“I will be going on a business trip to attend a seminar and an important meeting. I will be gone for 9 days tops” Atticus spoke from beside me without lifting his eyes from his phone while eating with the other unoccupied hand. “When?” I asked him “Now,” He replied. I wanted to ask him why he was telling me if he was leaving in a few minutes. He should have just kept it to himself. It was on the edge of my tongue yet I held it in the same way I had wanted to ask him if he was at Samantha’s place all the nights when he failed to come home. Samantha had totally obliterated me with the mockery she did two days ago and there was no hiding the first-hand embarrassment I felt throughout the lunch at Danielle’s place especially since I had to sit opposite her and see her smug face glow with victory at the fact that she had rendered me useless with just a sentence that had way more effect on me than it should. I don’t know if he waited for my reply that he wasn’t going to get or he d
So I may or may not have spent the entire nine days my husband was away to map out a plan on how to get him to pay more attention to me and me alone and guess what amazing plan I came up with? Nothing. It wasn’t that I didn’t come up with anything, in fact, it was quite the opposite. I had come up with a billion plans that I was starting to look like a federal agent about to carry out an important problem so why did I have nothing at the end? It was because I liked none of the plans. With every plan I had come up with, the other part of me had managed to find something wrong with it. Either it was not well detailed enough, felt like a route to total failure or I felt it made me look pathetic and like an attention whore So now I lay on my bed, my mind reeling from the aftermath of being stressed to its limit without a plan and my husband was due home in five hours. I scanned my head through the various plans that I had previously made to see if there was one approach I could use b
Yesterday when I was scrolling through my social media account, I saw this video of a woman who gave her husband a very beautiful portrait of himself so he could hang it in his office or wherever. The portrait was so big and the husband had been an emotional wreck when he saw it. He loved it and said he was going to place it in a spot where everyone would see it. I don’t blame him at all. If I had been given such a portrait, I would hang it on the highest rooftop so that the world could see. And that was what gave me the idea for my current task. I know Atticus wasn’t the same as the man I saw on my social media but I was willing to give it a try. The worse he would do is to reject it, not kill me so I was determined to give it a go. That was the sole reason why I had been locked in my studio since morning without a single meal, drawing. I didn’t have any photos to use so I was just drawing from my head. Well not completely from my head, I once saw a photo of Atticus online, he w
I kept stealing glances his way and I am sure my husband had noticed since we had locked eyes a few times now. He arrived back from work and we were having dinner which meant he had yet to go into his office, which also translates to my gift has yet to be given to him. I should have done it the moment he walked through the front door, but my head had thrown a bad thought my way and I was quick to chicken out at the last minute. I told myself I would wait for him to freshen up and later on I told myself after dinner. From the corner of my eyes, I saw him push his plate away which meant he was retiring to his room for the night. I had to summon my courage and do this now else I would not have another opportunity to do it. If I wait till tomorrow, it would take out the fun in it for me. I had to get it over with. He started getting up so I cleared my throat to get his attention. “I have something to give you?” I bit my lips hard as nervousness took over me. I watched his eyebrow hi
I blame my nerves entirely. I tried but I could not go through with it. Atticus left for work as usual and I was ready to prepare the lunch I had in mind but Danielle’s comment about my plan being too domesticated and how women of our class didn’t too it had me retrieving my plan. I don’t blame Danielle at all because she had encouraged me to do it but I had been too scared to do it. As much as I wanted to do it, I didn’t want it to reflect badly on me or my husband. It didn’t have to be bad in a bad way but I would not have those snubby women call me average class for cooking for my husband. It was also my fault because I had gone looking at a website about what upper-class families thought about cooking lunch for their husbands and several comments said it was an average family thing to do which was pretty stupid if you ask me. I know people would wonder why I didn’t know what to do or why I was browsing these things. I would just tell them that I didn’t have a mother to teach m
I squirmed in my seat because the gaze on me was getting uncomfortable. Atticus hasn’t said a word since we stepped foot in the restaurant that was located in the company building. The restaurant was way better than most five-star restaurants I had been to and I am sure that the staff here never went outside to eat because I wouldn’t if I worked here. It was a nice thing to know that Atticus loved to eat here. It was a positive thing and it would make his staff see him in a good light though I don’t think he cares about their opinion of his person since he had that air around him. “Can you please stop staring at me, It’s making me uncomfortable.” I told him “You should be eating instead. I’m sure that is a better view” I mumbled when he still won’t take his eyes off me. “I doubt my meal is a better view but I’ll eat since you insist” He smugly said before picking up the fork and making the effort to finally eat. “So what brings you here’ He spoke after taking a bite out of the
