Callisto

Callie wakes as if from a bad dream of not quite nightmare proportions, but close. She thinks, during that twilight time that lies between sleep and waking, that he is still there as she feels a sense of his breath hot upon her. And then she stretches out an arm and touches the cool starkness of the sheet where his imprint would have been. Her heart is racing. Today is the day when everything changes. She has enjoyed one full year of peace and quiet which is now set to break; she looks at the clock- in around four hours- what then?

He used to call her his little bear, but that was then. Her fingers reach instinctively to her brow and the excuses that she would glibly conjure for the constant stains around her eyes; the wearing of sunglasses on the dullest of days. And then when she ‘fell’ downstairs there were no more lies left in the tin and her cupboard was bare. Today is the day he is released for his apparent ‘good behaviour’ and where this day is just the beginning of her incarceration. She keeps the curtains tightly closed and doesn’t go out and when the ‘phone rings she visibly jumps. 

Arty walks out into the new day and flexes his body, a smirk painted upon his once perfect profile. He had to be one of the smartest people she’d ever met at the university. So smart in a myriad of ways, but ones that did not always make for good outcomes. He seduced her with warm words and beautiful eyes and she fell, as if from the sky, straight into his outstretched arms. Of course, he’d made her abort the baby almost as soon as she told him when she’d already secretly named her after a dead princess, even though it was actually a boy.

Callie at the time would have done anything for Arty- he was a god to her and he knew it.

Then thunder on the door, both rhythmic and persistent. He is begging to be allowed back in; she knew this would happen. He’s not meant not be here: he sobs. And she wonders now why she didn’t seek safety with her sisters. A window smashes as he screams for forgiveness. Together they can start all over again, just as they once were. Who to believe- herself or him? They can fly to the stars together, he is a changed man; he begs, he grovels. And then just as suddenly, his hands are about her throat and in one final snap she is the one who is finally free.