She, chapter 1

It had been one of the hottest days of the year so far. The atmosphere was muggy and airless.
In the kitchen Gianna stabbed the knife roughly into the grapefruit, wishing it was Colm's head. A shot of juice got her directly in the eye, which angered her even more.

"Ow" she squealed, rubbing her stinging eye with the back of her hand. Damn Colm for telling her she should diet, how dare he! Gianna's attempt at cookery were becoming futile, try as she might she was just not a domestic goddess. The meal that had taken her all afternoon to prepare for him didn't exactly look like it did in the recipe book. Still, she had tried her best and she hoped he would at least give her credit for that. She was still trying to catch him in a good mood to tell him about the weekend away she had planned with Rachel.

Eventually she took a deep breath and carried the tray in to her husband.
"I made you your favourite, it's taken me ages ." She smiled brightly.

"Put it on the table." He grunted, staring at the tv screen.
Fishing again, thought Gianna, it was all Colm ever watched, well apart from the dodgy porn films he got from the internet.Gianna hated fishing, in fact she hated most of the things Colm enjoyed and vice versa. Sulkily she flounced down into a chair and picked at the cushions.
"Can't you get changed, I'm fed up seeing you in black all the time." Colm suddenly shot over, Gianna glanced down at her black jeans and shirt.

"I like black."

"Yeah don't I know it. Can't you dress like a girl for once instead of looking like those freakish posters you hid inside the wardrobe door? I give you all the money you want and all you buy is black or some variant of black!"
Gianna folded her arms over herself defensively. Shit he'd found the posters. She'd never expected him to find them, it had been an ideal place after he had banned her cds and posters from the house. At least when she had been alone she could open the door and see them. The cds were hidden under a loose floorboard and she secretly hoped that they hadn't been discovered.

"Sorry Colm, but you knew when you married me..."
She ducked mid sentence as the plate flew towards her, narrowly missing her head. It smashed to pieces in the corner.

"Clean it up!" Colm bellowed, picking up his coffee and swigging back the whole mug full.Gianna jumped up, knowing better than to disobey. Slouching away to fetch the broom and cloth tears pricked behind her eyes, sometimes she wished Colm would give her a break. The temper outbursts were getting worse. By the time she returned to the sitting room Colm was engrossed in the television, silently she crept over to the corner and swept up the mess. The shards of china cut into her hands, staining the carpet red with blood as she scooped it up. She gritted her teeth wincing in pain, determined not to let Colm hear her cry. There had always been a niggling sense that it would give him some perverse sort of pleasure to know he had hurt her.

She felt a shadow loom over her, and looked up to see Colm, a strange smirk on his face. He dropped several screwed up bundles of paper into the pile of food and broken crockery. Gianna knew immediately that they were what was left of her posters.
"You can throw them out with the rest of this trash, and oh I almost forgot, Rachel phoned today while you were in the garden. She told me about your little plan for the weekend."

"I'm sorry Colm, I was going to tell you tonight."

"Lying bitch, you're not going!"

"But why, I've got the tickets and.."

"The house is a mess, and besides, I can't trust you. You'd probably be out screwing other guys!"

"No Colm, I wouldn't, I love you!"
Colm grabbed her ponytail, yanking her head back and leaned in close to her ear.
"You'd do well to remember princess, that I own your ass. If I say jump, you jump" He growled .

"Ow Colm, you're hurting me!"

"You'd better start doing as you're told or I can easily send you back exactly where you came from."

"No, no ok I will, I promise".
His grip loosened and the burning in her scalp stopped. Softening his tone slightly, he knelt behind her.
"I'm sorry it has to be like this princess, but we don't want anything happening to my little...investment. Do we?" He bought his hand round to caress her stomach and waist. Gianna flinched at his touch. A moment later he stood up uneasily. Strands of her golden hair fell from his fingers.
"I've gotta sit down, feel light headed". He stuttered, grabbing the wall to support himself. Within minutes he was crashed out in the arm chair. Gianna managed a weak smile, the temazepam tablets that she had dropped into his coffee were doing the trick.

"Fuck you Colm!" She whispered at his sleeping form. "You've already taken everything from me. Now you're trying to take who I am. Well, I'm not gonna let you!"

Gianna made a mad rush up the stairs to her bedroom. Grabbing her bag and car keys she headed for the front door. She knew she had a few hours till Colm woke up and she was dying for a smoke.
Getting into her car which was parked out the front, she made her way down to the huge wrought iron gates that blocked the entrance. Gianna entered the combination and the gates swung open. She picked up the phone to call Rachel.
"Hi Rach, I've managed to get out."

"Cool, are you coming over?"

"Yeah, on my way. We need to talk."

"Oh yeah...Sorry I let slip about the weekend."

"Don't worry, see you in five."
Gianna lit her cigarette and turned up the cd player to full blast.

******************************************************************

Billie Joe wished he had never offered to drive. He hadn't had a chance to get anything to eat yet, and all he could hear was Tre in the back, stuffing his face.
"Are we there yet?"

"How should I know, you're the one who left the map in the hotel room."
Tre just shrugged and went back to his bag of crisps.

"How come you managed to find something to eat?" Mike asked, elbowing Tre and sending his handful of crisps over the floor of the car.

"Well I guess I'm just resourceful" Tre grinned. " By the way, what's that light flashing for?"

"What light?" Billie Joe suddenly noticed the red light that had illuminated on the dashboard.
"It's probably not important..." The words had hardly left his lips before the car started juddering and drew to a halt making a hissing noise. He turned to Tre.
"How long has that fucking light been on anyway?"

"I don't know, a while I guess. "

"And you didn't think to mention it before now?".
Mike and Billie Joe got out of the car, a strange bubbling noise came from the engine. As Mike lifted the bonnet a huge cloud of hot steam shot out from beneath.
"Oh shit!" Mike dropped the bonnet.

"Well it's fucked then!" Billie Joe kicked the door in anger. Tre wound down the back window.
"What's up?"

"This piece of shit car is fucked up. Where's your phone Tre?"
Tre handed it over, Billie Joe dialled Jason's number, knowing he would drive out to pick them up. There was no answer.
"Damn!" He threw the phone back in through the window and rested his head in his hands.

"Well the cars not going anywhere." Mike sighed finally after checking the engine again. Even though he didn't really know what he was looking for.

"Looks like we're walking then." Billie Joe grumbled, banging his fist on the roof of the car. Turning, he trudged off in the direction they were heading, hands in pockets and a face like thunder.
Tre finally got out of the car, not forgetting his crisps.

"Wait up!" He shouted after Billie Joe."What's up with him?"

"Oh you know what he's been like lately. He'll get over it." Mike shrugged, casually lighting a cigarette. With that they followed on behind him.

"Hope it's not too far."

"Does it look like it's not too far?"

"No, it's gonna be miles, my feet ache already.!" Tre complained.
The road was winding, and there were no buildings in sight. It looked as if they were in for a long walk.
Nothing could have prepared them for what happened next....