Carol Anne laid stock still in her bed with
her hands resting on her stomach, her eyes looking at the wall mounted TV but
not registering what was playing. She had some vague recollection of some
infomercial about some BB cream that would take 5 years off the looks of your
skin if you used it. Passing pictures of women with various facial discolouration’s
and imperfections spreading the cream all over themselves and granted Carol
Anne thought the transformation was amazing, at the same time it looked like
they we slathering mud on their faces. After about five or so minutes of
watching the insanity and pearly white happy smiles, her mind started to
wander. Wandering to a place where she was free and one of those happy smiling
people. With that thought wedged into her brain she began to plan her escape
and hopefully leave nothing to chance.
It shouldn’t be that hard, she thought to
herself. She could wait until he went to work and call a cab or even a car
service, by the time he found out she was gone she could be anywhere, but where
would she go and with what? No using credit cards on top of that for the cash
she would need, Carol Anne would need a bank at some point and since he had all
of her passwords and pin numbers he could track her that way. Thinking back she
questioned why she never kept anything to herself. He even held the key to her
safety deposit box stating that she would lose it. Why had she been so stupid?
Even as she hated herself for staying this long
the one thing she would never let him have was the inheritance that her parents
left her. Sure he had control of it but on paper it was still all hers. The
house, the money all of it except what he made and thanks to the prenup before
the wedding those things would never be his and she was not giving any of it up.
He would have to
kill her to get it.
The flickering light of the TV did nothing
to calm her down or distract her, if fact she almost wished she would have a seizure
and end it all. Her mind continued to turn with possible ways to pull this off.
He went through all of the phone records, banking even the shopping receipts so
he knew where she was or what she was doing at any given moment.
Most of the time she would have the groceries
delivered if he couldn’t take her into town and the cameras in the house
recorded exactly how long the delivery person was there. The only places there
were no cameras were in the bathrooms, the attic and the basement and only
because Robert didn’t want a record of the two latter areas. Carol Anne always
wondered if he really was sincere when he apologized after punishing her but
now she didn’t care. She felt cold and was done caring, now was the time to get
it together and play this all very carefully.
Thankfully Robert didn’t know about the
incognito window on her Chrome account and she knew how to delete internet
files but what she had to figure out was how to go about scrambling the
computer and possibly taking out the cameras and getting access to her accounts.
He would have to take her into town so she could get anything she needed and even
then he would take note of everything she bought. Maybe there was a place to
hide it? There was some cash that she had been stowing away thanks to him
leaving change and even bills in his pants that she would find when she did
laundry but not nearly enough. Even discouraged, she valued the little things
and knew with growing certainty that she was getting out of this.
She thought of her brother and how he might
be able to help her, but Robert wouldn’t even let her talk to him anymore let
alone tell him where they lived and they really weren’t far from him at all. Their
trips into town always made her hope that she would see him coincidentally
while she sat in the park with her expensive latte that she didn’t even like. She
took a deep breath and winced as her ribs protested slightly and she promised
herself she wouldn’t cry over the sibling she was so desperate to see.
Robert stepped into the room with a tray of
Tuna sandwiches on Sourdough bread just like they used to eat in their cramped
studio apartment they shared while they were in college. A blue teapot sat on
the green tray as well with only 1 teacup and a tiny bowl of sugar.
“Hey, you’re up…good.” His voice was
gentle, almost like he hadn’t just used her as a punching bag less than 24
hours earlier. When she didn’t reply he tilted his head and stared at her.
Carol Anne saw that his eyes were about to glaze over so in a sweet soft voice
she replied. “I’m sorry.” It was barely a whisper and she chose her words
carefully. “When I talk or breathe in too deeply, it hurts.” She drew out the
last words and he came back online placing the tray stand over her legs and
easing himself down onto the bed as gently as he could. The anger that was
bubbling inside of her started to boil and despite the rolling of her stomach
when he placed a monogrammed napkin under her chin, she was able to keep
herself in check.
He reached over and pointed at the food on
the tray arranged so nicely. “I made you a sandwich…just the way you like it.”
She smiled like an innocent waif at him. “I brought you tea, I know you like
Chai but I figured Chamomile would help you rest.” As he sat beside her and
pointed out the things that she liked and reminded her again of the man that he
used to be; the feelings changed and as she watched his profile, his words
became soundless and the anger boiling up…and turned to rage.
