Chapter 1

 

'Claudia I am giving you your last chance to repent. Say you will be a good wife to me....and we need not enter through the doors before us.' I found myself cringing from the inside and out as Terry my husband of one month ran his thin, long fingers down my arm slowly.

'Get your filthy hand off of me you toad! You disgust me; I could never be a true wife to you, never you hear!' I spat out at him in my rage. Before looking up into his dark beady eyes without flinching so he would not be under any illusion that I meant every word that I said.

'Alright have it your way!' I heard him sigh as he admitted his defeat. 'I tried to be nice, to give you a chance, but I will be kind no more. You will now pay greatly for being a most stubborn and wretched wife. And if you think me such a monster, you will soon find out firsthand for yourself that there are worst evils in the world than I. You will soon regret the day you dared to refuse my generous offer,' Terry spoke with anger and frustration, as he yanked my arm, pulling me through the large wooden doors with determination.

I refused to cry out and give Terry any satisfaction as I felt a sharp pain in my arm from where he gripped me tightly. Neither did I beg him or relent in my position as I found myself pushed and shoved by the loud crowd that had congregated in the cramp hall space that we entered.

Barred from going any further by the wall of bodies in front of us I looked up in shock upon the stage in front of me, where all other eyes had also directed their focus.

I immediately noticed a woman sobbing almost uncontrollable, I guessed she was some years older than my own twenty three years of age. And a man talking with a raised voice beside her, bantering with the crowd of mostly males before him, who laughed, jeered and spoke crudely back at him in their excitement.

'Gentleman we have our winner!' The man on stage declared in high spirits, 'Sir don't be shy come up and take your prize.'

My sympathy went immediately out to the crying woman, who seemed resigned to her fate as she walked slowly off the stage without argument, her sadness marked across her face as she reached the side of the man who waited at the foot of the stage to claim his purchase.

I could not help but feel sick in my stomach as well as fear as I watched her new owner grin with satisfaction and rub his hands together as he led her away. By the looks of it to me, the ghastly man could have been the poor woman's grandfather, their age gap I was sure was even larger than my own twenty two years between Terry and me.

'Now, now gentleman,' the man remaining on the stage who I could now confirm from the little I had witnessed was the auctioneer of the occasion bellowed out, 'is there anymore of you who would like to unburden themselves of their ball and chain, and give another man a gift of a wife for the festive period?' You know what they say one man's garbage is another man's treasure,' he snorted out his distasteful humour.

My heart sunk as Terry put up his left hand, his right hand still holding me tight to him so I could not escape as he informed the crowd that he had indeed got something to get a rid of quickly.

'She is as stubborn as a mule and her tongue as sharp as nails; gentlemen do not say you have not been all warned by me.' Terry spoke with a raised voice, his harsh words vibrating in my ears as I found myself pushed to the front of the hall and then lead roughly up the stage stairs. All as I ignored the laughter and stares burning into my back from the tipsy boisterous males who filled the room.

'I warned you, Claudia, what happens from here on in is because of your own doing, remember that,' Terry whispered in my ear. I pulled myself out of his grip not been able to bear the smell of his bad alcoholic breath on my skin.

The crowd of onlookers laughed collectively at my annoyance and disgust which only served to frustrate me the more.