UNBOUND: Chains Within

Efe was curled in a corner, her whole body ached and it felt like her rib and right middle finger were broken, her upper lip was swollen and bleeding; the pain was excruciating but that could not be compared to the feeling of utter desolation and psychological anguish that came with the knowledge and final resolve that she could not allow this to happen again…

Ben had done it again; he broke his promise not to raise his hand against her… again.

She risked a glance at him (there were times when she had looked at him too soon and got another punch in the face) and saw him sitting on the bed with his head in his hands and shoulders shaking violently, there was no sound coming from him, so she was uncertain if the movements were out of anger or if he was in tears, he was absolutely unpredictable in times like this and the embers of his anger once ignited could burn for hours on end. Hours, during which she had no idea what he would do next, he could come over to hold her tenderly in his arms and begin a flurry of profuse apologies or he could drag her from the corner and tell her to kneel and put her arms up as further punishment. He suddenly looked back and she cringed in fear, his face was wet with tears, his eyes bloodshot, he moved closer and she kept cringing in a futile attempt to disappear from the room. He started his profuse apologies and grabbed her in a tight hug; she screamed and fainted from the intense pain of the broken rib.

She was drifting but she heard a woman’s muffled sobs, she wondered what was wrong and said a silent prayer for her then she heard her name “Efe, please stop doing this yourself…” What was the woman talking about; she tried to open her eyes but her lids felt too heavy. She opened her eyes and saw Ben kneeling by her bedside, she looked up at the time and saw that it was 2am, it all came back and she started screaming, the nurses rushed in and they told Ben to leave, they calmed her down with a shot of Diazepam and she went back to sleep.