by A. G. Khaliq
Matthew had texted me, “I’m gonna go pick up the lads and the girls, and then we’ll come down to yours and pick you up in about half an hour babe.”
I smiled and texted back, “That’s live babe, I just got ready. I can’t wait!”
I walked into the kitchen, pouring myself a glass of wine as I waited for Matthew to arrive. I started sipping on my drink, and then my phone started pinging again with another text from Matthew.
“I bet you look absolutely stunning babe, I can’t wait to see you.”
I started blushing. It felt like I was a teenage girl again, and Matthew was my school crush. I could feel the butterflies hammering in my chest. He made me feel so good about myself with just a few text messages.
We were just in early stages, just talking… We never kissed or anything, because I was still with Steve. I knew it was wrong to go behind Steve’s back and speak to another man… but I couldn’t help the way Matthew made me feel. And Steve didn’t exactly treat me so good either… He was always so angry, and it was so hard to keep him happy. I got frightened whenever I was around him.
I clasped my phone to my chest, smiling as Matthew’s messages replayed themselves to me in my head. I turned around the cupboard to find more alcohol, and then I heard the sound of my phone pinging again. I could feel my cheeks going red.
Suddenly, I felt some big, strong arms snake around me from the back, and I jumped at the sudden touch, swallowing. I had no idea who it was.
I turned around slowly to see Steve, and I blew a small sigh through my lips. What the hell was he doing here? I was going out soon… I didn’t need to deal with him right now.
Steve rubbed my ass up and down, and I shifted about uncomfortably, wanting to get this over with and for him to go home.
“Hi, baby,” I said awkwardly. “Where did you go?”
“I missed you,” said Steve.
I giggled nervously, and Steve started kissing my neck. He withdrew his hands from around me and then took a few steps back to stare at me. I was wearing a turquoise bodycon midi-dress that teased my cleavage and had my legs on display. This was the last thing I wanted Steve to see me in, I knew he always behaved iffy when he saw me wearing revealing outfits.
“Who’s my baby looking all sexy for, eh?” Steve asked. “A bedroom date with me?”
He laughed and pulled me close to him, and I bit my lip nervously, not knowing what to do. He grabbed my ass aggressively, kissing me again. I slowly moved away from him uncomfortably.
“I’m going out with some friends tonight, babe,” I said, swallowing. “I can’t stay in tonight.”
Steve’s facial expression fell as I said this, and my heart started thumping against my chest in fear. All I could do was pray… Pray that he wouldn’t react the way I thought he was going to, or do what I thought he was going to do.
“You’re going out dressed like that to see friends?” Steve asked calmly. “You’re only allowed to dress like that for me.” He said this assertively, like it was a statement, and he wanted me to get changed straight away without any arguments.
“Babe, it’s just clothes…” I tried. “I can’t go to a bar wearing a tracky…”
I knew he wouldn’t listen, but I was so tired of him pushing me around. I don’t know what came over me. How stupid would it look if all my friends were glammed up and I came to the bar wearing baggy jeans and a sweater?
Steve’s anger started to boil, and I immediately started regretting what I said. I wrapped my arms around my chest, trying to disguise how much I was trembling at this point.
“Don’t answer me back babe, just change your fucking clothes,” Steve hissed. “You look like a slag, and I don’t want no man looking at my property.”
I swallowed. “But if you know I’m yours, why be so worried about my clothes? I’m not hooking up with anyone, I need a night out, I haven’t had one in so long…”
“Listen to me or you’re fucking going nowhere and staying with me for the night,” Steve shouted.
Steve took steps closer to me and I backed away, terrified. He grabbed me aggressively, kissing my mouth and groping my breasts. The kiss was so hard, I could feel my lip cut and start bleeding. I started struggling, and wriggled free from his grasp, wiping the blood and saliva from my mouth.
“Steve, I love you, but you can’t control me,” I pleaded. “I want to go out with my friends.”
