Trust Me

-1-

Sobbing, she fell down on her knees, scraping them on the tiled floor.

"You better put more effort into this. When I come back, I expect you to be done cleaning here.", and with that, the massive front door closed with a loud bang.

She scrubbed harder. Her fingers burned, her back ached and her head hurt. Tears were still streaming down her face, blurring her vision. But she didn't care. She had to do what he said, otherwise she would have to face the consequences. She felt like she would pass out any second now, but she fought back the panic and despair.

"If I pass out now, who knows if I'll ever wake up again?", she asked herself.

It's been three days since she'd had her last meal, months since she's had a regular eating pattern. She could feel her body shutting down, using the last strength left in her. But she had to keep going. Her husband's mansion was huge and if she wanted to finish cleaning it before he came back in the evening after work, she had to hurry.

It wasn't the physical pain that hurt her so much, but rather the emotional one. Until now, her husband had never laid his hand on her, instead he knew how to play with her emotions and he enjoyed her panic and fear.

Instead of using violence, he threatened to lock her into the dark closet. He knew that his wife was afraid of the dark and small places, which is exactly why he chose this as his main punishment if she dared to disobey him.

There had been better times. Times when she felt loved and secure. But these times were over now and she had accepted her fate a long time ago already.

Wiping the sweat off her face, she surveyed her surroundings. So far, everything except the kitchen was clean. Standing in the kitchen, she noticed the piles of dirty dishes in the sink. Dishes that her husband had left there this morning before leaving for work.

Then, her eyes fell upon the fridge.

It was white, clean and looked so inviting. She knew that it was fully stocked, as she had bought the groceries and out them in there. Her stomach growled. "If I could only take one fruit.", she thought. "He probably won't even notice. Luck has to be on my side just once."

Without thinking any further, she took an apple, biting into its sweet flesh. Savouring the taste, she quickly finished it off and got rid of the evidence. Her stomach didn't stop making weird noises, once having gotten the taste of it, but not having gotten enough to be satisfied.

She was in the middle of washing the dishes, when the sound of the front door opening resonated through the house.

"Ophelia, dear, where are you?", her husband shouted in a sickly sweet tone.

Trembling, she dried off the last plate and went to greet her husband.