When Chuck Giles married his then wife Jocelyn, everyone in Riverside had thought they were the perfect couple on the outside. Married for three years now, Chuck worked for a business company while Jocelyn enjoyed working in the political career. They had no children; unfortunately which made the Giles depressed but they had each other, and their Labrador. They weren’t rich but they definitely were not poor and they cherished that the most of all the things they had. The saddest part was that no one knew what was going on the inside of the Giles residence.
Chuck and Jocelyn might have looked perfect on the outside but on the inside, they were at war. Chuck was very abusive and controlling to his wife and his previous relationships seemed to have agreed. Whenever he was drunk or really angry, he’s aggressive and running over Jocelyn as if she was a railroad track. One cool night in July, Chuck and some buddies were drinking beers around a fire, sharing a couple laughs until Chuck got angry. He demanded his wife to fetch him and his buddies some beers, Jocelyn –not having a choice even though she never drank alcohol- brought more beers for the men.
“Thanks sweet cheeks!” Chuck said in a bibulous hiccup and chugged the beer quickly. Turning away, Jocelyn muttered something under her breath that made Chuck turn from happy but drunk to a very aggressive monster. He grabbed her arm and jerked her towards him, and smacked her to the ground. In shock of what they have just witnessed, the friends left the house in a hurry, forcing their minds to forget what they just have seen.
“What did you say?!” Chuck fuming as he grabbed Jocelyn by her frail arms, “Huh? Tell me, you little tramp!” He then pushed her inside the house and threw her to the linoleum floor of the backroom.
“I said you’re welcome and I love you!” Jocelyn nervously stammered a lie through her teeth. She prayed Chuck wouldn’t do anything serious that could put more bruises on her small five-foot seven body, compared to his six-foot two lanky figurine. She knew he was better than this, he’d never do anything to hurt her, or so she thought. The Chuck Giles she knew was never controlling or even a big drinker. Jocelyn felt trapped and hoped the worst would not happen to her. And to her utter belief, he slowly calmed down and dropped her to the ground again. Chuck was panicking, could I have done this? His thoughts were screaming and rushing through his head. Everything was so fast, he thought. All he could remember was just drinking beers with his friends and now his wife had a blistered face from him smacking her around.
“Oh baby,” he sighed and his voice broke as he spoke, “Baby, I am so sorry. I have no idea what came over me.” Chuck stumbled to help Jocelyn up. He was still drunk, the toxins and fermented alcohol was still in his blood, however. Jocelyn stood up, without Chuck’s help. She gave him a glassy stare and the cold words shuddered out of her thoughts that made Chuck’s back hairs stand on end and give him goose bumps.
“Chuck, how do I know you won’t do this again?” She started and wasn’t planning on finishing. “How do I know? You ‘blacked out’? No, you knew what you were doing. You gave me bruises I never experienced before. I love you too much but you really need to stop.”
He raised his finger as if to say something, but quickly stopped and didn’t say anything. “Fine,” he said almost apologetically, “I’ll sleep on the couch tonight. I’m really sorry, Joce.” He went to kiss her on the cheek and walked off to the bathroom and got ready for bed. Jocelyn stood there thinking of what to do next. She wanted to believe her husband was innocent, but just how much of innocence did he have in him? She walked upstairs to their master bedroom, and made herself comfortable. She set her alarm clock to five in the morning and tried and eventually went to sleep.
For then the next few weeks, the Giles house has turned from perfect to nearly a hell hole. Chuck was severely drunk almost every night and beat his wife more and more times. The bruises were the main attraction on Jocelyn’s petite body.
