Friday's Appointments· Prince Rogers Nelson

Chapter 4: Spaghetti

My eyes slowly opened to see the sun peaking through the curtain, and a sharp pain pulsed in my cheek as my eyes clenched shut from the bright light. I pressed my hand against it and winced at how sore it felt, trying to figure out what happened. I was in a solid fog, lazily dragging myself up to sit up straight and struggling to remember what made me so sore. Then it came back to me.

"Don't say no to me again." Lance threatened and rolled into his side. I watched him settle in, getting comfortable and I asked myself how could he be comfortable knowing he tells his wife that what she thinks doesn't matter? I didn't know how, I couldn't process it. I tried to put myself in his shoes from the day he began to act this way and no matter how rough he had it, I still couldn't piece together the fact he enjoyed belittling me. How he felt like he knew my deepest desires and pleasures when he couldn't even tell me my favorite color. He knew nothing about me, yet he thought he knew everything. It suddenly made me angry, seeing him lay there after threatening me and not even thinking twice about it. It made me want to stand up to him and scream at him maybe even slap him like he did with me.

"No." My whole body was so numb with anger that I couldn't feel my vocal chords flexing to make words come out. I didn't feel the neurons in my brain firing to make me say anything, it just came out. I couldn't stop myself from saying it but I knew as soon as I said it that the outcome wouldn't be good. Lance turned over and when his eyes fell on me, my whole body froze with fear. I felt my anger dissolving and fear and anxiety settling in instead. His eyebrows were set low against his eyes, his lips were tightly pressed against one another and I could see the veins in his neck begin to pop as his body tensed.

"What?" He asked.

"I'm sorry," No amount of apologizing could calm him down at that point. "I was just kidding, I didn't mean to-"

"Get up."

I stayed put, mainly because I was to scared to even move my finger. I was scared that any sudden movement could make him even more upset. He flung the sheets off of himself and stood to his feet, quickly walking to my side of my bed and grabbing the sheets and tearing them off of me. I sank low into the bed and covered my face with my hands, but he grabbed them and shoved them above my head and pushed deep into the mattress along with the rest of my body. His weight was suddenly on top of me, holding me in place and shaking me at the same time, all while yelling in my ear. "You think this is funny?! You think you can say no to me?!" He didn't wait for me to respond, he continued to yell and shake me, asking me questions and calling me names. I just laid there and tried to control the situation, trying to calm his anger but I knew I couldn't. There was only one way his fits ended and this one was about to end just like all of the others. I didn't see him raise his hand but I felt it land swiftly on my cheek and pierced the air with a sharp sound. A pain rippled through my jaw and my neck and I yelped loudly, cradling my face in my hands.

That's why my face was so sore. And bruised, no doubt. I immediately looked to see if Lance was still laying beside me but he was gone. I sighed with relief when I saw his watch and shoes weren't there either, I knew then he wasn't home at all. I walked to the bathroom and inspected how bad the damage was but it wasn't bad. Definitely not the worse I had endured, I knew a little makeup would cover the bruise and something cold would help minimize bruising. I got a pack of greens from the freezer and relaxed in the sofa as I let it work it's magic for several minutes. I knew I had gotten up late and wouldn't be ready for work in time, especially considering I would have a long time in the bathroom mirror trying to cover up the bruise, so I decided to call in sick. I rarely did that, especially because no one else there could cover me so I felt guilty but that day, I didn't care who covered me. They could have had a dog cover me and I wouldn't have lost sleep over it. I let all the thoughts of piles of past due paper work, missed calls and everything else go for the day. I was exhausted and I needed a day for myself, a day to keep my head high. So I picked up the phone and made plans.