I start thinking that would be a nice break. Even for a couple of days. Just a chance to breath. To be away from him.
“You are probably right however; I will see what he says. He is being nicer to me.”
Hugh comes back into the room. He put his hand on his hip like an impatient dad. Trying to get me off the phone. I slyly roll my eyes at him.
“I have to go, Heather. I will let you know if I can or not.”
He walks over to the bed like the big, bad wolf, “What did she want?”
I take a deep breath almost afraid to ask him. Oh well, I figure here goes nothing. All he can do is say yes or no. On the other hand, freak out and hit me as always. I will take a chance!
“She wants me to stay the weekend with her. Randy and a friend of his are going fishing. You know how much she hates staying alone in her house.”
Heather and Randy live in a mansion. It is big, very beautiful. In addition, it always scares her to be alone in there.
“It is only for the weekend, Hugh. I have been stuck in this house. I am not going to leave you. You already know that. I am just begging for a break, please.”
He sits on the bed being quiet for a long time. Finally, he looks at me.
“This is a test, Kristy. I am going to let you go. I want you to know someone will be watching you. If you mess up, I will kill you that is not a threat but a promise. I have not fixed your car yet. Take the old truck in the garage.”
My mouth almost drops to the floor. He can tell how surprised I am. I think that maybe he is going to try to make our marriage work. Maybe this last beating to me has opened his eyes to how badly he treats me. However, when he speaks, I know I am just wishing for something that is not going to happen.
“The only reason why I am doing this Kristy is because I have a few things I have to do. I cannot do them if I have to babysit you all the time. I asked Mandy to come by and stay with you; however, she already has plans.”
He stands to leave handing me my phone.
“When I call you no matter what time it is, you better answer it!”
I am so happy I could kiss him yet I do not. I pick up my cellphone calling Heather back, “You aren’t going to believe this! Hugh is letting me stay the weekend!”
She did not say anything at first. I figure she is in shock.
“What? Are you serious?”
“Yep, he has shit to do. Besides, I begged him to give me some space.”
Maybe, he will kill me this weekend. He would never let me stay with Heather. I guess if it is going to happen it will happen!
“Kris, he is probably up to something to let you out of his sight. Oh, who gives a shit? I am just glad he is letting you stay. Don’t let him change his mind.”
“I am not going to do anything to make him change his mind. I will see you in a couple of days.”
The next day I am happier than I have been in a long, long time. When I get out of bed, I hear Hugh on the phone. I creep to the door to listen.
“Man, its okay. I am still going running on Saturday. Yes, I will be at the party on Friday. I have someone else to babysit, Kristy.”
He gives a big, deep laugh. He sounds so fucking wicked.
“See you later, man.” As he hangs up, I run to my room. When he walks in, I start packing an overnight bag. He just looks at me.
“Kristy, you sleep in your own room now.” Soon after he says that, he leaves.
I go to bed early that night. I cannot wait for the morning to come.
When I get out of bed, he comes to my room. He holds the bedroom door open, staring at me. I am feeling funny the way he keeps looking at me. Please do not change your mind I am thinking.
“Remember what I told you. I want you to know I am not playing. I will see you on Sunday at noon no later!” I agree with him then he leaves.
I climb into the truck starting it. For some reason, it will not start. I try to start it again, but it will not. I hit the steering wheel.
“Come on you piece of shit, I want out of here!” I try one more time finally it starts. I am so happy I could have cried.
When I get to Heather’s, she is waiting at the door for me. Heather’s house is gorgeous. When you walk up to the front of the house, it has bay windows, vaulted roof. Her porch has a white picket fence. Off to the side a three-car garage. The landscape is immaculate, perfectly mowed grass. She has a paved driveway. The back of the house has big open windows everywhere. A nice walkway leads out to the ocean. The view is spectacular. Inside of the house is five bedrooms and four bathrooms. Tile floors with lots of fireplaces. Everything is wide open with expensive furniture.
When I enter the door, we give each other a hug. “I have missed you so much, Heather.”
She holds me at arm’s length looking me up and down, “you look better, Kris.” She hugs me tightly again.
She gave me the nickname Kris back in high school. She is really the only one to call me that and of course, Hugh hates it when she does.
We grab a cocktail going to sit out back. The ocean is so blue and beautiful. I enjoy it so much more when I am away from Hugh. I can sit there and just think!
“I am just so happy to be here! Hugh is attempting to be nice although, you know how that goes.” We both laugh.
“Have you decided what you are going to do about him? You know, about the situation?”
I look at her shrugging my shoulders. I wish I knew! Life would be so much easier. I just do not have a clue what to do!
“I don’t know. Since I am away from him I would rather we didn’t mention his name this weekend.”
We take a long walk on the beach just talking. This is so nice; we have not been able to do this for some time. After a while, we decide it is time to eat. We end up having salads with more to drink.
Our day has been great but then, Heather looks to me with concern on her face. There she goes acting like my mom.
“Kris, you know you don’t have to go back home. Hugh would never chance coming here with Randy.”
“Heather, you know Hugh will come after me no matter where I am at. If it came to finding me, nothing would stop him. Remember we are not talking about what’s his face!”
