Trigger Warning - Collection Of Short Stories

A Mother's Love

I don't know when things got so bad. I have always struggled, in general, with life and other things. But lately this life has been so much harder to maintain...

Every morning I wake up and tell my husband I love him, while he sleeps for another two hours. I pack lunches and get my children ready for school, sending them off on the bus, and begin to get ready for work myself.

Shaun gets up and dresses for work as I log in to my work-from-home setup. He peeks in and says goodbye and I love you's and gives me a peck on the cheek before he rushes out of the house.

And every day I do unending laundry and dishes on my work breaks. I vacuum and fold clothes on my lunch, eating what seems easiest. I get the kids off the bus 2 hours before the end of my shift, Monday through Friday. They do homework and wait for me to get off work to make dinner. They wait for Shaun to get him and play games with them while I cook.

I know that this is all normal, every family has their routines. Every parent takes care of their kids. And every mother goes to therapy on her day off to deal with her depression. Every husband says he wishes he could help while he continues to ignore what she asks him to help with. And life goes on.

Things had gotten to the point that my psychiatrist had suggested I take time off work for inpatient therapy. I told her I would consider it if Shaun and I could work things out. She reminded me that as a mother and wife I need to take care of myself before I can care for anyone or anything else properly. And I nodded and thanked her as I left her office.

On my way home I stopped and picked up lunch for my family from a nearby fast food joint. I splurged and bought cookies for my kids and when I walked into the house they each grabbed their bags from my hands and sat down to eat. I took Shaun his food as usual.

He couldn't pause his videogame; it had been an argument we'd had many times over the years. I had chosen to stop arguing the point when he wasn't going to change things. I had chosen this route for many things we used to argue over. Shaun was much happier now, as he told our couple's therapist. We argued much less now.

"Thanks Babe." He said as I set his food down on the coffee table. I didn't bother to reply. I walked to my office and sat at my desk, using my personal desktop computer to play some random Youtube video for background noise.

Hours pass with my attention barely held by video after video. My husband continues his game, hollering into his headset mic, and my children watch him or preoccupy themselves. I don't bother with chores for them on the weekend... They need days off too. And I know better than anyone what constant stress can do to a child.

Around 7pm I have the kids get ready for bed and Shaun kisses them goodnight before continuing his game. At this point he has been playing since he got out of bed this morning, right around 11am. I had been up with the kids at 7am.

I went to bed and scrolled mindlessly through my apps on my phone until I couldn't keep my eyes open. I plugged my phone into the charger and finally fell asleep around 2am and woke slightly when Shaun came to bed around 4:30.

He curled up next to me, pressing his hard on into my backside, kissing my shoulder. I kept quiet as he ran his hands along my body, and where he felt soft, yielding skin, I imagined his fingers catching on stretch marks and scars. Thr rolls where I hadn't lost the baby fat over the years felt gigantic, as though his hands took minutes instead of moments to caress them.

He was like this constantly, wanting to have sex whenever the mood struck him. There was no real foreplay or enticement. And tonight was no different. He stuck his hand down my panties and his fingernail caught on delicate skin. He roughly thrust one finger inside me while his thumb carelessly rubbed and pressed against my clit. He took a groan of pain as enjoyment and I felt his dick twitch. I closed my eyes tightly when he pinched my nipple, rolling it between his fingers.