vehement

16

• ARCHER •

I try to help Amalia's family, but eventually, late in the night, they tell me to go to bed.

I argue, but I can barely talk because I'm so tired so I go up the stairs, into the room I'm staying in and stare at the ceiling for what seems like hours.

Someone opens my door, but I don't look. A moment later I feel Ally crawl in beside me. She wraps her arms around me and rests her head on my chest, clinging onto me like a koala on a tree. I set my hand on her back, and only then do I fall asleep.

• AMALIA •

Another week goes by. I become restless at the house, so I decide that Enzo and I will go on a walk. Well, I will. I let him sit in his pram.

It's becoming sunnier, so I don't wear a jacket. We walk away from the house for around twenty minutes, then I turn back. I've asked Frankie about taking Enzo on walks many times, but he always tells me he doesn't want me to and to stay at home. So I turn back, because normally he comes back soon and I don't want him to see me.

I get home a couple minutes before him, feeling a little freer. When Frankie walks into the living room, my son and I are on the floor playing. He sits on the couch and smiles down at me.

"Hi. How was work?" I ask.

"It was okay. What'd you guys get up to?"

I pause, because he never asks that. "Not much." I whisper.

"Hm."

"Do you want any food?" I ask. "I can make you something."

"Sure." He replies.

"Okay." I say. I walk out of the room, and I'm putting pasta on and starting on a sauce when he walks in.

He rounds the counter and wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me to him. I look up, and he smiles.

He grabs my hand, and I expect him to hold it. He doesn't. He sticks it right in the boiling water with the pasta.

I scream.

"Tell the truth." He orders. I try to squirm out of his grip, but he's holding onto me so tightly and every time I move he forces my hand deeper into the water, so far down that it's up to my wrist.

"Ow!" I scream. "Frankie!"

"Where did you go?" He asks.

"We only went on a walk!" I exclaim, continuing to squirm. He lets me go, and I grab my hand out of the water, tears rolling down my face. He pushes me against the counter.

"I told you not to."

"I didn't think it was a big deal." I hiccup.

"If I tell you to do something, you do it like a good little wife. Understand?"

I nod quickly. I let out a sob, and he lets go of me. I collapse onto the floor, holding my hand against my chest. I bring my knees up, hiding my face in them as I continue to cry helplessly.

•

I go to bed with a bandaged hand. Frankie is asleep when I walk in, so I just slip in beside him and stay on the opposite side of the bed. It takes me hours to fall asleep.

When I wake up, I'm in an empty bed. I climb out of it and walk into Enzo's room, finding him sound asleep. I lift him up gently and sit on his bed, leaning back on the wall as I hold him.