Game Over

The instructions had been clear. She was to clean the living room for company tonight and be waiting when He got home from work to help Him prepare everything. She was also to have gone shopping and picked up the items needed for tonight’s dinner. Simple things, really. Nothing hard about doing any of those tasks, she shouldn’t have had any problems. She decided to play a new game she’d just downloaded and then would clean later, before going shopping. Shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours to do all of it. She had plenty of time.

She glanced up at the clock and swore under her breath as she realized that several hours had passed and she had precious little time to get everything done. It would be tight, but she’d get it all completed in plenty of time…only the vacuum cleaner stopped working when the belt broke, requiring a trip to the local shopping center to buy a new one and replace the old one. By the time she finally fought the tight rubber band around the wheels, she was running very behind and starting to panic. She finished the vacuuming, then the dusting, and finally rushed to the grocery store where the lanes were crowded and the lines were long. She fumed while waiting, constantly glancing at her watch and wondering how she was ever going to make it in time. She finally got to the cashier and hurriedly paid for her things, racing back to the house. She flew into the kitchen and knew she had no time left to spare. She began dumping things out of the sacks when she realized she was being watched. She sighed deeply and turned around, seeing His look of disapproval as he glanced at the clock and then back at her. He didn’t say a word to her, but instead turned on His heel and walked away. She put away the groceries and as she walked past the office toward the bedroom to help Him dress for tonight, she heard a sound. She looked into the room and found Him there, staring at the computer monitor she had left on in her haste to get her tasks done, her scores giving evidence as to why she had not finished her tasks in time. He looked at her and she knew there would be hell to pay for this.

The guests came and after drinks in the library, they were all seated and she served dinner. She kept trying to smile at Him as she would catch His eyes upon her to insure she served everyone properly. To her dismay, He barely seemed to acknowledge her existence. She had never seen him this angry at her before and she trembled in fear at the price she was going to pay for her procrastination. She barely got through serving dessert to the last guest when He stood up and asked that everyone excuse them for a few moments as He had something He wished to discuss with her before the evening waxed too late. He then asked that when everyone finished that they would retire to the garden where it was cooler as the night was beautiful. Everyone smiled and nodded at them as He firmly took her elbow and guided her to the kitchen. From there He opened the basement door to the ‘dungeon’ he had been working on for weeks and motioned for her to lead the way. The staircase was barely lit, the rest of the room was in total darkness. She had yet to be allowed in this room, so she walked slowly, her hand on the railing for guidance. The further down she went, the more nervous she became until she found herself babbling over and over again how sorry she was and trying to explain how it had all gone so wrong. He continued behind her, his silence seeming almost physically crushing in the dark room.

His hand reached out to stop her progress and settled on her shoulder to have her remain still. She felt Him walk away from her, but she knew better than to turn her head to try to find Him. She closed her eyes and listened intently, trying to figure out where He was and what He was doing. She heard chains rattling and various things being moved, but she was unable to figure out where He was at any given moment, what He was doing, and what those sounds meant.

To be continued in Part 2