History

Chapter 39 - Trapped

Lydia stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel she wrapped it tightly around her body and walked into her dressing room and sat at the vanity table.
Instead of doing her usual blow dry she quickly ran a brush through her hair before pulling the wet locks back into a bun at the nape of her neck.
It wasnt as if she'd be going anywhere special today so convinced herself that the casual look she had been sporting for the past week would suffice for another day.

After Sam had rifled through her wardrobes, clearing them of all garments that even remotely resembled the woman she was, he'd come home a few days later looking pleased as punch with a bag of clothes for her.
He'd beamed from ear to ear as he had handed over the brown paper bag and Lydia half suspected that he was waiting for some kind of praise for a good deed done.

Lydia had gingerly looked through the bag, a heaviness falling in her heart as she pulled out pair after pair of baggy sweatpants, all in either a dark grey or black colour.
It wasnt that she minded wearing sweatpants, hell she was all for comfort and even had a few nice loungewear sets, or at least used to before hurricane Sam had swept through her wardrobe leaving a trail of destruction and emptiness in his wake. But each set she'd owned had been in a beautiful colour and style with soft, gentle fabrics, not like the sandpaper ones Sam had picked out for her.
Even then it had been her choice when and where she wore the comfy pants, now it was being forced upon her.

Having been forced to make her peace with the trousers, she had secretly hoped that Sam had at least picked out a few nice tops to wear with them. Being into fashion as much as she was, Lydia was sure she could style up almost any outfit and make it work. Luckily he'd had the good sense to buy a pair of black leggings and she breathed a sigh of relief knowing she could definitely make them look stylish, but as she rifled further into the bag her fingers grabbed hold of the ball of fabric at the bottom and plucked it out.

Unravelling the tangled and balled up garments revealed the extent of just how badly Sam wanted her covered up. Each top was black and oversized with not even the slightest of appeal.

After asking Sam why he'd picked such dark colours when he knew she hated them he had replied matter of factly that she shouldnt be wearing bright colours as it would only serve to attract the attention of filthy minded men with bad intentions.
Lydia had thought about reminding him of how she'd worn bright colours when they had first met but thought better of it. After all, it wasn't as if Sam needed an excuse to get fired up again, no she thought, he'd been doing that fairly well on his own lately.

For the past week his anger had gone to a whole new level, shouting at her constantly about every little thing to the point that Lydia thought it might be better if her mouth was sewn up to stop from saying the wrong thing.
Thankfully he had contained his anger whenever Gabriella was around and played the part of doting husband and father, and for that Lydia felt grateful. At least her daughter would have the childhood she never had.

If anything was bothering him when their daughter was at home he never showed it and kept a smile on his face, that same smile he used when talking to everyone but her, and Lydia had thought back to how that smile was the same one he used on her back when they were sixteen and she thought it was cute.
Now though she could see it for what it really was, fake and phony, there as a facade to fool the world into believing he was a good guy.

Sam would smile at everyone but narrow his eyes at her as if she were beneath him, making any smidgen of confidence or courage immeadiately drain from her body. It was those same narrowed eyes that let her know that once they were alone, she'd pay for whatever he claimed she had done wrong.

Lydia held a hand gently to her throat letting her fingers softly run over the feint red mark still peaching her skin. Staring at herself in the mirror she saw that it was fading a little more, normally her skin was a beautiful golden brown tone that reminded her of warm days in the sun, but since Sam had also taken away her bottle of fake tan, her skin had slowly began to reveal its natural colour, pale, tired and washed out.