Wounds

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Author's Note: This story contains disturbing mental/physical themes that may cause discomfort. Readers be advised. This first chapter is short. Later parts will be published in longer portions.

This is Part 1 of 4. Previously the story title was incorrectly shown as "Woulds Pt.01", it should be "Wounds Pt.01"

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Wounds: A Seaside Story

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CHAPTER 1

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"Janelle, I think you need to get out."

Janelle blinked her eye. She looked at her friend Maria with confusion.

Maria looked around the cafe, but there was really no need since no one else was there. The barista was all the way at the back of the counter minding her own business. She lowered her voice, nevertheless, "Please, Janelle, you are not in a good place!"

"What are you talking about?"

Maria looked at her in disbelief. It was difficult enough for her to utter those words, let alone having to spell it out for Janelle, "Tom! You have to leave Tom!"

Janelle was stunned. She could barely prevent herself from screaming at Maria, who had been her best friend since middle school, "Tom is the father of my daughter! We are a family!"

Her unspoken words were:

How dare you?!

Maria shook her head, "You have no idea how long it took me to have the courage to say this to you. Janelle, he's a manipulative human being! You are unhappy!"

Janelle flinched at "unhappy". She protested, "Yes, sometimes I'm unhappy and I complain to you. That's part of all relationships!"

"You really want me to do this?" Maria elevated her voice, "You want me to tell you it's not normal that he doesn't let you work? He tells you you're ugly? He questions if Mia is really his daughter even though you've done paternity test not once, but twice?!"

Janelle fought back, "He

does

let me work! I've been working at Bright Horse since last month!"

"Only after you told him that you'd give him all your paycheck and he can do whatever he wants with it!"

"He manages our finances! It's easier to have everything in a joint account, anyway!"

"What about calling you ugly? What about Mia!" Maria was getting angry for her friend. Now that the cat was out of the bag, she might as well let it all out.

"I am

uglier

..." Janelle felt her heart ache at using the word, "I gained weight from having Mia and I didn't lose all of it."

"You are not ugly! You are still beautiful and young with a sweet 4-yr daughter! Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to destroy your confidence. And that is exactly what Tom is doing. He knows that if you still think you're hot, you'd leave him in an instant because you can get another guy the very next day!"

Janelle was now furious at her friend for insulting her partner, "Tom loves me and I love him! Yes, he may have some temper issues and will occasionally lose his cool, but he's a sweet man and he takes care of me and my daughter!"

Maria stared at her in silence. Her face was contorted by pain.

"A sweet man..." Maria began, "Does not have sex with his girlfriend when she's sleeping."

Janelle's eyes widened and felt betrayed. She had confided the dark secret to Maria because she trusted her friend, and now she was being attacked with it.

"He said...he said I initiated it." Was her defense.

Maria's stare was unwavering, "You were sleeping! You did not remember initiating it! You woke up and found him on top of you. You did not ask for it!"

"I'm his girlfriend! If he wants to have sex, who else would he go to!"

"You! But after waking you up and asking you about it!"

Janelle was ready to end the conversation, "I don't want to talk about this anymore. It's just one time, OK? I can't believe you are using this against me. I'm fine. Mia's fine. We're fine."

Maria buried her hands in her face. There was silence between them. Only the café music drifted softly through the air.

At last, Maria lifted her face. "Fine, I won't talk about it anymore. At least not today."

"Just remember," Maria looked at her, "I will help you however I can when the time comes. I am and will always be your friend. OK?"

Janelle smiled, "OK." She looked at the clock, "I should go pick up Mia now."

She did not want to leave her friend on a low note, so she said, "You want to come by Bright Horse tomorrow tonight? I can give you free dessert! Mr. Cook says she throws out pies after they are a day old, so if you get there at 8PM, we can finish whatever leftover pies there are! I'm not kidding when I say Mrs. Cook makes the finest strawberry pies in the whole Monterey peninsula!"

Maria nodded and promised she'd come by later to where Janelle had recently started working. They hugged and parted ways.

Stepping outside, Janelle could hear the seagulls yelping, the wind gently blowing, and cars humming by. It was a Saturday afternoon and she could see cars piling up heading southbound towards Monterey on Highway 1. The Monterey peninsula was always packed with tourists on weekends.