I kept smiling the entire ride home even though my stomach was all tangled up in a bunch of nerves. I was so nervous and excited and wrapped up in my thoughts that I had not realized that we had gotten home until Justin pointed it out. “Don’t be so nervous. You did okay. It takes a lot of courage to do what you did” I muttered to myself as I walked upstairs to my room. I was trying to calm myself down but it was hard so instead of laying down on my inviting bed, I dropped my bag and headed for the studio. Halfway down the stairs, my mind kinda came back to its current state and I was suddenly aware of how icky I felt so I turned around back to my room so I could take a shower first before I headed down to the studio. What I wanted to be a short bath ended up being a thirty-minute one and it was really what I didn’t know I needed. I am much calmer now but my hands still itch. The intense need to paint something was really strong and I could feel my hands tremble with need. I th
The lights were too bright but I didn’t want to get up just yet but the brightness was making it impossible to keep my eyes shut. I turned to my right so I was backing the window. As I turned, my body ached and the space between my thighs throbbed a little. I was so exhausted after last night. My eyes flew open and I sat up straight immediately but a hence followed because my privates were hurting a little. My hand flew to my mouth as last night’s event came rushing in and my stomach churned as last night’s memories came rushing in. The blanket was pooled around my waist and I was naked. I pulled my legs to my waist to cover my chest even though no one was in the room. I touched Atticus' side of the bed and it was cold, he had been up for a while. I moved to get up from the bed but my body was not moving. It was almost as heavy as my heart. The blanket moved a bit with my movement and I noticed something had stained the sheets. I shifted so I could take a good look at the confir
"Mom, Noah won't give me my toy to play. he is being mean to me" Lucas whined from the playroom and I rolled my eyes at their antics. My boys had to be the greatest troublemakers and they were equally stubborn. "Noah, give your brother his toy, don't be naughty" I scolded from the home studio. they had a playroom across the hall so I had to keep the door open when I was painting in the studio. "But Mom, I want to play with it" I could hear the pout in his voice. Noah had exactly the same toy but he always loved to play with his brother's own even if they were the same as the ones he had. "Noah, don't make me stand up. I need to finish this" I scolded. "Sorry mama" He mumbled but I could still hear him since the doors were opened wide. "come to Mama baby, let me give you a kiss" That had to be the wrong thing to say because as soon as I finished the statement, they were both racing across the hallway towards me and I barely had enough time to put my canvas away before they slammed
“No” I yelled and sprang up from my bed. I could feel the sweat trailing down my forehead and my back. The lights came on immediately and Atticus was beside me at a glance. ‘Hey, it was just a dream. You are okay” Atticus pulled me to him and I went willingly allowing him to wrap his arms around me. I felt him place a kiss on my forehead. Ever since I was rescued, I have been having nightmares every night. Samantha was shot and killed when she tried to kill me and the sight of the hole on her head had given me severe trauma. That exact scene was what I kept seeing every night. I couldn’t sleep alone and I was now terrified of the dark. The therapist said I was going to be fine but it’s been almost two months now and it didn’t look like the nightmares were stopping anytime soon. I tightened my hold on him to assure myself that he was really here with me and that everything was finally over. “I hate how scared I’ve become. It makes me look pathetic” I whispered. Atticus tried to
My eyes flew open and I sat up straight on the bed. With shock, I began to search my body with my eyes for any sign of damage. I wasn’t feeling any pain anywhere but I had to make sure that nothing happened to me while I was not conscious. The sound of laughter made me snap my head up and I was surprised to see Samantha and a man dressed in a doctor’s uniform standing opposite the bed. She was laughing so hard like a mad person. I was suddenly aware of where I was. The room looked like a made-up hospital room. It was just the bed and a table that contained some medical equipment. I was confused as I tried to assess the situation and understand what was going on. “What is this? What’s going on” I made an effort to come down from the bed but I was pulled back with force. I looked down to see my hands and feet were bound to the bed and I gasped in shock at how I didn’t notice it earlier. I struggled to get myself free but the efforts were futile so I brought my eyes to the woman b
