章 11: You Jerk
Silence reigned between them until Carl drove into his garage and slowly parked his car.
"What would you like to eat?" Michelle asked.
Carl, who had been locking up the car looked at Michelle with some shock on his face. He could not recall the last time that he had heard his wife ask him that question. Carl gathered his thoughts and looked away, slamming the door and walking into the house through the kitchen door. He scoffed and left the door open for Michelle to come in.
She bit her bottom lip and cussed under her breath.
"This is me trying to be nice here and-"
"Spare me, Michelle," Carl said as he flung his keys and went into the living room. After he sat down, Carl leaned forward again. He was so restless and regretted that he didn't grab some bottles of beer on his way home. Now, it was quite late for him to drive out again and honestly, Carl felt like he had just been beaten by some people. All his body ached, starting with his head. Also, he could not handle Michelle's bickering and hoped that wasn't the lane that she was about to embark on.
"I should spare you? Spare you?"
"I don't want to eat anything," Carl said finally. "Are you alright now?"
"I'm not! I'll never be!" Michelle yelled. "If not for the hell that you give me in this house… I would not have wanted to spend some time in that park in the first place."
Carl chuckled a little under his breath. He could not believe what he was hearing but resisted the urge to respond to her. She was trying to bait him, Carl knew that much. However, he was not going to fall into that trap.
"Answer me! Say something, You jerk."
Carl glanced in her direction and stood up from the chair that he was on. He stared at Michelle until he walked past her. Grabbing his car keys, Carl was about to approach the kitchen door which led to the garage at the back when he felt something hit the back of his head.
Carl's hand went to his head when the pain shot through his body and he closed his eyes in order to bear it. He looked back and saw that a china cup had fallen and broken on the floor. Carl withdrew his hand and brought it to his front, stared at his palm, and noticed blood on his hands.
He looked at Michelle, pivoted on his heel, and walked towards her in large strides. Carl grabbed her by the forearm with his unstained hand while he seethed. It took every fiber in his body not to descend on his wife at that moment. But he wasn't brought up that way – he wasn't trained to hit women who were weaker than he was. Carl knew that if he started to unleash his anger on her, he would not stop and he didn't want to hurt Michelle, not in any way.
The muscles in his jaw rippled and his eyes shot darts. His gaze danced from one side to the other as he looked into Michelle's face.
She looked back as if trying to dare him to do what was on his mind.
"Hit me, Jerk! Do something!" Michelle yelled in his face, a little spittle escaping her mouth and landing on his shoulder area.
"You don't have the balls to do that also? Even when you know that I'm not faithful to you… you just remain there like a sleeping giant!"
Carl unhanded her and walked out of the house. The went to his car and zoomed off, not caring about the tie or the fact that he didn't see clearly at night. All Carl knew was that he needed a drink and he needed it badly.
From the rearview mirror, Carl could see Michelle running after his car. He ignored her and peeled his gaze from the sorry sight. A few seconds later, just before he used the curve that would take him out of his street, Carl looked into the mirror again and saw her seated on the road with her head bent.
Michelle remained in that position and wept for some minutes before she stood up, wiped off the dust on her clothes, and walked back to where he had left her car. She closed the driver's door and opened the door to the back seat area. Michelle halted as her sight caught her children's bag and her lips quivered again.
Slowly, she took the bags, pressed them against her chest, and slowly approached her house.
"Michelle?"
She jerked when she heard her name being called and looked in the direction that the voice had come from.
"Good evening… are you alright?" Mrs. Hernandez asked as she walked to Michelle with a look of confusion and concern on her face. She got to where Michelle was and looked around. She looked at the bags in Michelle's hands, the car, and the house which still had the door open.
"I had noticed the doors open, but I didn't know… I came and called out your name and Mr. Carl's but there was no answer…"
"Good evening, Mrs. Hernandez," Michelle said with a coarse voice.
"Is everything alright?" the caring neighbor asked.
Michelle shook her head and walked past her. She looked defeated and tired at the same time. The spark Michelle had and the bounce that was in her steps were all gone as Michelle resembled a shadow of herself.
Mrs. Hernandez followed closely and walked into the house with Michelle. She had been expecting to be greeted by the girls who would often come to her house and spend some hours with her daughters even though hers were older – they liked Kim and Kendra a lot.
"Where are the girls?" Mrs. Hernandez asked as she looked around the house which she noticed was in disarray. Her brows were furrowed as she looked back at Michelle Hart.
"They are not here."
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