She lived in the small town of Seaside, which was adjacent to the tourist hot spots on the peninsula. Seaside itself offered no tourist attractions so local traffic was non-existent. She got to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson's house in five minutes. She found her daughter Mia in the backyard helping Mrs. Anderson pulling out weeds.

Mia, with her wavy curly hair, blue eyes, and rosy cheeks, was a doll-like 4-yr old with endless energy and too many questions. She was badgering Mrs. Anderson about why she could not water the succulents for the tenth time that day. Mrs. Anderson had bought her a pink watering pail and since then, all Mia wanted to do in the yard was water the plants to their certain death.

Janelle would not have been able to start working at the Bright Horse café if it not for Mrs. Anderson. It had taken a lot of convincing on her end to get Tom to agree to let her return to work. Four years as a stay-at-home parent was enough for her. While she loved being Mia's mom, she also yearned for structured work responsibilities. Bright Horse café had recently suffered two sudden staff departures and was in desperate need of a waitress. But the hours were awkward, being two day shifts and two night shifts. Janelle got Tom to begrudgingly agree to watch Mia for the two evenings, but for the two day shifts, she was waiting for an opening at a preschool that wasn't available until a month later. That's where Mrs. Anderson came in. The Andersons owned an auto repair shop on the same block as the restaurant and the Andersons were frequent diners at Bright Horse. When Mrs. Anderson overheard Janelle talking to Mr. Cook about having trouble covering childcare during the day for the first month, she generously offered to watch Mia for her.

"My kids are all grown up and have been out of the house for years and I don't have much work managing the books at the repair shop anyway. I can watch Mia for you until she goes to that preschool."

Janelle was at first worried that Mia would not like Mrs. Anderson. Like all parents who had been the sole caregiver of their child, she thought she was the only one who could care for Mia the right way. Mrs. Anderson proved her wrong. Mia didn't even want to go home the first time she went to pick her up after her first work shift! Janelle and Tom lived in an apartment and didn't have a garden. Mrs. Anderson had a nice backyard with plants to water, two adorable puppies to play with, and even an old treehouse that Mr. Anderson had built for his own kids when they were little!

In fact, Mia had liked going to the Andersons so much, that she cried when Janelle told her today would be the last time Mrs. Anderson would watch her. Starting the week after, she would be going to the preschool when Janelle was working.

"I don't want to go to school! I want to stay here!" Tears rolled down Mia's cheek as she was once again reminded by Janelle that this was the last time at the Andersons.

"You can't, my baby," Janelle smiled at her red-faced teary child, "You need to go to school! Plus, Mrs. Anderson's son will be coming home soon and she says she won't have time for you."

"Well, that's not exactly true." Mrs. Anderson quickly clarified, "Mia, I always have time for you! But my son, Ezra, is coming home tomorrow. I have to go to the airport and pick him up, then I have to drive him to the hospital and see doctors and make sure he is taken care of. I will be busy for a while, but once he is settled in, I will tell your mama that you can come visit us even if your mama doesn't have to work, OK? You can come and play with me and Ezra and give your mama a break on her days off! Do you like that idea?"

"Yes!" Mia's tears of sorrow turned to tears of excitement, "I want to climb the treehouse with Ezra!"

"Well," Mrs. Anderson paused and chose her words carefully, "I'm not sure Ezra will be able to climb that treehouse with you. He is injured, you know, and he needs rest. But we definitely want you back helping us water the succulents very, very soon, OK?"

Mia was satisfied and went off into the house to collect her toys to get ready to go.

Janelle thanked Mrs. Anderson once more for her kind help. She also reminded Mrs. Anderson about the free pies at Bright Horse, even though Mrs. Anderson already frequently took advantage of the 8PM cutoff.

"I hope I will be seeing you at Bright Horse with your son soon." Janelle said politely.

