Diego had driven himself home, but it was well into the afternoon when he finally arrived. His wife, Suzanna, met him at the door. "You know I was about to call the police." The light-skinned Hispanic woman was holding a cup of coffee while wearing a bathrobe. She stood at nearly the same height as her husband, staring down the former Master Sergeant.
"I'm sure."
Suzanna threw her coffee in his face as she shoved her husband inside their mansion.
Diego's hands were trembling. The coffee had not been boiling hot, but the shock of her action was enough to throw him off guard.
"Well, I know you're not above doing some really messed up shit behind my back!"
After two decades of marriage, Diego was used to her anger. "I apologize." Without another word, he made his way to the bathroom. He looked in the medicine cabinet for his anxiety and pain medications. But when he reached for his pills, Diego made the horrifying discovery: every bottle was empty. "Suzanna, do you know what happened to my pills?"
"I hid them."
"You hid my medications?"
"Yes, I did," she answered in a matter-of-fact tone. Suzanna walked over to a pile of blankets that she then dumped on the floor. "You will be sleeping on the sofa tonight and for the foreseeable future." It was clear she expected her husband to make his own bed.
That night, Diego suffered a seizure. At least he assumed that was what happened. He awoke the next morning wearing clothing soaked with urine. His head was pounding with a migraine, his body shivering with chills.
Suzanna appeared with a breakfast tray containing four Valium pills and a steaming cup of coffee. "Take these. We have a meeting in an hour with a major landowner from Montana. I can't have you looking like trash."
Diego struggled to sit up. Having been left alone in the living room, the night prior, he had drunk himself to sleep. So now the room was spinning.
He flinched as his wife held his hand. "I love you, Diego. You know I don't mean to hurt you. You're all I have." She kissed him softly on his cheek. "Now go make yourself presentable."
Diego took a shower. As the cold water hit his face his eyes filled with tears. This wasn't what he wanted; to suffer through a loveless marriage. But he owed it to her to stay. He'd said his vows before God, and he needed to stand by those vows. He knew her heart was filled with sadness for the loss of their son. His role, as a husband, was to carry the weight of her pain. No matter the cost.
The next few days went by without incident. Suzanna kept his medications in her private safe and doled them out as she saw fit. This was all on the condition that Diego did not leave the house for any reason.
He was allowed on his computer only as needed. Both his phone and email accounts were being monitored. So Diego spent the majority of his time in his home gym, surviving on bottled water, vitamins and protein powder.
A week went by. Diego was becoming all too aware of the declining state of his health. His only hope for salvation was the fact that his student, Sara, knew his medical appointment schedule. Her boyfriend, Johnny, was a paramedic. Eventually, the young couple would come to Diego's mansion to check in on him.
When Diego took off his shirt to begin on the bench press machine, he noticed a series of mysterious bruises on his stomach. The dark marks were painful to the touch. Had Suzanna attacked him as he slept? He didn't want to consider such a possibility. Diego got on the machine and set the weight. He started his reps, feeling the strain in his muscles when suddenly the world went black.
Diego awoke in a hospital bed. As he opened his eyes he could feel a woman's hand. He instinctively flinched in terror.
"It's me, it's Sara."
Diego breathed a sigh of relief. His student Sara was by his side. Her long blonde hair was pulled in to a ponytail, highlighting her doll-like features.
Johnny stood in the corner of the room. His expression was one of frustration and anger. It was clear he had been the one to comfort Sara as Diego lay unconscious. "We're going to get you out of here. You're going to stay with my cousin Remy for a while."
Diego nodded. "How did I get here?"
Johnny sighed. "Suzanna wasn't going to let us in the house, but she got a little worried when even she didn't know where you were. She let us in to go search for you, and when we found you in the gym me and Sara: we kind of kidnapped you."
Sara rolled her eyes. "What Johnny is trying to say is, we left without telling Suzanna we had located you."
Johnny pulled up a chair. "Here's what's going to happen; Remy's clinic is recognized as a licensed medical facility by the state..."
"Rain Down Temple is a licensed medical facility?"
"Yes," Johnny continued. "My cousin treats live-in patients, mainly hospice cases, but it's a legal hospital, and he is legally a doctor. I'm going to put in for the transfer. All I need from you is to sign on the line."
Diego agreed. He was taken by ambulance to Remy's clinic. After being placed in a private room, he was stripped of his hospital clothing and given a thick robe to wear. It felt heavy but at the same time warm like a blanket.
"It's a weighted robe, made from the same material as weighted blankets, used to treat anxiety," Remy said from the doorway. The young doctor was dressed casually in a baggy shirt and sweatpants as if on his way to meditate. With his long dark brown hair hung loosely over his shoulders, Remy looked like a sexy Jesus. "How are you, Diego?"
"I'm good, Doctor. You?"
Remy chuckled. "Doctors work at hospitals, I'm just Remy, man." He was holding a thermos. "Have some tea." Remy took a seat on the bed and poured Diego took the cup of dark liquid.
It smelled savory yet sweet like cinnamon and chocolate. Diego paused, to savor the pleasant aroma before taking a sip.
"It will help cleanse the toxins from your blood. Did the doctor at the hospital say why you passed out?"
"No, I assume the answer lies somewhere in my paperwork." Diego took a sip, then another. "And thank you for the tea, the smell reminds me of something my mother used to make." Diego pursed his lips as tears filled his eyes. "How did my life go so wrong?"
Remy placed his hand on Diego's shoulder. "Johnny told me what happened. Why do you let your wife hurt you?"
Diego sighed, as he finished off the cup of tea. "I don't know what to tell you."
"No one deserves to be stuck in an abusive relationship for over twenty years."