Ashley

The incessant roaring of thunder was threatening to break the world in two. The scattered pieces of monstrous gray clouds had successfully brought the ever-brightening sun to submission by clogging its light with darkness. The constant downpour was hinting towards a storm. It appeared as if mother nature was preparing to unleash her wrath. The target was her finest creation; humans. The species thoroughly consumed with greed not even flinching once before bending or destroying others to sate their hunger for money, power, or lust.

The roads were empty and the shops were closed. Not a single soul was wandering on the street to hear Ash’s painful screams. Yes, the roaring of thunder was mind-numbing but it held no candle before the heart-shattering shrieks of Ash. 

“I am sorry. aaaah...Please don’t,” Ash begged of her husband with teary eyes whereas he kept pressing the scorching iron on the back of her hand. All her efforts to free her hand from him proved to be futile. “You are good for nothing. I cursed the day I married you,” he hissed with a tinge of disgust in his voice, although he was enjoying her pain. “Please Michael, It won’t happen again...aaah,” she pleaded. The desperation was evident in her shaky voice. 

So much for unintentionally scorching his shirt while ironing. That wasn’t her fault as Michael had told her to prepare his bath first. The heat had already dented the shirt by the time she came back. 

Michael pushed her injured hand away after torturing it to his heart content and walked inside the bathroom to take his bath. Ash was still on the floor with her shattered hopes. After brushing her tears off by her right hand she picked herself up and moved towards the drawers for the first-aid box. 

Her hand was throbbing with pain. Although it was looking all red right now soon it would mutate into ugly wounds and will eventuate into ugly marks. She rubbed the ointment on the visible wounds and tried to forget the ones scarring her soul. This was not the first time Michael had expressed his hatred for her. In their four years of marriage, Michael had never missed an opportunity to affront her. She never realized when their sacred knot became a noose around her neck. She doesn’t know when their relationship that started off with love and trust begin to rot.

The Michael she had been living under the roof was nothing like the one she had exchanged her vows with. The old Michael had feelings for her but this man felt only hatred towards her. She still doesn’t know what went wrong along the way. What did she do wrong that had made him repulse her. There was a time when he liked to spend time with her. Even after suffering through almost her entire life, she used to call herself lucky for having Michael by her side.

Life had never played fair with her. She lost her parents when she was only three years old. And after that, she got relocated to an orphanage. The little girl never went to a school as she was forced into working as domestic help for wealthy people. The other kids in the orphanage derived joy in bullying her. They even went to the extent of beating her knowing that she wouldn’t retaliate. And that is exactly what happened. She kept mum.

She got a job in a diner on her 20th birthday. It was progress. That is the place where she met Michael. He started frequenting the diner but Ash didn’t notice that until one day he asked her out. Well, that was the first time someone had taken an interest in her. Her lack of confidence inhibited her from accepting his proposal but she gave in realizing that he wasn’t going to give up. They dated for a year before marrying. 

Michael was all sweet and caring in the beginning but he started to change as the years piled on. The bitterness in his behavior had become evident. He would rarely talk to her and whenever he did, it was with the intention of insulting her. However, Ash waved it off as work stress until the night he brought a blonde girl home. That night she did not sleep and cried inconsolably whereas Michael kept himself busy with the blond girl in their room. She heard her moaning all through the night. 

Michael didn’t have an iota of remorse on his face when she faced him the next morning. She raised her voice on him for the first time and that was the last time too as har raised voice met with his raised hand. That was the day when he slapped her for the first time. She realized he had not only stopped loving her, he had also started hating her. But why? 

             

Her silence had emboldened him and from that day on he did not wince from beating her every time he felt frustrated or angry. 

The sound of the chair scraping against the floor pulled Ashley back to the present. She held the plate in her intact hand and made her way towards the table. Michael had already settled himself in the chair. He was typing something on his phone when Ash placed the plate before him on the table. 

She scurried back to the kitchen and waited for him to finish the food and leave. The weather was wreaking havoc but Michael had to go to work as he had been put in charge of overseeing the arrangements for Daniel Smith’s visit to their company. He is the CEO of the famous Smith Group of Industries. This was the first time Smith Industries was making a deal worth billions with a regional company. So, Daniel decided to visit the company in person to assess their way of working and dedication before sealing the deal. Being the office manager of the company, he was eyeing Daniel’s visit as a ticket to his promotion. He had planned his moves to get in the good books of Daniel. However, little did he know Daniel was adept at seeing through people.       

Michael walked out of the house after finishing off the food. Now Ash was all alone in the house. The loneliness had become a friend of hers. She had no expectation from her future but the hope….. The hope was refusing to die down. Hope for a secured future. Hope to achieve happiness in life. Hope to get loved for what she is. Was it too much to ask? 

She sat on the edge of the window after finishing her household chores. A few raindrops were coming into her house through the window. She made no effort to get away. The clouds were still pouring water with frequent roaring. The sound of raindrops hitting the ground was stirring something inside her. Unconsciously she stepped out of the house and stood in the middle of the backyard letting the rain drench every inch of her. Relief washed over her when the drops made contact with her body. She closed her eyes and for the first time in the last two years, a genuine smile found its way on her face. 

The untimely downpour was a trouble for everyone but for her, it was a fresh wave of relief. She spread both her hand out and swirled. She craned her head towards the sky inviting drops to hit her face. It felt good. Suddenly the wound in her hand ceased to pain her. The loud rambling of clouds was soothing her nerves. Oddly enough, she felt as if nature was trying to tell her something. For the first time in her life, she was feeling alive. But why? 

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