Steve’s anger really started to boil and he grabbed me aggressively, unzipping my dress from the back.
“Steve, please!” I cried. “Stop it, you’re hurting me.”
“From the day you married me, you became my property and you do as I say,” Steve yelled. “You can’t leave me and you can’t say the word no to me. Now relax and let me do what I’m doing, I’ve had a stressful day and I need some relief.”
He leaned in to kiss my shoulder and tears started pricking in my eyes, smudging my makeup. I was trying my best not to break down in sobs. Steve tore the sleeve off from my dress and by now, I couldn’t stop the tears from falling. I was pleading with God in my head to get me out of this situation. I was pleading with God that Steve wouldn’t rape me.
My phone began to sound with notifications and I froze to the spot in fear, as I realised it was probably Matthew. He was probably waiting for me outside, and he couldn’t see me like this. He couldn’t know what was going on…
“Who the fuck’s ringing you, goddammit?!” Steve roared.
“It’s probably my friends,” I said shakily. “They’re coming soon…”
“You disobeyed me and now you ain’t seeing your fucking friends. Switch your fucking phone off.”
I broke down into fresh tears, but Steve was boiling with rage. My crying only made him even angrier than he already was.
“Stop crying, you fucking whore!” Steve roared. “I’ll answer these pricks myself, give me your phone!”
“It’s okay Steve,” I said desperately. “I - I’ll l - let them know I’m not coming…” I couldn’t let him look at my phone… If he saw the messages I exchanged with Matthew, then I was a dead woman walking. He would probably kill me right here.
“I said give me your fucking phone!” Steve screamed, snatching my phone out of my pocket.
I froze to the spot, my face going white in fear. The room went eerily quiet as I watched Steve’s blood run cold. The name Matthew was blaring on the phone screen. Rage boiled over Steve’s face… He looked like he was about to murder.
“How could you do this to me?”
“What did I d - do?” I could barely speak. I was scared for my life.
“You’re seeing someone else,” Steve said flatly, the veins pulsing on his skin.
“N - no I’m not! How could you think of such a thing, I love you baby…”
I leaned forward and touched Steve’s arm desperately, wanting him to calm down. He slapped it off hard, and stared into my eyes.
“Who’s Matthew?”
“W - what?”
“WHO THE FUCK’S MATTHEW?!” Steve roared.
“Babe, he’s j - just a friend, I - I promise…”
“A friend that wants to get in bed with you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
Steve started flicking through my phone as my chest heaved in and out in fear. “Look at all these text messages,” Steve said quietly. “Babe, where are you? Babe, why aren’t you answering? Are you okay?” He screamed angrily, throwing a plate on the floor and I watched my life flash before my eyes.
“And then there’s the older messages, too,” said Steve. “I bet you look stunning babe, I can’t wait to see you.”
Steve started punching the cabinets until his knuckles were sore, swollen and bloody. “I’ll kill the bastard!” he screamed.
“He hasn’t done anything!” I cried. “Steve, you’re scaring me!”
“Ain’t no ‘friend’ talking to my fucking wife like that,” Steve roared. “You’ve been seeing him behind my back!”
&n
bsp; “He’s just a friend!” I sobbed. By now I was so frightened, I had no idea what was going to happen next.
Steve grabbed my arm aggressively, making me jolt back in shock.
“How do you explain these text messages?!” he demanded.
I remained silent. I didn’t want to say something that could warrant more abuse from Steve; I didn’t want to dig my own grave. I was terrified. Steve drew through his breath, like it was taking him all he had not to kill me right here.
“Are you fucking him?” Steve asked quietly.
I pushed him off in rage. “No!” I shouted.
Steve knocked my wine glass to the floor and grabbed me by my neck, so tightly it was hard for me to breathe.
“ARE YOU FUCKING HIM?!” Steve roared.
I sobbed uncontrollably as he let go of my neck and I gasped for air. He threw me to the floor aggressively and started punching me repeatedly. I could feel my surroundings go blurry, I felt so fucking dizzy. I’d never felt pain like this in my entire life.
