AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Maybe,” she says. “But first I’m going to kill you.”
Eve doesn’t kill me. Not in the physical sense. She aims the gun at my chest, dead center, but forgets to chamber a round. It takes a bit of a fight, but eventually I pry it from her hands. The knife is on the floor at our feet, and in the scuffle I graze the blade, slicing into the arch of my foot. Blood smears the tile like abstract art, when all is said and done.
While I’m handling the gun, she goes for the hammer. She manages to get a few swings in, first ravaging my back, and a good one to my right shoulder. Covering my head, I push my body into hers, pinning her against the wall. I need to keep her from being able to swing.
Annoyed, or tired, or both, she drops the hammer. As it lands on my toe, Eve begins pummeling me with her hands. She beats her fists into my chest and then scratches at my face before she moves onto my hair. She grabs a fistful as I do my best to restrain her.
I have learned over the years, it’s easiest to let her get out what she can dur
ing the initial assault. Otherwise there will be a second round, which comes exactly around the time you think it’s all over.
It’s never all over, but that isn’t the point.
Taking her to the ground and pinning her there, I have to be careful. Eve, while fierce, is also tiny, and it would be easy to hurt her. One thing I cannot afford is a hospital visit. For me or for her, but especially for her, because I am an expert at explaining my injuries away, whereas Eve, more than once, in a state of mania, blamed her injuries on me. She may have multiple diagnoses, but the law is the law. Due process and a proper investigation have to take place, regardless of my wife’s mental health status.
Kneeling over her, my knees press her arms into the floor, holding her in position as I weigh my options. Her head swings from side to side, wickedly, as she screams at the top of her lungs. I cup my hand over her mouth, but it barely muffles the sound and just enrages her, adding fuel to the fire.
I could run from the house, but if left to her own devices, there’s a good chance she would harm herself or our home. As it is, I’m lucky to have woken up when I did. And even if I could escape her, where would I go? What would I come home to?
Finally, the writhing from side to side subsides and the screams quiet. It’s like a toddler throwing a tantrum—Eve has to wear herself out. I weigh my options. The wrong word or the wrong choice can send her right back into a fit.
“You’re hurting me,” she cries. “Get off!”
“I’m keeping you safe.”
“I’m not safe,” she hisses. “Nothing with you is safe.”
I remove my left knee from her arm, easing up on the weight I’m putting on her. This allows her to swiftly reach up and backhand me, busting my lip in the process. “I hate you!” She spits in my face.
That does it. I lift her from the ground, grabbing her at the elbow, and drag her out of the kitchen, through the living room, past the library, and down the hall to her room downstairs.
She puts up a fight, but her second wind is no match for mine. Deftly, I push her up against the wall and place my hand at her throat, my fingers holding her chin in place. “Do you want them to put you back in that place?” I scream, spittle coating her face. Not only am I angry, I’m hurt. And I’m tired. “Because if you want to kill me, that’s how you do it.”
She glares at me through widened eyes as though I’m the crazy one.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with you,” I say. “For fuck’s sake, Eve, you almost burned the house down. How many times are you going to do this before it ends up being the last?” I’m yelling in her face, years of white-hot anger spilling over.
Tears spring to her eyes, but that means nothing. When Eve is in this dark of a place, nothing gets through to her.
I shake my head slowly, careful to exaggerate my movements. I need the message to sink in, even if I know deep down it won’t. “We have to get you help.”
Eve’s knees buckle and she slowly slides to the floor. The mania takes a toll on her. When she starts to come down, it often happens quickly.
Her expression has morphed from a cornered animal to concern, her eyes softening and welling with tears. When she looks at me this way, it’s hard to believe what just happened. It’s as though she is seeing me for the very first time. “You’re going to send me back there, aren’t you?”
“I’m not sending you anywhere—”
She starts to weep—full-on sobs.
“It’s just…we need more doctors. The medication isn’t working anymore.”
“If only you didn’t have to make me so angry.”
I look down the hall toward the front of the house and then back at my wife. “What is it now?”
The sobbing stops just as quickly as it started. “You know I hate parties.”
Chapter Nineteen
