Courage Under Duress (SYTYCW)

Chapter 1

Before my eyes could open, I knew where I was.  The pungent smell of disinfectant of the hospital room was unmistakable.  I must have looked in dire need of medical intervention if Dominic had brought me to the hospital.  Sometimes, I had wondered if he brought me back to be patched up just so he could have another go at me.  It sure felt like it.

My chest was on fire.  It was hard to breathe and I was terrified to learn about the slew of injuries I had incurred at my husband’s hand.

I sensed him in the room with me.  The smell of the drink, combined with his sweat gave him away.

His hand clasped mine which felt wrapped up.  A bandage?  Then I remembered that it was the hand that he had stomped on with his boot.

I kept my eyes glued shut, thinking that maybe, this time, he’d leave.  It was never the case.  The man seemed to always know what I was up to, what I thought.  It was why I hadn’t attempted to leave—again.

To answer your burning question, I have tried to leave before.  Just once.  He found me easily.  I blamed his military training on that.  No plan is foolproof where Dominic is concerned.

“I know you’re awake.  Open your eyes, sweetheart.”  That sickly sweet tone of his rotted my teeth.  Someone’s in the room with us.

When I didn’t do what he asked, his hand clamped down.  The grinding bones in my hand told me that they were indeed broken.

Holding back the gasp, my eyes shot open and centered on his face.  Terror reigned over my body and the smile that played at his lips only conveyed his sick satisfaction.

“Much better.  The doctor would like to have a word.”

“B-but…” My body trembled from a mixture of fear and the powerful pain killers I had been given.

“You’ve tripped and fallen down the stairs, baby.”  I nodded to prove I understood that he had lied to the staff.  I turned my head toward the waiting physician who looked more than suspicious.  “Sweetie, I’ll leave you for now.  I have a few things to tend to and then I’ll be back in time for dinner.”  With a charming smile in the doctor’s direction, he leaned down to kiss my forehead.  “Get better.  I need you home.”

I didn’t miss the threatening gaze he threw my way from the doorway..

***

I was going to be in the hospital for some time.  The doctor wasn’t buying the story Dominic had fed him at all.  He refused to send me home to heal my insistence.  As hospital procedure dictates, in suspected domestic violence cases, he brought in the authorities.  I refused to speak with them.

Dominic wasn’t happy with the doctor’s refusal to release me.  I dreaded going home more than ever.  No matter how painful or lengthy the healing was, being in the hospital was a vacation next to being at home to suffer my husband’s unpredictable wrath.

“Why don’t you go home,” I told my husband when his eyes began to close while he sat vigil at my bedside.

He looked at me as though I had grown three heads.  He didn’t like the idea of me being out of his sight, out of his control.  Or perhaps it was the fact that he could no longer force himself on me for his own sexual gratification, beat on me for his own stress relief, or berate and belittle me for his own short-comings.  Maybe it was because I couldn’t go back and clean up the mess he had left for me after our brawl—the broken furniture, knick-knacks, the bloodied carpet and sheets, the puke-stained toilet would all be waiting for me upon my return.

Yes, I was bitter.  Mad as hell, even.

Would I leave?  No.  Because he’d find me like the last time.

I had no one to turn to.  My friends had since moved on.  Dominic had ensured that.

My family you say?  I no longer have one.  Shortly after our wedding, I lost my mother to cancer and my father took the cowardly way out in order to deal with his pain.  He drank himself into a stupor which led him down the path to death in the form of a dark alley after a night out.  It resulted in him being shot dead after walking into a drug deal gone bad.  I had been an only child.

I’d like to think that if I still had someone, that I would have gotten out of this hell I’ve come to call my life a long time ago but I’m not so sure.  I guess I’ll never know and I rather prefer it to the game of what ifs.

In the midst of my pondering session, my lids closed and I felt as close to being at peace for the first time in a while now that Dominic had left me for the night.