Translated from the book Dreamland by Carl Schröder.
Published in Holland and Belgium as "vanaf de linkerzijde"
introduction
@carlschrijft/dreamland-introduction
Story 1 - Woman in chains part 1
She looked damn fine, and Tina knew it. The number of guys wanting to walk her down the isle was bigger than you can imagine. Her brother called her stupid for turning so many good men away, but as many women these days, she didn't fall for the sweet guys. Her man had to be a real man. A man that could carry her over the porch into the bedroom and make love with her untill all heaven's angels were starting to sing.
She did remember Sean. The guy who was there for her so many times. The one who treated her like she was made of glass. He's married now, she knew. Two lovely kids, a good job, she missed out on that one.
Barry. The guy with the ginger hair. Not the best looking guy but smart as Hawkins. He's running a business now, making shitloads of money and here she is. Cooking the same damn thing as at least five times a week. That chilli he is so fond of that he could eat it every day. Just a few more minutes and he was going to come home. She could already smell the stench of alcohol coming from his face. He will sit down, start to eat, probably want to have sex, if he wasn't too drunk and then fall asleep, as almost every day. She better be ready when he comes home for else he will make her see the stars shine. He was quite a hero. Besides the drunken fuck he beat her up every other day. She never knew why or what the trigger was, she guessed it was the alcohol, but she didn't dare to talk to him about it.
A couple of minutes turned into tenths of minutes and by eight in the evening she started to get hungry. Shall I eat just a little bit. Our son will be hungry by now, in a minute he'll start to cry, and if Leslie came home with a crying kid, the Fight would be on. She decided to give the kid some dinner and at two quick spoons, just enough to stop her stomach from aching. She washed the plate as quick as she could because Leslie didn't like it when she ate before he came home. She put the boy in his bed and waited for Leslie to come home. Finally she heard the stairs of the appartment and she knew by the way he was walking that he was already drunk. Be extra carefull, she told herself.
He opened the door with a swing that was so hard that the whole room started to shake and the painting on the wall, made by her grandfather nearly fell of. She was right in time stop saying something about it, and luckely for her the painting stayed right were it was.
Hello dear, she said. You must be hungry, just sit down and let me spoil my man. She almost threw up in her mouth.
He stumbled to the living room that was barely bigger than a closet and dropped down in his chair. He grabbed the remote and didn't even look at Tina. She didn't care, she was used to it. He turned her into a sexslave that was banned to the house. She warmed up the chilli, picked a beer out of the fridge and walked back into the room.
You don't eat? he moaned.
Wouldn't want to waste my figure, love. She said and smiled. The asshole, she thought. Eating chilli at this time you fucking animal.
After he finished his chilli he drank three beers more and started to nodd his head.
Let's go to bed, I'm tired. he commanded.
She knew she had no chance in saying no. He decided. Always. She only hoped he was too drunk to get an erection. She hoped he would fall asleep. The thought of him laying upon her, sweating like a pig and making disgusting noises was too much to take tonight.
What are you waiting for? Come on, I'm not going to tell you twice.
She stood up, her stomach turned. Like a prisoner on deathrow she followed the man she once loved, but who has turned into her biggest nightmare.
to be continued
Photo by Caroline Attwood on Unsplash