UNBREAKABLE

Eleven.

"No. Please stop" Hayley pleaded but her pleas fell on deaf ears. He kept raining blow after blow. Today it was like he was possessed by the devil. Even the first time he caught her packing her bags, he wasn't this angry. Whatever happened out there only God knows and she would rather die than keep going through this. She regretted not listening to her father. She should have walked away that first time.

Abused women were always bound by their fear. When your husband or father or brother or any man lay his hands on you, the first thing you do is fight back. That's why most women scream and scratch and hit whatever they come in contact with. Because deep down those first few minutes, you believe actually believe that you can overpower your attacker. You don't have to kill him or maim him for life. Just do damage that will give you a few minutes to run away or call for help. That's the first few minutes until you realize that your attacker is stronger than you. Maybe by build or strength because every man out there is going to be stronger than you. Nature dictates that men are naturally stronger than women physically. In self defense classes they don't teach you how to overpower them, they teach you how to sneak up on them and do the unexpected.

Throw that blow when they think you've surrendered. Get that knife out of your shoe and stab them when they think they've got you. Use that hairpin and stick it somewhere they least expect it. Hit them in the balls because that's where they are vulnerable. Not try to match them but sneak up on them and take advantage. It's the only way you're going to win. So that's why Hayley had fought that first time. She had thought she could leave when he wasn't home and by the time he got back, she would be long gone. In her head, she would have gone back home, escaped the monster she married. But life isn't that easy. Life is not fair.

Instead he had found her packing and he had really showed her who was boss. And even then she was still fighting back. Calling him a coward and a bastard for hitting her. Even when he left her unconscious she still didn't give up and believed there was a way out. She still had hope that one day she would be able to leave. Still determined that he wasn't going to break her and leave her like one of those women that stayed and obeyed their husbands just because they were scared. Fear had no place in her head. She was strong and her father had taught her never to give up. That is what kept her going. Knowing that whatever Jeff did, he wouldn't be able to break her. Sure he was hurting her physically. But emotionally she was strong. Her spirit was unbreakable. So he could go ahead and give her as many kicks and punches as he wanted, but one day she would leave. And the least he could do was regret everything.

That was until he came home and forced himself upon her. In all her life, she never thought Jeff would do that to her. She never thought he would go that far, maybe because she thought that a part of him was still the man she had married and by beating her he just didn't want to be alone. She thought he was trying to control her because somewhere in his withered prune that for a heart she thought he loved her enough to do anything in order to keep her. She really thought he was controlling but that day he proved her wrong. He wasn't just controlling. He was the devil incarnate. He was her worst nightmare and no matter how much she cursed him from to hell and back, he always came back. She struggled to understand what she had seen in him in the first place to have actually married him. Was she that blind? Or was it sheer naivety?

Hayley spent her days in shock and feeling numb. She tried everything she could to avoid thinking about it. Sometimes she would even be aware of him on top of her but it never really registered in her mind. She always found somewhere to go. A place where her mind would be at peace and she wouldn't have to deal with all the pain and anger she was harbouring. That shock and numbness lasted a month. She was so tired and the only thing she wanted to do was sleep and never wake up again. Many are the days Jeff dragged her to the bathroom and washed her himself because he claimed she was filthy. When he was in a good mood he would shove food down her throat. If he didn't then she didn't eat. Her body depended on his mood swings to survive and the only reason she survived was because he needed a punching bag.