Everyday Misery

Crystal's POV

''Karen!' Eric's shout for our housekeeper shook the whole house that morning. I trembled from the fact that Eric was displeased about something.

I was in the kitchen that morning with Karen preparing Eric's breakfast. Karen ran out of the kitchen on trembling legs. I wanted to cover my ears to avoid hearing what Eric was saying to Karen but I didn't. From what Eric was saying, I knew I was in a lot of trouble.

Eric was my husband of two years. I was forced into marriage with him by my adoptive father. I had no one else to turn to that could save me from him and my grandmother needed help. I had to go ahead and marry Eric against my wish.

My name is Crystal Martins. The adoptive daughter of Kelsey Martins. Although very few people knew that I was adopted.

Kelsey Martins, according to my grandmother, had seen her one day under the rain holding a two-year-old, which was me. Out of pity, he agreed to adopt me and give me his name. He got my grandmother and me a house and had since then provided for us, and he saw me through high school.

I didn't have all the luxury of the world and Kelsey Martins made sure I stayed away from his family as much as possible. His wife and kids knew me but whatever interactions we had were always at an arms length.

My adoptive father became power thirsty and wanted to be related to the Conner family and wanted to give her first daughter's hand in marriage to the Conners as a contract wife.

A few days into the marriage agreement, his first child, Claire, disappeared without a trace. That was how I became his next option. Claire's younger sister refused blatantly to replace her sister so my adoptive father and his wife turned to me.

At first, they pleaded with me to do it but when I refused, they started threatening me. I was just nineteen going on to twenty years old. The most coincidental thing about it was that I was forced to marry Eric the same day I turned twenty.

I pleaded with my adoptive father and his wife to please spare me but they both threatened to stop funding me or taking care of my grandmother's hospital bills.

My Grandmother had severe stomach ulcers due to the years of poverty and hunger that she lived in the past, and she also had diabetes. I cried and pleaded with them on my knees, I groveled but it all fell on deaf ears.

I was given twenty-four hours to make a decision else, my grandmother would bear the consequences. Her stomach ulcer was so bad that she was admitted to the hospital at a point. I couldn't afford to risk her health.

I cried so much that day that it got to a point where tears stopped flowing from my eyes. I then lay curled up on the bed, looking at the grandmother's clock on the wall., counting down to the end of my twenty-four hours ultimatum.

I had no one else to turn to. My grandmother had told me we had no one each time I asked her if we had any relatives. One day when I had pestered her too much, she told me the truth. She told me she was not related to me in any way. She was a homeless person sleeping anywhere she seemed fit until one day, she saw a one-year-old toddler crying in a dumpster where she wanted to dig through to see if she could get something to eat.

She had carried me from there and I had been with her since before my adoptive father found us. I had found it difficult to believe that we had no family connection. I had heard people say so many times that we looked alike. I was blond, just like her, but her sickness and age had made her hair thinner and less attractive.

My grandmother had come into my room that day and pleaded with me to agree to the demands of the Martins.

'They have been helping us all these years. We don't have all the luxury in the world but we are not going hungry. He sent you to school. This might be a way of compensating them for all they have done,' my grandmother had said.

'I love Midas, grandma. I can't just allow myself to be thrown on another man,' I said sadly.

'Where is Midas now, Crystal?' My Grandmother asked.

'I don't know,' I said as fresh tears ran down my face.

Midas was my high school sweetheart. We also worked together at the same eatery. He got me the job so that I could help with grandma's medications. Midas was my senior in high school by three years but I didn't mind. We started dating when I was eighteen and he was twenty-one.

He suddenly went missing shortly after I graduated from high school. He had been gone for almost eight months. Each day I waited to see him. Like me, Midas had no one. He grew up in an orphanage and when he could no longer take the shit that the orphanage was throwing at him, he left there to hustle for himself.

Midas had seen himself through high school doing odd jobs. Despite his struggles, Midas still had time to study, and he was a very bright student, which was one of the reasons I loved him fiercely.

'Do this for us, Crystal, please. Do it for them too. Save the face of our helper,'Grandmaa had pleaded, and I had no option but to go ahead with the marriage.

The fact that his bride was switched did not sit well with Eric and his family. He was not told until the morning of the marriage that his bride had disappeared into thin air and he was getting the younger sister in exchange.

During the joining, Eric had frowned unhappily throughout the solemnization. Eric and his family had only gone ahead with the marriage because they were scared of being ridiculed by society.

Eric did not hide his disdain when he lifted the veil from my face. When the officiating minister had asked him to kiss his bride, he had only given me a peck on the cheek and stylishly cleaned his lips after that. I felt so cheap and worthless but I consoled myself with the fact that I was doing it for my grandmother.

Ever since I married Eric two years ago, every day has been a huge pain. He made sure he made my life as unbearable as it could be and whenever I was audacious enough to ask him why he kept treating me the way he did, he would tell me he didn't want me but I threw myself on him and all he could do was make sure my life was as miserable as it could be because that was the only way he could get his satisfaction.

His mother and his younger sister made sure they reminded me at every point that their family paid a lot to have me and they would not tolerate sluttiness from me. Even though we didn't live together, they made sure they found time to come to Eric's house just to torment me.

Although Eric had a housekeeper, he insisted that I do his laundry and make his meals. According to him I can't be in his house and be useless.

'Karen, I said who moved my suit?' Eric asked Karen again. His question brought my mind out of its reverie and I quickly walked out of the room to save Karen from his anger because I was the one who moved his suit.

'I moved it,' I said, standing behind Karen.

'And who gave you the right to do that?' Eric asked looking at me with anger in his eyes.

I knew Eric was not ignorant of the fact that I was the one who moved the suit. He had only called on Karen to drive fear into my heart and anticipate his reaction.

The look in Eric's eyes was that of disdain. I was used to that look. Eric was so disgusted at me that he wouldn't even have sex with me and I was so glad about that. I must have been the only married virgin alive.

'I am sorry Eric. I didn't know that you didn't want it moved. I thought it would be better in the wardrobe than on the arm of the chair.

Eric walked towards me like a lion ready to pounce. Karen quickly stepped away and slipped back into the kitchen unnoticed. Eric Stood in front of me but I refused to look up at him. He forced my face up to look at him by holding my jaw and pressing hard on it. I moaned as the pain hit me hard.

'Next time, ask before you touch my things when I put them where I want,' Eric said and let go of me forcefully, making me fall on my bum.

I didn't cry. It was of no use crying. Eric left me there and turned to return upstairs. I was used to being treated like a trash. All I had was hoping that one day I would be free but how the freedom would come was beyond me.