Love You Till The End (Robert Zussman x Reader)

** 7 ** - Y/N L/N

July of 1943

Wayne hadn't gotten any better. His drinking was much worse causing the abuse to become much worse. Doing what I was told and being on my "best behavior" didn't matter. If it looked like he was going to blow a fuse* all of a sudden, I was most likely going to get hit. It started with a slap to the face, but now he was throwing punches, grabbing my neck to the point I would be gasping for air, and he would even kick me sometimes.

It was becoming too much for me and it didn't help that I couldn't leave the house. Being trapped there while Wayne was at work left me terrified rather than at ease because I knew the torment would begin once again the second he walked through the front door.

It felt as if I was forgotten by the world. His parents were away visiting family which meant they had no clue about what was going on in the back house. My parents also had no clue because they never bothered to stop by. I know they are better than that to just leave me be for this long without bothering to see how I'm doing, especially since I'm not allowed to write letters to them. I only got engaged; It's not like I cut them out of my life. It drove me insane thinking about how much I miss them and feeling as if they didn't miss me.

I looked at the clock on the wall. It was five 'o clock which meant Wayne would be home anytime soon. I quickly headed to the kitchen from the bedroom to start on dinner. Wayne doesn't like to see dinner not started when he comes home.

After a few minutes passed, I heard the front door unlock which made me tense up. Wayne walked into the kitchen and walked towards me. I was focused on the spaghetti sauce I was making until Wayne grabbed my chin and made me look him in the eye. His calloused fingers on my skin made me feel so uncomfortable. I felt the strong urge to push him and run out the front door, but I knew better than to risk something like that. He was bound to catch me and beat me until I see stars.

"Good girl," he told me as if I was a dog. I gave him a small smile and he smirked at me. He released my face and slapped my rear end, making me jump, but I didn't make a sound so he wouldn't come near me again. He walked towards his cabinet of booze and grabbed a bottle of his usual choice: whiskey. He turned to look at me before heading into the living room and said, "Glad I didn't have to chew you out today."

As I finished up dinner, I realized I hadn't seen Wayne smile in a long time. Although he only smirked, it reminded me of the Wayne that I used to know. I still couldn't believe how fast he had changed ever since his brothers' deaths. There had been no funeral because their bodies haven't arrived in the states yet which made me think that Wayne felt no closure. I never expected him to change this much though.

I called Wayne into the kitchen after setting the table and we both ate in silence. He swigged away at his bottle of whiskey. This was normally how our dinners went. No love in the air, no conversations; Just fear and the smell of alcohol.

After we finished, he walked off and left me to clean the kitchen as usual. I washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen table before heading to the living room to read. I loved reading before bed because it helped calm me down. All of a sudden, I was interrupted.

"Y/N!"

I quickly got up and headed towards the bedroom. Wayne was sitting on the bed but stood as soon as I entered the room. He was shirtless and had a piece of paper in his hand. I was terrified but I was doing my best to hide it.

"Yes, Wayne?" I said. He had a very lustful look in his eyes.

"This came in the mail today," he said and handed me the piece of paper in his hand. I began to read it. The first line read:

"Having submitted yourself to a local board composed of your neighbors for the purpose of determining your availability for training and service in the armed forces of the United States, you are hereby notified that you have been selected for training in the Army."

Before I could even move on to the next sentence, the paper was snatched from my hand which scared me and made me jump.

I was not very surprised to see he had received his draft letter because we had both seen this coming. I normally felt bad for those being drafted off to war, but this time I felt a sense of relief. Wayne wouldn't be here to hurt me anymore. He could take his anger out on the enemy.

I stood there quietly, not knowing what to say. It was too hard for me to try and pity him knowing I didn't mean it.

"Since I'll be leaving soon, you owe me something before you turn into a fucking whore while I'm gone," he said aggressively. My fear began to rise and I felt as if I was going to pass out.

"What do I owe you?" I asked and he laughed.

"Since we've been together, you've never let me have my way when it's come to yarking it up*. I tried to respect you and not rush you into anything, but I'm sick of the bullshit. Now we're gonna have it my way before I leave," he said and I didn't even have time to react because as soon as he stopped talking, he threw me onto the bed and started to undress me.

I didn't want this anymore. I was tired of faking it. I wasn't in love with Wayne anymore. I thought back to when my younger self thought she was making love to a boy she believed loved her back. Turns out, he only wanted one thing which he succeeded in getting. I sure wasn't going to let myself make that poor choice again especially since I didn't want it.

He removed my shirt and when he tried to remove my skirt, that's when I began to fight back. I kicked him hard and tried to push him off of me as hard as I could. It was making him angry, but I didn't care. I was not going to let this man disrespect me anymore.

He slapped me and tried to restrain my arms against the bed, but I continued to use all my strength to fight back. I began to scream for help as loud as I could, hoping someone would hear. He clamped his hand over my mouth which wasn't there for long because I bit him hard, making him yelp and pull his hand away. He then punched me in the right eye really hard and I could slowly feel it beginning to swell up. I started screaming again. To shut me up this time, he clamped both of his hands onto my neck and started to choke me. As I gasped for air, I still continued to hit him.

"Stop fucking fighting back, broad*!" he yelled in my face. I began to feel myself getting weaker and my vision was becoming blurry since I was running out of air. Just before I was about to completely blackout, I realized that my legs were not restrained and since Wayne was on top of me, they were angled perfectly to hit him in the crotch. I began to use both my knees, alternating them, to hit his crotch as hard and as many times as I could. He released my neck and yelled in pain as he stood up.

I gasped for air and quickly got up to run towards our closet where Wayne kept his shotgun. I quickly checked if it was loaded, which it was, and aimed it at him before he could charge at me. My vision was beginning to clear and when it finally did, I saw Wayne in front of me, panting, with his hands up in the air.

"Do it, you dumb broad! I'll probably die anyway when I'm shipped off to Japan!"

I had never shot a gun before. As much as I hated him, I didn't want to kill him. I wasn't going to let my anger and pain completely take over me like him.

"I'm done with all of this, Wayne! You can have this back!" I took the engagement ring off my ring finger and threw it at him while tears streamed down my face, "I'm not going to marry a man like you! I'm leaving and don't you bother to come after me! You're not the man I used to love!"

His face turned red with anger, but he didn't bother to try and take the gun from me. He put his shirt on and looked at me.

"You'll learn to love me again," he said, almost like a threat and walked towards the front door. I ran after him, but I was too late. The door was already locked. I watched as he hopped into his truck and sped off.

I went back into the bedroom and began to pack as much of my belongings that I could into the trunks I had brought with me when I first moved in. I was not going to stay here anymore. I was finally going to escape tomorrow. I changed into my pajamas and got into bed. Knowing I wasn't going to sleep tonight, fearing Wayne would come back, I thought up my escape plan instead with the shotgun held tightly in my hands, just in case.

~ ~ ~

* "blow a fuse": To lose temper
* "yarking it up": Basically to have sexual intercourse
* "broad": an offensive term meaning "woman"