We both laugh. She turns looking at me smiling her, big beautiful smile. She knows I get tired of talking about him.
“So Randy has this friend, Giovanni. He is super-hot.”
I roll my eyes at her. Hot or not, I am not interested!
“Heather, if for some reason Hugh did let me go it will be a long time before I get together with any man!”
She shakes her head up and down. We make one more drink. After we finish our drinks, I head to bed. It takes a long time to go to sleep but I finally did. I sleep pretty well that night.
CHAPTER 5
When I get up in the morning Heather is already in the kitchen making coffee. I get in the shower turning it on hot. When I am done, I do my hair and makeup. I slip on a pair of black yoga pants with a heavy sweatshirt. I walk into the kitchen hearing Heather is in the shower.
I leave her a note saying, “I need to go for a drive to think things over. I will be back soon.”
I leave and drive around for about forty minutes trying to clear my head. Trying to decide what I should do about my life! When I get back to Heather’s she is inside the kitchen pacing back and forth. I have to smile at her. She looks like a mom waiting for a child that missed curfew.
“Hi mom, I’m home.”
She looks over to me. You can tell she is far from amused. Her cheeks are turning red. Yep, she is mad at me.
“You had me worried! Where the hell were you, Kris?”
Jeez, I am a grown woman. Why does she treat me like a child? I wish she would realize she is not my mom!
“I left a note saying I needed to go for a drive. It was nice to go out for a while by myself. Hugh is always there or Mandy. I want some time for me. I wasn’t gone that long.”
You can tell she feels bad. Now, her cheeks are
turning red from embarrassment. She should feel bad!
“I’m sorry, Kris. Your right, you need time to yourself.”
We go into the living room and put on a movie. Around three in the afternoon there is a knock on the door. She looks to me; I look at her thinking that had better not be that Giovanni dude! I do not want to meet him.
“Are you expecting company?” She shakes her head no.
She has fear in her eyes. I am also getting that fear filling up in my chest.
“Kris, it’s probably Hugh!”
As we stand to go to the door, my insides start shaking. Why is he here? I was not ready to see him yet! I feel like my time away from him is just starting. Give me one more day I think to myself. Please do not be Hugh!
Heather opens the front door to see two police officers standing there. We look at each other not knowing what to think.
“Yes, may I help you?” Heather ask with a ton of concern.
I know Randy has gone fishing. I start to pray nothing has happened to him. One of the officers starts to talk.
“I am looking for, Kristy Coleman. One of her neighbors said I might find her here.”
Heather backs away from the door letting them in. I head for the couch. The officer comes in and walks to the couch where I am. He holds out his hand to me.
“I am Officer, Harris and this is my partner, Officer Smith.” I shake both of their hands. My mind is racing with many different thoughts.
“What is this all about?” I question as my stomach is doing flip-flops. I do not know what is going on. Officer Smith sits on one side of me. Heather is on the other.
“Ma’am, I hate to have to tell you this, but your husband has died. He was out jogging when a car hit from behind him. He was killed instantly.”
Heather runs over to the phone calling Randy. All I hear is please hurry. I let out the breath I am holding. I start to cry. Heather resumes her spot on the couch holding me.
“Mrs. Coleman, we understand that you had an issue awhile back. You were beaten. If you could please tell us about that instance.”
I wipe my eyes with some tissue Heather has given me. I do not want to remember that night. I have tried so hard to bury that deep into my subconscious! I know talking about it will resurface the wounds open. I will have to deal with them later.
“I decided I would go out for a late night run. I do that when I cannot sleep. Someone came up on me from behind. They grabbed me then started to beat me.”
Officer Harris is taking notes. He is looking up and down between his paper and me.
“How did you guys find out about that?” Heather ask looking at me with concern all over her face.
I can tell she is wondering if I had finally told someone. She should know I never would though!
“Ma’am, anytime someone goes to the emergency room records are kept. The hospital staff thought there was more to the story then what they thought. The staff keeps that on file in case it happens again.” He explains to Heather.
I thought Heather might have finally said something. I should have known they would have kept that on file! Heather looks to me with a puzzling look on his face.
“Mrs. Coleman, you never saw who it was?” I shake my head no. We all know I did, but I feel there is no need to say so now. Hugh is dead; they cannot do anything about it!
Officer Smith stands, walking over to join Officer Harris. Officer Smith turns to me. He looks at me, as he knows I am hiding something.
“Did your husband have any enemies?” Again, I shake my head no. I just continue to cry. Heather squeezes my hand lightly trying to make me feel better.
“Hugh was a part owner in a bank. He invested a lot of people’s money. Maybe it had something to do with that!” Heather tells him getting frustrated with them. I am feeling that excessively. He continues to take his notes.
“Here is my card, ma’am if you can think of anything else please call.” I take his card as they turn to leave.
I put my face into the couch pillow. I start crying feeling like someone has punched me in the stomach. I feel like my heart is breaking. Heather comes over sitting on the floor next to me. She is stroking my hair away from my face. She starts telling me everything will be okay.
