Louis marched towards her with his nose flared up, and Lily immediately knew what was coming, so she screamed and ran.
“What is wrong with you, Louis? What are you doing?” She cried, running away from him.
“How dare you cheat on me and come back here? Who is he? Who’s the man!?” He yelled and threw a vase across the room, causing lily to scream.
“There’s no man, Louis. I swear. I work at a hospital. I told you about it this morning. I told you I’d be working as a nurse at TM Hospital, and you were okay with it. Why are you suddenly being like this?” She cried.
“I don’t believe you. You think I don’t know that you’ve been trying to leave me? You’re using that as an excuse to meet another lover of yours.” He said, and before Lily could run further, he grabbed her neck and slammed her to the wall.
“Tell me who he is, or I will kill you.” He threatened, pressing his hand on her throat. Lily coughed and gasped for air, begging him to let her go.
“I’ll show you everything. I’ll show you the acceptance message, and we can go to the hospital together and ask if I work there. Please.” She cried, hitting his hand repeatedly as she continued to beg.
Louis loosened his hold on her and calmed down. “Show me your work ID.” He said, and Lily nodded immediately. As soon as he let go of her, she ran to her bag and pulled out her ID.
“Here it is.” She handed it over to him and backed away, massaging her neck with tears in her eyes.
Louis stared at the ID and nodded before handing it over to her. “You should have done this earlier. Why did you have to make me lay my hands on you? That’s your fault. I hate hitting, but you always do things like this and make me hit you.” He said without remorse and grabbed her waist.
“I love you.” He wrapped his arms around her and forced a kiss on her lips. Lily shuddered and held her breath. His touch disgusted her, but she couldn’t let him find out. She’d be dead if she did that.
When Louis didn’t hear Lily talk, he grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him.
“Why aren’t you saying it back? Don’t you love me?” He asked in a harsh tone that made Lily flinch, but she quickly covered it up and shook her head.
“I…I love you too.” She replied out of fear, and he smiled in satisfaction before grabbing her butt.
“Go and prepare dinner immediately, then we can go to bed.” He smiled suggestively and slapped her butt before pushing her to the kitchen.
Lily knew what he was talking about her. It was going to be another night where he had sex with her without her consent. This was a regular thing, and now, Lily was used to it. She no longer found sex enjoyable. If anything, she despised it.
She hated that this was her life now. But she still believed in love. She thought that there were better men out there. She was just unlucky.
Lily gulped a glass of water and began preparing spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. She had barely eaten anything all day and didn’t even get the time to rest at work, but here she was, cooking for a man who had been home, drinking all day.
Louis sat in the living room watching a soccer game while Lily cooked. An hour later, the food was served. Lily dropped the plate before him and waited until he was satisfied with what he saw before she left.
The other times when she didn’t wait, he always got angry, and his anger always left her with bruises.
Lily got undressed, took a shower, and had her dinner before running back to the room to sleep. That was the only way to escape him. Not that he hadn’t had his way with her while she was asleep.
Two hours later, Lily was in deep sleep when Louis entered the room. Drunk and horny, he climbed the bed and started touching her. But Lily was too tired and had to save her strength for her shift the next day, so she tried to stop him.
“Louis, please. I have a shift tomorrow and have to sleep. I haven’t even slept all day.” Her voice was low, an indication of how tired she was. She scooted away from him and turned to the other side, hoping he would understand and leave.
“I didn’t tell you to take that Job, did I? Why should I care if you are tired? You are my girlfriend, Lily! It is your job to take care of all my sexual needs. You have no right to say no to me, Lily! I own this fucking body.” He said, his voice coming out in a slur, and he began taking off her pajamas.
“Not this night, Louis. Please. Not this night. I am too tired.” She pleaded, tears welling as she got off the bed.
She already knew what was coming her way.
“Shut the fuck up!” He screamed and charged at her, but Lily was able to dodge and run because he was drunk.
She ran until she was out of the house, holding a pillow and mattress in her hand. As soon as she ran outside, he locked the door and screamed from the inside.
“Have fun sleeping out there. I hope you get raped by a stranger.” Lily immediately fell to the ground and cried, holding the pillow close to her chest.
A few minutes later, she wiped her tears and placed her mattress on the floor. “At least I don’t have to deal with him tonight.” She sighed and laid down, saying a small prayer to God, asking him to keep her safe.
*
*
Lily’s eyes fluttered open and was met with a bright sun, hitting her skin harshly. “How did I oversleep outside?” She chuckled to herself. Who would believe she had the best sleep outside and on the floor? She hadn’t slept that well in months.
Her happy moment was cut short as the door opened, and Louis came out.
“What are you doing outside?” He yawned, clearing the sleep from his eyes. Lily held herself from rolling her eyes at him. She only stood up and packed her mattress and pillow.
“You locked me out last night.” She explained, and he laughed, nodding his head like an idiot.
If there was one thing she hated about Louis, it was that he always remembered his actions while drunk. She could never get away with doing anything because he always remembers.
“Go make some hangover soup for me. I feel like shit. Also, prepare breakfast while you’re at it.” He instructed and pushed her into the house without apologizing for his behavior the past night.
Not that she was expecting one. She was already used to his behavior.
Lily went into the room and dropped the pillow on the bed but threw the mattress into the washing machine. When she was done, she brushed her teeth and made a hangover soup for Louis before taking a bath and making a quick breakfast for herself and Louis. She waited until he ate and left the house before she had her breakfast.
When she was done, she checked the time and gasped when she saw it was already noon. She was about to run to grab her bag when she remembered being on a shift.
Lily decided to use the time to rest, so she crashed into the bed and picked up her phone. Now that Louis was out of the house, she could finally breathe.
As she put on her phone for the first time since she got home, she saw a text from an unknown number.
Unknown Number: [Is everything alright, Miss Arnold?]
“Huh? Who is this?” Lily stared at the text with confusion. The text was from last night, but She couldn’t remember giving her number to anyone, so she quickly replied.
Lily: [Who are you?]
As soon as the message was delivered, it double-tipped and turned blue, indicating that it had been read. A few seconds later, the unknown number began typing.
Unknown Number: [I should have said that first. Forgive me. This is Tony Martinez. I got your number from your employee file]