Being dead would be better than living a life like this. I never felt any glimmer of hope, never saw any light at the end of the tunnel. All I could see in front of me was a miserable life… and that’s not a life that I wanted to live.
“You need to be taught a lesson for playing with my feelings,” Steve said quietly.
He kissed my cheek softly and then slapped my face to the side, as my hair drenched in wine. His voice was soft.
“So beautiful...” Steve moaned. “Yet such a fucking trashy whore.”
The monster in him came back to the surface, as he stood on his two feet and started kicking my belly as I wailed in pain.
“This will teach you who the fucking boss is!” Steve screamed. “How could you do this to me?!”
He smashed my head against the floor and I felt so dizzy it was like I was stepping in and out of unconsciousness. By now, I was crying and bleeding uncontrollably. He punched me repeatedly and then squeezed my face in his hands, kissing my mouth.
“Oh Linda…” he moaned.
STEVE
I spat on her face, and then walked out of the room with her phone still in my hands.
I pulled out Matthew’s name from her contacts, and then opened the keypad to write him a message.
“You won’t be seeing Linda again.”
CHAPTER 2
NOT WHAT WE PLANNED
LOUIS
It was a brand new day.
I walked into the living room to see my next door neighbor Margaret here.
“Hey Margaret, what are you doing here?” I asked.
“Hey Louis, I’ve been given info that your mum’s in hospital,” Margaret said sadly.
“What happened to her?!” I asked, terrified that something bad had happened.
“On her way home from the pub last night, she got robbed and beaten apparently,” said Margaret.
I took a deep breath in.
“But I’ve been told that she’ll be fine,” Margaret reassured. “None of her major body parts were beaten so she'll need to be taken care of for a few days and given pain-killing medication before she comes home.”
I sighed. I was relieved that my mum was going to recover, but I was still so upset that someone would do such a fucking thing to her.
“Can I see her?” I asked.
“I think it's best not to given the state that she's in,” said Margaret. “She needs rest and she'll be back before you know it, but I'm gonna have to take care of you for a few days before she's released.”
“Okay, as long as she's alright…” I sighed, and then I let my emotions get the better of me and I started crying. I couldn’t help myself. Just the thought of somebody laying their hands on my mother, the thought of her being hurt… and I wasn’t there for her.
Margaret stared at me awkwardly, not knowing what to do. I took a deep breath in.
“Sorry, it's just that nothing like this has ever happened to my mum,” I said sadly. “I'm just a bit shocked, that's all.”
Margaret hugged me reassuringly and I rested in her embrace.
“I promise you she'll be fine,” she said. “Stop worrying and get yourself to school, it's Monday remember?”
I nodded, trying my best to get myself into a better mood, and walked to my room. I quickly dusted myself off and changed into my school uniform, and then began making my way to school.
As I walked to school, I sang the Birmingham Anthem by Lotto Boyzz in an attempt to cheer myself up. Good music always helped me to feel better when things were going shit.
“I come from these ends, pengting outta town she hurt my feelings, yeah…”
Before I knew it, I was at the school gates.
When I arrived at school, I walked into the usual busy, crowded playground. There were people taking selfies together, guys bragging about the girl they had sex with last night, people talking about the new song that just came out by AJ Tracey, and others playing football.
I searched the playground for my best friend, Keelan. Keelan was my day one brother from another mother. We’d been friends for years. We told each other everything, and we did everything together. He was white, and he always tied his light blonde hair up in a manbun.
I spotted Keelan at the other side of the playground. He had a random chick smashed up against a tree, and they were kissing so hard it looked like they were playing fucking tonsil-tennis. I’d had enough of watching people kiss when I always accidentally walked in on my mum and Steve. I didn’t need to watch my best friend twist more tongues than I ever will in my life.
