Love Heals

Chapter One

Isabella jerked up from the bed, panting heavily like an athlete who just ran a marathon. It took a few seconds for her to get rid of the fear that gripped her, and recollect that she was in her room, on her bed.

She rolled her eyes as she couldn't believe she had that nightmare again; the same nightmare that had tormented her for years.

“Isabella, get back here!” He screamed at the poor girl who immediately stood transfixed, heaving and sulking with tears rolling down her face.

“Bella, my baby, don't be scared okay?” Helen, who was sprawled up on the floor, managed to comfort her innocent child despite the excruciating pain she was experiencing from the severe injuries on her limbs and forehead.

She immediately regretted her decision to comfort her daughter, as it inadvertently redirected the man’s focus towards her.

He looked fiercely at the woman on the floor, his eyes turning dark with mischief.

Her eyes widened in fear because she knew that look very well.

He had come home drunk, started throwing tantrums as usual, and even accused her of cheating on him.

In an attempt to pacify him, he threw her a punch to the face, causing her to collapse onto the glass table situated in the middle of their small living room. The impact shattered the table, resulting in fragments of glass scattering onto her body and inflicting excruciating lacerations.

Her daughter who was doing her homework in her room, came running as soon as she heard the commotion.

“Mommmyyy” she screamed with her eyes wide open as she saw the state her mother was in.

“Please, leave my mommy alone” she pleaded in tears while holding on to the man's legs.

He got more irritated by the girl's begging and tossed her aside.

Isabella hastily retreated in fear, her heart thumping in her chest. In her naivety, she made to run back to her room for safety, but the man ordered her to stop.

Helen who was still on the floor groaning in pain cried for her daughter who was too young to go through such trauma.

She knew this wouldn't end well.

“Please don't do this ... .not in front of the child” She looked at him pleadingly, while sobbing silently.

He ignored her cries for mercy and staggered towards her with a wicked grin on his face.

When he got to where she was on the floor, he crouched down in front of her.

He lifted her chin with two fingers and said,

“Do not make this difficult for me. Stay still”

She hated that her ten years old daughter would have to watch, but she had lost the will to fight him.

“Please I beg you, don't do this” she still cried.

“I said stay still!” He yelled at her

“Isabella, baby, go to your room okay?” She said while looking towards her daughter who had been sobbing silently, observing the chaos.

Her heart broke for her daughter who was always forced to witness her mother's anguish. She persistently nursed the thought of running away with her daughter, but she never had the opportunity to execute it, because the hideous man in front of her meticulously recorded every move she made.

She had been fighting for a long time, but now, she knew better than to fight him, because it always ended in shambles, leaving her at the receiving end of the resulting damages.

He gently pulled up the long flowing gown she was wearing, while he lustfully ravished her body with his eyes.

“Isabella, to your room now!” Amelia managed to scream out in despair, amidst suppressed sobs and excruciating pain.

“Isabella, do not move an inch!” He commanded.

The young Isabella stood still, looking at her mother and stepfather in confusion, as she was too young to fully comprehend the situation before her. However, while she observed her mother, she could only decipher that the latter would be in so much pain, which utterly devastated the young girl.

“Please, I don't want to fight. Just let her go” Helen cried desperately.

He roughly slapped her across the face and replied in an angry voice, “I give the orders here, not you”

He quickly unbuckled his belt, took off his pants, then turned to his wife and roughly took off her undies.

He was going to forcefully have his way with her yet again, and unlike the previous times, she wasn't going to fight him.

“Oh baby, you're so beautiful” He took his time to take in her features like a predator about to devour its prey, as he slowly caressed her thighs.

“I'm going to have you all to myself” He was completely intoxicated and beyond reasoning.

He roughly took her lips with his, while he dug his nails deep into the skin on her thighs. He kept sucking and biting her lips while tearing deep into her skin.

“Ooww…please you're hurting me” she winced and cried out in pain, but he paid deaf ears to her pleas.

As she lay there on the floor, watching and weeping sorrowfully as he r***d her, she could feel her heart ripping into pieces as she knew her daughter was watching. She felt like a total failure. She couldn't protect her daughter; the only source of her joy.

She was still wallowing in self-pity and defeat when all of a sudden……

Bang!

“Ahhhhhhhhhh” the man screamed in agony and fell backwards, off Amelia.

Helen, wondering what happened, lifted herself, but the sight before her made her gasp in shock, with her mouth wide open.

“Isabella!” she yelled.

The young girl stood distraught over her stepfather's unconscious body, with a flower vase in her hand. She looked completely shaken and afraid. Her grip on the flower vase became so loose that it fell from her hand. Her entire body was shivering as she fell to the ground.

Her mother, quickly composing herself, went to pick her daughter up.

“Isabella, it's okay. I promise you, everything will be okay” she reassured, although she was completely uncertain about the next line of action to take.

She had yet to confirm if the man was still breathing or not, but she had to take care of her daughter first.

“Listen, I want you to go to your room and lock the door. No matter what happens, do not open it okay?” She said to the young girl after she had calmed a bit.

“Mommy will take care of everything and come to you. Go!” Isabella mustered strength and ran to her room, locking the door behind her. She ran to her bed, covering her trembling body with the duvet. She was too scared to comprehend what she had done; she was only trying to defend her mommy and save her from danger, so she thought. She wondered if her stepfather was still alive or dead. The more she thought about it, the more she trembled.

As she lay in her bed waiting for her mother, her trembling gradually turned into whimpers, and as the night got thicker, her body gave in to the exhaustion that had engulfed her, eventually sending her to sleep.