Only You Sweetheart

The comb passed through her hair gently, Charlotte sat on the bed staring into oblivion as he tenderly brushed her soft brown hair. His hands occasionally ran down its smoothness and the aroma of Herbal Essence wafted around the room (a shampoo he knew Charlotte liked to use), he breathed in the scent of her hair as his face moved closer to her head. She didn’t even flinch, she wrapped the towel tighter around her body and just sat there, at least he wasn’t beating the crap out of her. A bonus she supposed.
“Have you taken your medication today darling?”
“No”
“I better go and get it in a minute, are you hungry?”
“No”
“Thirsty?”
“No”
“Do you want anything?”
“No”
Charlotte noticed his lip run over the ring that pierced it and sas was well aware that he did this when he was getting aggravated or angry. She quickly spoke before he could react with an angrier tone, she didn’t want to hear any threats or irritated comments, every time he was nice to her she wanted to pretend that he had always been nice to her. That way she didn’t hate herself for feeling things she knew she shouldn’t be feeling, she was so confused about the fact that she may very well be falling for him that it made her feel angry!
“Actuallam qam quite hungry, I wouldn’t mind something to eat”
Matt smiled at her “Sure” He got up from where he was sitting but turned when she spoke. “Do … do you mind if I get dressed?” she hated the fact that she had to ask for permission but if it kept him off her back …
“Of course” he went back to her and kissed her on the forehead “I like it when you’re being reasonable”
She forced out a small smile, but as soon as his back was turned it went. She slipped on some clean clothes and sat on the bed waiting for him to come back. Was this her life now? Living in misery? Doing everything he said to prevent a beating. Hating herself for not hating him. Always being scared that she might do something wrong and he’ll fall back into anger mode. Never seeing her friends and family again. Never having any freedom. Never being happy ever again. No, she wouldn’t. It was time to take a stand. Time to take back her life that had been snatched away from her. She took in a deep breath and got up from the bed and walked to the door, she could hear him downstairs, her heartped ped at 100mph as she slowly walked down the stairs.
Don’t be scared Charlotte. Don’t be scared.
She walked into the kitchen where he was, no confidence what so ever in her body language as he turned around at looked at her suspiciously. A smile still formed on his face though. “Hi baby. What you doing down here?”
I missed you would have been the perfect answer in his own fantasy land, he noted to himself but knew full well the words would not form in her mouth. In time.
“I … I …” Be brave. “I want to go home. Now”
He stood exactly where he was and just looked at her, the smile still formed on his face.
“What?”
“I want to go home right now”
“You are home” even though he was smiling, she knew the pleasant sounding words weren’t to be thought of as that, pleasant.
“No I’m not, I’m far from home, with a man that’s made my life hell and I. don’t. want. to. be. here.”
“What exactly was this supposed to achieve?”
“I don’t want to be held a prisoner, I don’t want to cry every single day for the rest of my life, I don’t want to not see my brother again, I don’t want to be scared of making you angry all the time and I don’t want to be here with you”
Matt could feel his body shake slightly, the words stung.
“Well that’s just tough isn’t it.”?
“No, if you had one decent bone in your body you would let me go home”
“Well then I obviously don’t have any do I?”
“You said you loved me, was that a lie? You can’t love someone you treat like scum”
“Do not tell me how I feel! You have no idea how much I love you! You think I’m going to take you home so that I’ll never see you again, so that you can find someone else! Woman you are my wife and you will do as I say”
“I’m not your wife by choice, you think I’d ever actually marry you if I had had a choice?”
“Don’t say things you’ll regret” his smile had long gone.
“What’s the point of saying anything at all in that case?”
“Well you know what they say, if you cant say anything nice don’t say anything at all”
“Would you prefer that? If I just stayed silent the whole time, was just a life like doll for you to play with?”
“You know that’s not what I want. If I just wanted you for your body I would have sewn your mouth shut”
“Please just let me go home Matt, I promise not to tell anyone where I was, I won’t report you I promise”
Matt swung his arms out to the side in anger “I said NO” his right hait tit the plate of pasta on the counter knocking it to the ground, the plate smashed into pieces and the food spilled everywhere. The loud bang made Charlotte’s heart beat faster.
“Look what you made me do it”
“I didn’t make you do that, it’s not my fault you can’t control your temper”
“Maybe if you didn’t make me so mad …”
It was a losing argument on her part; she might as well give up. “I’mng bng back upstairs”
“You’re not wasting this food”
Charlotte turned to look back at him “What?” Knowing exactly what he meant.

……………………………………………………

Detective Knowles sighed at the man working behind the counter at the gas station, he was being of no help what so ever. “You do realise you could help us rescue a young woman” he gritted his teeth; it was as if some people just did not care about the well being of others.
“I’ve told you I don’t remember a women of that description, do you know how many people come here a day? And you expect me to remember someone from a few weeks ago, I don’t remember people from a few hours ago”
“Well if you do remember something please call me”
The man sighed slightly “Fine, Danny the boy who works here part time might remember something, when he gets back I’ll make sure to ask him as well”
“Thank you”
He stormed out of the place in a bad temper, he really didn’t want to go back and tell Charlotte’s mother and brother that they were no closer to finding Charlotte. Although a possible sighting was still feasible, but really it could have been anyone. But at the moment, it was all he had.

………………………………………………….

Charlotte picked up a piece of pasta from the floor and blew the dust of the best she could before eating it, forcing herself not to gag.
“Don’t use your hands sweetheart”
Charlotte looked up at him; her big blue eyes making his heart skip a beat. He stood looming over the young woman like a master and his slave.
“Bend over and use your mouth, no hands.”
She looked at the food sprawled out in front of her and felt the bile rise in her throat, but co-operated none the less. So much for being brave.

……………………………………………………..

Detective Knowles knocked on the Gellar’s door, once again with the same old bad news. No news was good news was a forgotten statement; even he was losing faith that she was alive. The likelihood was that she was dead, her body rotting somewhere long forgotten by the scumbag that killed her. But of course he would keep searching, he had to it was his job what’s more he wanted to because by fuck even if she was dead he would track down whoever killed her and watch as they spent a lifetime in prison their own body rotting like a old piece of meat.

………………………………………………………..

Matt held back her hair and rubbed her back softly as she vomited into the toilet.
“It’s alright babe, let it out. If only you listened to me, hmm?”
Charlotte cried as she vomited, her tears were uncontrollable. He had made her eat all of it, while he stood watching. She felt herself gag again and threw up down the basin, his hand ran up and down her back tenderly, comforting his sick wife. Poor thing, at least he was here to calm and reassure her.