A/N: As promised, here is the first chapter of book 2!!! It took a little while writing it and perfecting it for you guys so I hope you enjoy it. Remember, this chapter is to mainly get you up to speed on the new life of Shanelle as the next chapter will be the same for Michael. I'm warming you all up at the moment but the tea will start brewing soon. 😏😏 ————
If someone would have of told me my future when I began dreaming and reaching for the stars, I would've changed my mind, switched paths. Maybe, become that doctor or a lawyer like Uncle Berry thought I'd come. Never in a million years would I have thought my life would go from lollipops and red roses to cuts and bruises, sadness and depression. Me, sitting in the house I pay for, locked away in the office I built, while tears slither down my freshly beaten cheeks onto the tanned paper I scribble on now. My left eye is now swollen shut as my right eye pulses that same painful rhythm as my head and I can feel blood trickling down my nose, connecting with the blood and scrapes from my lips, sure to be swollen in the morning. My thighs black and blue to match the color of my swollen eye despite my caramel complexion. I was physically and mentally drained, locked away in my own thoughts as he sleeps in my bed peacefully, not a scratch in sight.
It wasn't always like this but I can't say this started out of love. I was in a dark space when he found me and for a short period of time, I thought I was happy with him. He made me feel special just enough to forget, showed me he cared just by doing the little things that mattered the most but as days hurried by with month and years following closely behind, I became more accompanied with my hardware floors than his arms, my bed, almost every night it seemed just as his relationship with the bottle, with running around in the streets became stronger which only pushed me further into the dark space I started in.
I use to fight back in the beginning, 5'2 frame and swinging punches that never seemed to connect the way I wanted them to, the way they did when we both were younger, before getting hit with a fist of his own. I use to play on ways to kill him in the middle of this, stab him in his sleep, maybe even poison him, but with him gone..who would love me then? Who will stay like I need them to? I've grown weak, unmatched to the point of me asking, 'why even try?'. I've learned to just let it happen for defending myself only results in even worse beatings than before.
I know the way he treats me is unfair but I know he loves me because he tells me so and that's just enough for me. With everyone leaving my side, left and right, he stays and loves me the only way he was taught how. His love isn't societies normal but how can one tell someone how love is suppose to be, suppose to feel when everyone is different meaning everyone will have discerner experiences. He is mine and all of me is his, forever. Just like he tell me so.
*SHANELLE POV* September 13, 1979
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