Eyes of the Devil - Click to play

2 Years later….

            Susan looked across the room at Max as he lay passed out on the bed.  This honeymoon was turning out to be a nightmare.  What had happened to the nice, polite man she thought she was marrying?  Now that the vows had been said, his temperament had taken a nosedive, and for the first time in her life, someone other than a family member had slapped her.  In his drunken state, he’d accused her of spilling his drink down his shirt and had slapped her and pulled her hair, yanking handfuls of hair out by the roots.  She now sported a black eye and knots on her head where the hair had been pulled out.  At this moment, she was wondering what she’d gotten herself into, and she hated him for betraying her trust this way.

            She turned her face away from the scene, and gazed out the window of the hotel.  She should have gone with her gut feeling and said no to his marriage proposal, but her mother had been insistent that she marry him.  Rosie was ready to get rid of Susan….get her out of the house and out of her way for good.  So Susan had accepted, and now she was regretting it…less than four hours after the wedding.  She hated Max and she hated her mother for forcing her into this, and her rage was such that she wished she could just kill both of them.  However, neither was worth going to jail over, and she had no intention of ever ending up there.

            She sighed and tried to relax in the hard chair beside the window.  Her life was such a screwed up mess!  What had she done to deserve this life she’d been given?  She tried hard to be a good person.  She’d worked hard in school, and had more or less blended into the scenery.  For the most part, she’d minded her mother, but there were times when she’d just had to let loose or lose her mind completely.  She’d always been made to regret it afterward, but at least she managed to hang onto her sanity a bit longer.  She felt the hot tears as they splashed on her arms folded across her chest.  The dam had burst, and there was no stopping the deluge now.  She cried quietly to herself until all her tears were spent, then she went to the bathroom and rinsed her face so Max wouldn’t see her like that.  She didn’t want to give him any reason to repeat the punishment. 

 

            “Hey, baby.  Come crawl back in bed with me,” Max drawled sleepily.

            Susan laid her robe across the chair and took her place beside him in the bed, careful not to bump him or anger him.  “Can we go home early?” she asked him.

            “Why?  Aren’t you having a good time here?”

            Was he crazy or what?  She’d rather have a root canal than be here with him.  “I’m having a good time.  I’m just ready to go home and unpack all my things….make the house feel like a home,” she lied, her face expressionless.

            “I guess we can if that’s what you want to do.  We got any more beer around here?”  Max leaned up on one elbow and looked around the room.  “Shit!  I thought I had a six pack left from last night.”

            “No, you drank them all.”  Susan lied again.  After he’d passed out, she’d poured out every one of them.  No point in him getting drunk before breakfast.

            “Guess we can pick some up on the way home.  Where’re my clothes?  What’s my wallet doing in my shoe?”  Max rolled out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. A few minutes later she heard the shower running and breathed a sigh of relief.  Hopefully, they’d be home in a couple of hours, and then she could manage to stay busy and out of his way.  And maybe, just maybe, she could convince him that he didn’t need any beer today.  Maybe his headache would be bad enough that he wouldn’t want any beer for a while.  She wasn’t counting on it, though.

           

            Max came out of the bathroom, head down, with the towel draped over his shoulders, using the ends to dry his hair.  He raised his head, took a swipe at his face with the towel, and dropped it to the floor.  “Damn, baby!  What happened to your face?” Max seemed dumbfounded by her black eye. 

            “That’s where you hit me.”

            “I didn’t hit you!  I’d never hit you, you know that.”  His voice was bordering on a shriek.  “I don’t know what kind of game you’re trying to play here, but I didn’t do that!  And you’d better not start telling anybody I did, either, if you know what’s good for you.”

            Susan just looked at him without saying a word.  She shook her head in disgust and started repacking their suitcases.  Max grabbed her by the arm and spun her around facing him.  “Don’t you walk off from me like that!  I’m your husband now, and you’re going to show me the respect I deserve or else I’ll make you wish you had.”

            “You’re hurting me, Max,” Susan cried.  “What’s happened to you?”

            “Not a damn thing.  I can see already that you’re gonna be a piece of shit that I’ve got to deal with,” he sneered.

            “No.  I promise I’ll be good.  I won’t do it again.  Just please don’t hit me,” her voice quivered.

            Max sneered again; satisfied with himself, he strutted across the room.  Susan hated him more at that moment than she’d ever thought possible, but she was stuck with him.  It was the lesser of two evils she supposed.