Mrs. Anderson flashed a weak smile. She had been reticent about the circumstances of her son's impending return. All Janelle knew was that both Mrs. Anderson's sons were in the military and that Ezra, the younger one, had been recently injured while being deployed overseas. While she was warm and caring towards Mia, Mrs. Anderson talked little about her own children. She was a reserved woman who neither gloated about her children's accomplishments nor bashed their downfalls, but Janelle could tell that she loved her two sons dearly and would do anything for them. Mr. Anderson, on the other hand, had a strong opinion on what his sons ought to be for them to be a man in his eyes. On the few occasions she got to chat with Mr. Anderson, Janelle got the impression that Mr. Anderson thought his sons "finally became real men" when they went to serve their country. Though he was polite to Mia, he would sometimes reflect on how his sons were naughty when they were little and he'd "give them a good whooping till they learned their lesson".

Janelle could tell that Mrs. Anderson did not agree with many of Mr. Anderson's views, but she was the sort of wife that would not confront her husband. She had survived half a lifetime with him like that, and would continue to do so till the day she died.

Janelle went home with Mia and started to prepare dinner. Tom worked a 9-5 job as a warehouse associated at a local grocer. He usually came home around 530PM. When it was past 630PM and he hadn't returned home, Janelle felt a knot form in her stomach. She fed Mia her dinner and began prepping her daughter for bath and bedtime.

Sure enough, shortly after 7PM, the apartment door swung open and Tom stumbled in. The smell of liquor was so dense she immediately rushed Mia into her room. "Bed time, sweety! I'm going to make sure daddy gets his dinner then I'll come read you stories, OK?"

Tom was staring at the contents on the dining table when she returned to the kitchen. "What is this?" He asked.

"Uhm, it's dinner." Janelle explained.

Tom looked at her. Janelle's heart started beating wildly as she knew she had the wrong answer. Tom's voice was surprisingly calm, but that made it all the more terrifying, "I know it's dinner, idiot. I'm asking why the fuck you put asparagus in front of my eyes. You know I hate asparagus."

"I...I didn't know." Janelle searched her mind for any mention of hatred towards the green lengthy vegetable Tom may have expressed in the past five years; she found none. He hated onions and she had always been careful to keep onions off the table. But asparagus...they were in season and on sale, so she bought them. She now recalled that she had never made asparagus at home. That may explain why she didn't know he didn't like them.

Tom sighed as he slumped down into his chair, "That is why you shouldn't work, Janelle. If you can't even know what your man doesn't want to eat, how are you going to serve strangers the right food at the restaurant?"

Janelle wanted to respond that customers order from the menu and all she needed to do was write down their requests. But she kept her mouth shut. She was relieved that the asparagus plate merely annoyed Tom and that, upon its removal, he was willing to eat.

"So what did you and Maria talk about today?" Tom asked. Janelle had informed him that Maria had invited her out to catch up. Specifically, she had requested that Janelle drop Mia off at the Andersons first so they could talk about "important matters". Janelle had thought the important matters were going to be about Maria; it turned out to be about her.

Janelle could not tell the truth, "Oh, she was just thinking about whether she should look for another job. She doesn't like her current boss."

Tom shook her head, "Maria should shut her mouth up and do as she's told. She's not a good influence on you. She's never satisfied, always complaining. Does she seem happy to you?"

"Yeah, I know." Janelle half-heartedly agreed, "I still love her though."

"She doesn't love you as much as I do." Tom said as he took a bite of the dinner, "I do a lot more for you."

Janelle's heart swelled at the declaration of love. Maria was wrong.

She smiled at him and said, "Mia is starting preschool two days a week next week! I'm pretty excited about it! She may cry, though. They say it's hard at first, but it's good for her socialization."

"What was wrong with leaving her with Mrs. Anderson? You didn't have to pay a dime for that."

"Mrs. Anderson can't take her now. Her son is coming home and she needs to take care of him for a while."

Tom looked up from his dinner, "Mrs. Anderson's son must be a grown man. How does he need taking care of?"

"Mrs. Anderson says he's a Marine and he was injured."

Tom stared at the wall behind her, "And I guess the boy doesn't have a wife or girlfriend to take care of him, so he has to run home to his mommy, huh?"

Janelle was embarrassed at Tom's crass remark, but merely said, "I...don't know about that. Mrs. Anderson didn't say and I didn't ask."

"Well, I guess Mrs. Anderson has bigger diapers to change." Tom made one last snarky remark before finishing his dinner and leaving the kitchen to sit on the couch to watch TV.