“Keelan,” I said, coughing, trying to spin him out of his trance. How people could snog like this in public was beyond me. He carried on holding the girl, ignoring me calling his name.
“KEELAN!” I screamed. Keelan jumped up, startled, and the random girl folded her arms angrily, clearly pissed off at me for interrupting them. Like I gave a fuck.
“Yo Louis! I was just…” Keelan began awkwardly.
“Being a manslag, as always,” I said exhaustedly.
Keelan broke out into laughter and I did the same. The girl looked so pissed off right now, if looks could kill, she could probably cut me in half with a knife with those piercing eyes.
“I’ll text you,” she said to Keelan seductively, clearly trying to get his attention again. When he ignored her, she stormed off angrily.
Keelan took steps towards me as I continued to laugh.
“Fam, why’d you have to interrupt us for?!” he said angrily. “She was hot.” He folded his arms angrily.
I burst out into laughter again. “Shut up bruv, what are you even doing with her? She’s way too old.” Me and Keelan were only in year 9, and this girl was in year 11. Making us 14, and her 16.
“Only two years older bruv, chill out,” Keelan said defensively, and then rolled his eyes as the school bell rang. “I literally can’t be arsed with school today, man.”
“Same man,” I sighed. “Come on.”
We made our way to the main entrance and started walking towards our classroom, talking about last night’s football match of Manchester United against Arsenal.
As we made our way down to the corridor, we saw a girl standing outside of our class. I would be lying if I said she wasn’t sexy as fuck, because she was. She had slender, bright blue eyes, tanned skin, gorgeous brown hair up in a ponytail, and to top it off, she was tall, with the longest legs I’d ever seen on a girl in high school.
She winked in our direction and I scratched my arm, embarrassed, trying to look away from her when the damage was already done. She’d caught us both staring at her like fucking idiots.
“Her name’s Ellie. She’s so much sexier than the girl I was making out with before,” said Keelan, biting his finger seductively, and I started cracking up with laughter. Keelan went through a different girl everyday, and didn’t give two fucks about it. He was so laid back and unbothered, no wonder everybody called him a fuckboy.
“You’re never sa
tisfied, bro,” I laughed.
We walked to our classroom and Ellie greeted us with a wide smile.
“You alright, boys?” she said happily.
“Could be better,” I shrugged.
Keelan rolled his eyes. “I’m great b!” he said enthusiastically. “Thanks for askin’.”
Ellie giggled at him. “That’s good to hear.” She rubbed her neck sheepishly. “Look, I was wondering if you both wanted to come to my party next weekend? It’s my birthday and I want everyone to be there.”
“You can count me in!” Keelan exclaimed. I rolled my eyes. Could he look any more desperate?
Ellie bit her lip seductively as she stared at me. “Can you come, Louis?” She walked towards me, shaking her ass like she was on a catwalk, practically shoving Keelan out of the way. Keelan folded his arms awkwardly as Ellie started tracing my face with her long nails.
“Erm, I’m not sure I can make it,” I said awkwardly, taken aback by the physical contact. “I’m helping my mum with something.”
I stared at her uneasily but she didn’t seem to get the hint.
“I hope you change your mind, babe,” she shrugged, and then started tracing the collar of my shirt with her fingers, biting her lip. “I’ll make sure that you do.”
I pushed her off me angrily. “Don’t touch me, you slut!” I spat. I knew I was being harsh, but she needed to realise that I didn’t want her fucking hands on me.
Keelan shook his fists angrily at my words, and Ellie gasped, taken aback.
“Don’t talk to her like that!” Keelan shouted.
Ellie hugged him, thankful to him for defending her. I felt like fucking puking. I was more pissed off at how gullible Keelan was.
“Oh, give it a rest, Keelan,” I spat, and he folded his arms angrily. “Sucking up to her isn’t gonna make her like you any more, you thirsty bastard. She was all over me just a minute ago, you gullible prick.”
I rolled my eyes sarcastically, and Keelan looked positively fucking fuming.