I was so mentally exhausted; I must have cried myself to sleep. When I wake up someone has put me in the bedroom. Randy must have picked me up and moved me in there. I grab my bag going to the living room.
They are sitting on the couch whispering. When I walk in, they quit talking.
“Kristy, how are you?” Randy is asking with concern.
“I am ready to go home!”
Heather stands up coming to me. She put my hand in hers stroking my knuckles. Her eyes are red from crying.
“Kris, I don’t think you should go home. You need to stay here.”
I shake my head no. The last thing I need now is hanging out with mother hen. I know if I stay that is what she is going to do, mother me.
“I have to go home!”
I feel like I cannot breathe. My brain had turned to mush and I cannot think anymore. I need some alone time.
Randy takes Heather’s hand. He gives it a slight squeeze.
“Your right, Kristy. I am sure you have a lot to do. If you need anything, call. We can be right there for you.”
Heather grabs me into a bear hug. Randy comes over hugging me as well. They have me sandwiched between them. I love them both so much. They are always there for me! As I am leaving, I hear Heather talking to, Randy.
“Why didn’t you make her stay?” her voice full of anger.
“Baby, she needs time to let it sink in. She needs time to think without you treating her like a baby.”
“I am not treating her like a baby, Randy!”
I hear Randy laugh, “You always treat her like a baby.”
I drive home in a daze trying to figure out where to start first. I guess when I get home I should call his parents. Hugh and his parents did not get along. They had bad blood between them. I feel they need to know what happened to their son. No matter what problems they had before.
I get home entering the kitchen, pour a double shot of whiskey downing it. I look around the room and start crying. I cry because I am sad. I cry harder because I realize I am finally safe. I know longer have to walk on eggshells!
It is early in the evening so I call his mom. She answers the phone on the fourth ring.
“Hello Linda, its Kristy.” Before I can say anything else, she interrupts me, “Kristy, if Hugh is in trouble I do not want to hear about it.”
I let out a big sigh. How sad that his parents have to feel that way about him. I guess I was not the only one though. I tried hard to love him and I did love him! He just did not feel the same way about me anymore.
“Linda, Hugh died today. He was hit by a car.” She goes silent then starts to cry.
“I am sorry Kristy, but you know how things were with us. I send my love to you. Thank you for letting me know.” She quickly hangs up the phone.
About five years ago, we were at his parents’ house for Christmas dinner. Hugh got into a drunken rage and started to beat his mom. His dad, George, got in the way. Hugh punched him in the process. When I tried to step in, he beat me also. His parents have not talked to him since! I cannot even remember what had set Hugh off. That was all it took, for him to drink too much! He seemed to go crazy when he drank too much. When he got to a certain point of being drunk, he was no longer fun. He just got mean!
After I get off the phone with Linda, I go to bed although I cannot sleep! I lay there thinking about all the good times we had. Thinking about all the bad times. The bad times seem to outweigh the good ones!
In the morning when I get out of bed, I head to the kitchen. I notice a picture of Hugh and myself. I take the picture throwing it across the kitchen. I am so angry!
I fall to the floor crying for a long time. When I finally get back up, I go and pick up the picture. I take a good look at it. We
were so happy there! I clean up the shattered glass. I go back in my room taking a hot shower, throwing on a pair of sweats and a tank top. My phone starts to ring. From the caller I.D. I see it is Heather.
“Hi Heather, what’s up?”
There is a brief pause on her end of the phone then she says, “Randy and I want to go to the morgue with you.”
I am not sure what she is getting at!
“The morgue, for what?”
“Sweetie, you were out of it yesterday. The officers that came to my house said you need to identify the body.”
Oh shit, I feel sick to my stomach. I do not want to see him that way. I cannot see him that way. I wish I could say no, although I know I cannot.
“I told them it would be today. Kris, you could not have done it yesterday.”
I feel like I am getting very lightheaded. I sit on the bed with the walls spinning. I shake my head back and forth trying to clear it. I feel like I am going to pass out. This is one time I want Heather with me. I do not want to go alone!
“Sure, you guys can pick me up.”
I have to bend down and put my head between my knees. I want the room to quit spinning. I take in deep breaths.
“We will be there in a few.”
I do not answer her. I hang up my phone. I close my eyes praying the room will stop spinning. When I slowly open them, the room finally goes still.
Fifteen minutes later they pull up outside. I walk out to their car climbing in. We drive in silence. When we get there, I start to cry. Randy helps me out of the car holding me.
“Kristy, it will be okay. They just have to make sure it’s him.” Randy pulls me in to him. Holding my waist.
I wipe my eyes, take a deep breath, and then walk inside. We walk up to this window. There is a woman behind the counter.
Randy is still holding me, “we are here to identify a body,” he tells her.
When I hear that, I feel my knees go weak. I do not want to faint or fall down, so I hold onto Randy tighter.
She takes us to the back of this building where the morgue is. She lifts the cover off his body.
It is Hugh! I start to cry just staring at him. He looks so peaceful! Like the beginning of our marriage. I felt so sad that I could not make this man happy even though I tried. Really I did! I just do not know what happened throughout the years. I give in and break down crying my heart out!
SCREAMIN' in Pain Page 4