Janelle did the dishes and went to Mia's room to read her stories. Mia fell asleep quickly. She was and had always been a sweet, easy baby to take care of. For that, Janelle was immensely grateful. She left the room quietly and took a shower. Tom was still watching TV when she slipped into her nightgown and told him, "I'm going to bed. Good night."

"Wait. Come here." Tom turned his gaze towards her. It was obvious what he had in mind.

Janelle was hesitant. She stared at the bottle in his hand. It seemed like he had consumed more liquor than solid food since he had come home.

"Come here!" Tom was displeased and raised his voice. Janelle was now worried he'd wake Mia up with his yelling. She walked to the couch and sat on his lap, hoping the TV noise would drown out any noise he makes.

His liquor-fueled lust was rough, but short. Lifting her nightgown and removing her panties, he pulled down his pants and underwear and stuck his member against her. She wasn't wet so it was difficult. Janelle didn't wait for him to get frustrated. She reached her hand out as he continued to grind against her on the couch and found the bottle of lubricant she had hid under the coffee table. Tom murmured something in his drunkenness about her being less of a slutty whore than she used to be while she lubricated his erection. He went in, came out, went in, came out, groaned and cursed, then it was done. She was a little sore, but it wasn't too bad.

"I love you, Janelle." He said as he pulled his pants back up and shifted back into his TV-watching position.

"I love you too." She responded. But she could not kiss his liquor-stained lips.

She got off the couch to rinse herself clean again. Then she went to the bed and climbed in.

He wasn't always like this.

When they first met six years ago, he was funny and kind. He hit on her at the bar with his friends. She went home with him and they had wild, great sex. He had just finished college but said he wanted to join the military as an officer. They even talked about how she would have to move with him when he was stationed overseas, for he was certain to become a rising star in the greatest forces on earth. She sent him off to boot camp in Fort Jackson. He came back four weeks later saying he had been medically disqualified due to repeated knee injury.

He joined her in their hometown on the peninsula, where she began working as a teller at a local bank and he as a warehouse associate at the grocer. They still had fun, wild sex, and everything seemed fine, until she found out she was pregnant. She didn't know if it was a broken condom or else, but it was unplanned. She loved Tom and wanted to start a family with him. Tom said he loved her but was not ready for a family, "But, if that's what you really want, I will be here."

Things began to slide downward. She suffered from severe morning sickness throughout not just the first, but the second and third trimester. At one point, she was hospitalized for not being able to keep anything down. She laid in the hospital bed and was hooked up to an IV for a week.

Tom did not like how the pregnancy affected their intimacy. The nausea had destroyed her sexual appetite. She was not those lucky ladies who enjoyed a peaceful pregnancy with surging hormones that made their men very happy. Though she accommodated his every demand at all times and all hours of the day, he was annoyed that he could not be on top of her. What was worse was that she could no longer give him a blowjob without gagging.

When Mia was born, Tom questioned the legitimacy of her parentage. It hurt Janelle, but she proved that she was loyal by submitting Mia for paternity tests -- twice, because he didn't trust the first one.

Janelle could sense that Tom viewed Mia as a minor nuisance. Still, there were times when he was sweet with her. Now, since she started working two nights at Bright Horse, he would babysit her and do the bedtime routine that he never did when she was younger. Mia, being the intelligent child she was, followed Tom's simple demands to stay out of trouble, entertain herself, then eat and sleep as she was told. As long as Mia was sound asleep by the time he wanted action -- and Mia was always in her room, if not asleep, by 8PM -- he was fine with his daughter.

Janelle didn't want much in her life. She wanted a family and a job, and now she had both. It didn't bother her that Tom was not into marriage. They had both come from dysfunctional families with divorced parents and she didn't think the ring meant anything. What mattered were words and actions.

It was her duty as his partner to support him through the good and bad. He was getting frustrated at his workplace, telling her that they would not promote him because of "stupid politics and backstabbing". He began drinking with his buddies because he needed release after work. He had sex with her in her sleep because she was too tired to be woken up. Most importantly, he continued to love her and said he loved her. He let her work again, and soon, when Mia goes to kindergarten, she would pick up all full-time job again. She was sure they would make it through the hard times together.