Just Beneath the Surface I (excerpt)
Spencer shrugged his shoulders as he backed out of our tight parking spot alongside the curb, and drove us home. He stopped in front of the garage, and sat quietly.
“Something wrong with your garage opener?” I asked peering over at him. Why were we sitting in front of our house? Something deep down in my bones said run as I reached above our heads for the garage opener.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of his hand and flinched, but by then it was too late. He shoved my arm away from the garage opener and punched me so hard in the side of my head, that my face hit the passenger window. I only sat doubled over. The car was completely quiet as he stared over at me and waited menacingly. Whatever he was waiting for, he would not get from me. I refused to look at him or speak.
I decided that any human being would stop there, if I stayed crouched down and quiet. I was wrong; his fist connected with my ear. I gasped and let out the strangest sounding moan I had ever heard as I held onto the latch on the door. The world around me was quiet, and everything I looked at reminded me of a television screen with static; blurred figures and unclear sounds. I held my left ear with one hand and pulled at the latch on the door with the other.
Before I could open the door Spencer grabbed both of my hands and pulled me close to him, “Clubs? Drinking? Lies?” he growled. He threw me back over to the passenger side of the car, raised his fist again, and began punching me repeatedly in my left ear. I instinctively covered my ear with both of my hands. I screamed over his shouting that I could not hear him over the ringing sound. I could only hear my heartbeat.
The longer I sat unable to make out what he was screaming at me, the more hysterical I became. But I managed to sit perfectly still as I crouched over. What if I was deaf? What if the ringing and swishing sounds never stopped?
I opened the door and fell onto our driveway. I felt so dazed, but I had to run. Wherever I ran would be better than going inside of the house. As I pulled myself up using the car door, I could hear his loafers scratching at the pavement as he edged closer.
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