Burn for you (English)

Chapter 5

Watch out: it's going to be a little more action-packed. TW: Violence, abuse, claustrophobia

He laughed.

The bundle whizzed down on my chest. A tearing - agonizing, slippery - from a nightmare. "How demure you are, but for me you play the little whore."

A pleading plea. By now the hot blood was running down my belly, but he didn't stop. Another blow.

"Do you want me to share you with others? Let them use your body until they are full and sluggish?"

Angrily, he looked at his handiwork. The thorny branches of my rose bush were as scarlet as the flowers themselves. It would teach me not to prune the bush again.

"No one will ever touch a cheap piece like you. I'm the only one who loves you."

More cuts on my breasts.

"Only me."

The night before I had had to refuel my forces completely, yesterday's physical work also took its toll, but not in sufficient measure to guarantee a peaceful sleep. Too many impressions had fallen upon me, my still believing spirit, no matter how much I may have shaken its foundations, accusing me of all the crimes I had committed yesterday. The iniquities and sins piled up.

With the rising of the sun, which colored the flecks of clouds in the draped sky into a divine spectacle of burgundy and coral, my day began.

I internalized the masterpiece on the horizon to banish the demons before I left the bed. Adina Keenan was not one to sleep late. The reason for this, as for so many of my behaviors and traits, was Elijah. I fervently detested our marital bed and every minute in it caused me mental anguish. I usually went to sleep long after he had rested, and got up before he did. My morning routine at St. Johns consisted of walking, shopping, or jogging. Activities that kept me out of the house. And old habits didn't break easily.

Temperatures only scratched the ten-degree mark during the day, and I wasn't risking a second hypothermia, so it was time to find something suitable in my obligatory closet. I found another pair of sweatpants and a plain gray shirt, plus a burgundy sweater. I reluctantly settled for the lacy slip.

Yesterday I received a tour of the clubhouse from Mandy, but an exploration of the grounds was still open. My conversations with Reaper had made it clear that I was allowed to move freely around the chapter. And I hadn't encountered anyone at this hour the previous day, safety enough to embark on the tour alone. A necessary tour, as unsure as I was, because if I wished to start over, somewhere and sometime, I had to leave everything from my old life behind. Doubt included.

As suspected, the chapter's grounds encompassed far more land than the view from the road suggested. In front of the clubhouse stretched a large parking lot paved with asphalt and gravel, populated by a few bikes and with room for more visitors. According to my new boss, there were fewer out-of-town guests during the week, but on weekends the place was bursting at the seams. This was an important reason for Mandy to take me under her wing to relieve her team. With me, there were five of us: our boss, Tiara, and two other women I hadn't met before. They all lived in the chapter, so their homes were the smaller cabins or trailers in the trailer park. All of the dwellings varied in size, from tiny and suitable for one person to more expansive homes to accommodate four, perhaps five. But none of them approached the scale of a conventional single-family home like those in St. Johns.

At such early hours, the place seemed to be slumbering so far, not surprising when the bar was busy well into the night. Only the barking of two dogs could be heard as soon as I passed their territory. Later, I spotted a woman completely absorbed in her phone in a folding chair with her cigarette, and a man who seemed to be doing morning sports himself as he crossed my route sweaty and with headphones in his ears. He eyed me skeptically, but continued walking his way.