I couldn’t sleep all night and didn’t even touch the food which I always complained was too little. My stomach wouldn’t have been able to take it if I had tried. I was nervous and scared. Something didn’t sit right with the way Samantha stalked out so calmly after learning that I was pregnant. She was too calm and it could only mean she was planning something deadly. I sat on the broken bed, staring out of the windows. The freedom of the birds that were flying freely in the sky had me so envious. It’s been so long since I saw other people. I was stuck here and I had lost count of how many days or even weeks that I’ve been here. It’s been unusually quiet since Samantha left but yet there was so much sign of her again and I could not help but feel agitated at that. I know that she had not decided to let me go but instead, she may be planning something extremely dreadful and it made my chest burn with the thought. The door opened and Fred came in holding a cup. He handed me the cup an
I could believe it and yet still couldn't believe that Samantha was behind this. She hated me and that was something I was aware of but I didn’t think it was enough for her to do something terrible like this. I guess I was a terrible judge of character. I watch her shut the door behind her. She had a sinister smile and she seemed pleased with herself as she let her eyes roam all over my body. I could see the satisfaction on her face as she took in my state. She leaned against the door and watched me with great pleasure and soon burst into laughter while I just watched dumbfounded and shocked. She bent over, hitting her knees as she laughed uncontrollably and I just couldn’t help but conclude that she was batshit crazy. “Oh my God, It’s so good to see you like this. So this is what you look like when you’ve been knocked off your feet. Oh, how the mighty has fallen. Wait..you were never mighty but small like a fly” She burst out laughing again and I just sat there waiting for her to
I curled around myself on the bed, desperate for any form of warmth I could find. It was raining heavily outside and there was nothing to shield myself from the onslaught of cold air that blasted through the windows. The windows were closed but they had a crack so air still managed to find its way into the room. The room was so cold so there was no escaping the cold no matter how hard I tried and thus I was at the desperate mercy of the harsh weather. My teeth clattered against each other in the cold and I was shivering so bad. I knew there was no preventing the fever I would get tomorrow. I have lost count of how many days I have been here. My faith in Atticus finding me has dwindled so low, it sat at about 0.1 per cent. The living conditions here were terrible and even the workers at home didn’t live like this. I had been reduced to an animal. My body especially my legs hurt from having to sit down or lay down since I was here. I was only released to take a shower and use the
My head was throbbing and it also hurt at the same time. I tried to open my eyes but it felt heavy so I decided to let it rest for a second before opening it again and this time I was successful. My vision was a bit blurry so I tried to clean my eyes with my hands and I watched as the room I was in became much clearer, as clear as it could get in the darkness. The room was in a terrible state and the lighting was poor so I couldn’t see the room properly. I tried to sit upright and that’s when I noticed my legs were tied to the bed but the ropes gave room to allow me to move around a little bit but not away from the bed. The bed I was currently lying on was in an equally bad state. The bedsheets were torn and dirty and the bed frame felt as if it would give away if I made the wrong move. I sat up straight then rested my back on the wall and studied the room. I was not stupid. I knew what situation I was in so there was no need for me to cry and scream for help because no one would
Ever since we came back from the hospital and found out I was pregnant, Atticus has spoiled me silly with gifts and attention. He would not let me do anything even as simple as walking just like what he was doing now. “Babe, put me down.” I laughed so hard when he leaned to bite my neck softly “I can walk to the dining table, you can’t keep carrying me everywhere” My hands were wrapped tightly around his neck as he made his way down the stairs. I knew he wasn’t going to drop me but I held on tight out of instinct. I could see the amusement in Nathan and Justin’s eyes as we descended. “You’ll fall if I let you walk down the stairs on your own” He insisted and I burst out laughing at the silly excuse he was giving. “I’m sure I’ve been going up and down these stairs on my own and I am yet to fall” I mused but he had none of it. “Accidents happen and I won’t wait till they do” He finally descended the last stairs and walked to the dining table where Nathan was already holding out
Danielle and the doctor entered the hospital room and stopped in their tracks to get a good look at me wrapped around my husband like a burrito. I was curled into his arms and his hands were wrapped around me tightly like I had insisted a few minutes before they walked in. Danielle had a sly smile on her face as she pushed past the doctor and made her way to us while the doctor looked rather amused. He recovered quickly and stepped in properly into the room before shutting the door behind him. “I can see my plan worked perfectly and you two doofos made up” She squealed and clapped her hands like a little child and it made me scoff. “I told you she didn’t just go get the doctor,” I told Atticus with a roll of my eyes and he chuckled in response. “Well it worked out for the best, didn’t it?” she gave me a roll of her eyes also “So the doctor has your test results and he promises that it is very good news” It was obvious that she was barely trying to contain her excitement and hold