Spearmint

20. Julia

October 2018

She couldn't understand what went wrong that day. Daniel had reverted back to his abusive ways and Julia knew she wouldn't be able to handle it for long.

She had made breakfast, it wasn't good enough for Daniel. She got a slap for that.

She cleaned the house from top to bottom (almost) and it wasn't good enough. He had poured flour onto her head and onto the floor several times. He threw eggs at the walls and smeared a combination of eggs and flour onto the countertop and sometimes her. He slapped her more times than she could count and had threatened to burn her more.

She couldn't understand the reasoning for his outburst, she had been well behaved everyday since she found out about his dirty little secret. He was a serial killer, she was living with a cold blooded murderer. Even worse she was forced to marry him!

It was getting hard to deal with. Suicide has crossed her mind at least three times that day but with how he was acting she knew she wouldn't have been able to.

That day was the only day he didn't touch her inappropriately. Julia was thankful for that, she hated when he touched her.

Lunch was silent, she made them sandwiches and lemonade. Daniel didn't slap her for it but she did get glared at for the most part. She couldn't understand why he was pissy, she was the one caked in egg and flour not him. Her hair was crunchy and uncomfortable.

Her tears had been shed but they had dried on her cheeks, she could tell that her face was covered in flour with tear streaks.

After lunch she was forced to keep cleaning, she was forced to endure more abuse at the hands of Daniel. It lasted all the way until dinner.

For dinner he demanded pasta, he had never asked for pasta so Julia was a little nervous. Boiling water was involved and she had a feeling he would use it to his advantage.

She placed a large pot of water with some salt sprinkled in on the stove. She put it on high heat and covered it with a lid. After putting the water on the stove she started on the sauce. She found a simple cheese sauce in her cookbook and started on it.

Daniel sat at the table with a cigarette in his hand, he was reading a book. He looked relaxed for the first time in a while. Julia was hoping he would be distracted enough to not bug her.

Once the water was boiling she grabbed the package of pasta to put in, when she lifted it off the counter the bottom of the package broke and spilt the dry noodles onto the floor, she cringed as little spiral noodles covered the floor, it grabbed Muse's attention.

"What did you do," she heard Daniel snap.

"The bag broke," she explained, she held up the empty bag that at one point held spiral pasta.

He didn't say a word as he stood up, he folded his page (something only crazy people do) and placed the book on the table.

"I'm sorry," Julia held her hands up, trying to block any hits he was about to throw at her.

He grabbed her wrists firmly and pulled them away from her face. She struggled to move away from him as he pulled her to the stove where the boiling water was. He managed to take the lid off the pot before he tugged her by the wrists closer.

She struggled against him, she pleaded and begged for him to change his mind and to let her go.

"Muse, stop please stop!" She screamed. He didn't say anything, he just pushed her hands into the boiling water. She screamed in pain, she tried to move her hands out but he held them there. "Please stop!" she screamed. She kept trying to move but he wouldn't budge.