he didn't mean to intrude my personal life but he felt he should ask if everything was okay with me. Of course I lied and said that I was fine. I wasn't about to tell my boss about how bad my marriage was turning out. He stared at my eye, the swollen one for a while but didn't say anything about it. I was glad he didn't ask because I wasn't ready to make up another lie. He eventually let me and I went back to work. Later in the day, I had to leave the office to go see some customers with one of my colleagues so it was quite stressful for me but I managed to do all I had to do for the day before returning to the office. David called me that day and said that he would be returning home early so immediately I was done with work; I went home to prepare David's dinner. That day he came back smiling but not at me. Curious to know the reason why my husband was in a happy mood, I asked;

"David, what's the good news?"

He just looked at me and continued with what he was doing. I didn't even bother asking again before he would raise his hands to hit me. I texted Vanessa later that night and told her about David and his recent change of behavior towards me. What else could she have done than to console me. She told me everything would be alright and I held to those words hoping that it would be true.

The next day, I went to work in tears. I had fought with David again and this time, over a tie. David couldn't find his tie and he thought the first thing he needed to do was blame me for it. I was just pissed and angry at everything. I was beginning to feel sick. I just needed a break from work and from people. This marriage wasn't working out and I was stuck. Divorce had never been in the dictionary of my family neither had it been in mine. I had been brought up to see divorce as something that was against God's will so I shook it off my mind anytime it popped up. Even when I called my mum and told her about David acting up, she would say it was part of marriage and that I should be patient and try to calm him down. But David since his new behavior, had been untamable. He no longer listened to me with all his various mood swings. Even when I thought he would later come back to apologize, he didn't do so.

On this particular day, my boss got really pissed at me. He complained that I was going through some personal issues and was turning down any form of help. He said it was affecting me greatly at work and as much as it also wasn't his business to care what happened in my personal life, he was worried about me. I was in his office when he was saying this. I burst out in tears when he was done talking and told him that I didn't want to bring my personal life to work or even show that something was wrong. He came closer to me and tried to console me. He had said to me that he understood but I should have tried to let some things out so that I could find help. I finally told him that my marriage wasn't working out fine. At first, when I said that, I thought I had made the biggest mistake but something pushed me to talk even more. He asked if the swollen area around my eye was given to me by David and I nodded. I started to loosen up and found myself completely free talking to him. He put his arms around me and placed my head on his shoulders when he told me that everything would be fine. When I had stopped crying, he advised me and told me to try to talk to David. He even gave me the rest of the week off and told me not to worry about the assignments that I was supposed to have been through with. He in a way lifted some weights off my shoulder and it felt nice. I thanked him and went home that evening in a much better state. When I got home that night, I had made sure that David's food was prepared before he got back. As soon as I heard his car drive in, I felt my heart racing because I was scared that he might have returned in a much worse state. When the bell rang, I quickly went to the door. Immediately the door was opened to David, I could smell the stench of his breath. He had been drinking again.