Every morning before heading to work, Mike would always hit Gabriella and no one understands why he is always so hot-headed every morning. It looks like he is always having a bad dream and looking for someone to blame for it. Who else to blame than his wife who wakes up every time near him.
Gabriella would always go to work late as a result of that trying to patch up her face and use heavy make-up to conceal the wounds. She has never been her usual self ever since she got married to Mike. A lot of people noticed too but they felt she was playing the maturity card since we know how married women sometimes act around single ladies. They act as though they are no longer in the class of the singles that have been their friends all along. The moment most women get married, even if they are a day old, they suddenly start feeling superior to the singles they left behind.
Most people thought this was the case with Gabriella and it got worse because she would greet people half-heartedly. Everyone decided to leave her and just get the job done but they knew something wasn't right. Mike would get home after work with flowers to beg for forgiveness for the heavy beating he gave her in the morning and she would take it. She would take the flowers, put them in a nice vase and decorate the room with them. I guess she wanted them to be a reminder of the beatings she had endured all in the name of loving a man that doesn't deserve it.
After she gets the flower, Mike would be all sweet. They would eat dinner together and then make love. Only to wake up the next morning to dish her another breakfast of heavy blows and kicks. It's hard to understand what gets Mike angry or maybe he is having a mental breakdown. She can't understand either and the pattern continued for a long while. How does anyone explain lovemaking the night before to swollen face the next day? Or the bruises were the things that arouse Mike? Is he okay mentally? A lot of questions keep playing in her mind but the sex is always mind-blowing after he returns from work.
She couldn't tell her parents either and she's not the one with many friends. Her parents arranged the wedding for her based on the mutual friendship they have with Mike's parents. They have known each other for over 30 years and they felt the way to consolidate the friendship is to allow their children to marry each other. Gabriella was suffering in silence and she thought long and hard about running away but it was too late.
The next flower she got was at her burial ground after Mike found the letter she wrote about leaving and then gave her another beating that evening. The neighbours rattled him out after they confessed that they used to hear the beating every morning and it begs the question of why they didn't attend to her earlier or report on her behalf. We live in a world where everyone minds their business and then turns a deaf ear as long as it doesn't directly affect them. We live in the era of social media where rather than help someone we would rather post anonymously about it.
It was too late and without a child, she died. Autopsy gathered that she was already some months gone with pregnancy before she died. Mike was arrested, her parents gave her flowers but this time at the graveside. Still, his arrest won't bring back the life that was lost.
Cheers.
Gingered Up! ❣️