Kendra and Mark had been having continuous arguments. For the past two weeks she had been staying out of town with her cousin, Myra.
She arrived home, grabbed her bags, and entered her house. Mark was sitting on the couch. When he saw her, he jumped up.
"Where the fuck you been at?" he grilled.
"I been with my cousin, Myra," Kendra said.
"How come you ain't answer my calls, or call me when I paged you?"
"There's a reason why I left here. We were arguing. Did you forget?"
"You getting real smart with your mouth. I might have to put you in check," he barked.
"I can't do this with you, Mark."
"What you tryna say? Huh? What you trying say?" He walked up to her.
"I can't be in a relationship like this," she said.
"Wow. I had a feeling you was fucking around. You just proved it right there."
"What are you talking about?"
Mark grabbed her wrists and threw her into the wall. Then, he threw her into the couch. He grabbed her neck and squeezed it.
"Mark, I can't breathe," Kendra's voice squeaked out. "My breath. Please stop. Please," she cried.
Tears poured out of her eyes. He kept his hands on her neck and slammed her head into the couch, repeatedly. Luckily, her head missed the edge of the arm each time. She felt light-headed and dizzy. He ripped off her clothes and sniffed her neck, chest, breasts, belly, private part, thighs, and legs. He wanted to see if a man's scent lingered on her. She smelled like herself, so he stood up and grabbed his car keys.
She hugged her naked body and cried out, "I'm done with you! Don't ever come back here. It's over! It's over!"
He stared at her with the coldest glare she had ever seen. Then, he walked out of the house and left.
●
After a few days, Mark went back and got some of his things, but he purposely left some. Kendra was planning on giving him a few more days to get them. If he didn't, she would throw them out.
She decided to go grocery shopping at a local supermarket. While she was there picking up some fruits, a young man walked up to her.
"Hey, Kendra, right?"
She looked up at his face. "Yeah. Do I know you?"
"Yeah. We used to go to college together."
She then remembered his face and his voice. "Oh, yeah. I remember you," she said with a smile.
His name was Ralph. They spoke for a while. He then asked for her number. She wrote it down and gave it to him, but she told him that she had just gotten out of a relationship, and wasn't planning on starting a new one soon. They agreed to be friends.
Later on that day, they began to speak on the phone and the next night, they decided to go somewhere together.
They went to the movies. Kendra and Ralph stood side-by-side in line, waiting to purchase popcorn. She felt like someone was watching her, and began to glance around. Lo and behold, Mark was standing on the other side of the place, angrily staring at her. All he saw was that she was out with a man. When Kendra saw Mark, she turned around quickly, and he stormed out of the building.
Ralph and Kendra got their popcorn and drinks, and watched a movie named Crimson Tide. She didn't care about Mark anymore. She was done with him and his abusive ways.
