You Don't Own Me

I don't belong to him, he treats me like a piece of meat, something he can buy, chew up and spit out whenever he pleases. I am not property, I am not something to be owned, nor will I allow him to treat me as such anymore. The morning light breaks through the blinds, I stare outside, slightly blinded by the brightness, but I don't care. I haven't cared for much of anything for some time now, I can't remember exactly when it happened... Lie. I can tell you exactly when it all changed.

May 13th, 2016, we were celebrating his 25th birthday, we had been married for 3 years, and yes, I know what you're thinking, 'you were too young to get married.' Yes, I know, I heard that from just about everyone, but I didn't care, I was young and in love, and oh so stupid. He was a pilot and a musician on the side, he loved music and traveling, as did I, and through his art he made me fall head over heels in love with him.

But back to the 25th birthday party, he loved Vegas, the majority of the flights he did were to Nevada, so I thought it was the greatest idea in the world to throw him the biggest party at Paris Las Vegas. I went all out, after all, he was my husband, I only ever wanted the best for him. We had friends and family from all over the country fly in to celebrate with us, we had a grand entrance and everyone was happy and partying, all was perfect.

10:45 PM on the day of his 25th birthday, I searched and searched for him all over, if you've been to the hotel, you know it is quite huge, he was no where in sight. "Have you seen Isaac?" The echo of "no" and the image of people shaking their heads bounced around in my mind, where was he?

I felt a migraine begin to form, I excused myself from our guests, and head inside the hotel. I remember feeling anxious as I fiddled around inside my purse for the room key, but I come to a stop in front of my sister-in-laws door, it seemed to have not shut all the way. "Maricella, is everything okay?" I froze, nothing could have prepared me for what I walked in on.

"Mickayla!" He shouted, Maricella scrambled to pull the blanket up and over her body as she jumped into the bathroom.

"Isaac..." It came out as a whisper. "She's your sister."

"Tell me Mickayla? Have you actually heard anyone call her my sister? Hmm, any of my family or friends?"

I looked down, now that I thought of it, no, I never heard anyone actually call her his sister, they just always treated her like family. I had never seen her in any of the family pictures, and she was hardly ever at any of the family functions we had gone to. "How could you do this to me?"

He made a dramatic sigh and climbed out of the bed, "Mickayla, you can't honestly think this just started? You were my safety net, my family would never approve of me being with Maricella, but you? A doctor, an Oxford graduate, you were the perfect option. And I was the same for you, the all around perfect husband."

I shook my head, I could not believe what was happening, I quickly turned towards the door, when I felt hands on me; he pushed me against the wall and wrapped his hand around my throat, "This has been going on for 6 years, do you really think I'm going to let you ruin everything? And do you really think anyone is going to believe you?"

I felt tears streaming down my face, "I won't say anything."

An evil smile formed on his face, "That's a good girl, now we're going to finish up in here, why don't you go and clean yourself up, then get back to our guests. I'll see you down there." He placed a light kiss on my cheek and let me go.

I walked out of her room, then slowly walked to my room, I went into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror, my mascara was running down my face. I grabbed a makeup sponge and started dabbing my face, I had already stopped crying, I felt like I was in shock, I felt... numb. The rest of the night was a blur, I didn't even remember going back down to the party, or even us getting back home a few days later.

Our first night back, I remember getting out of the shower and Isaac was sitting at the edge of the bed waiting for me, "You hardly said anything the whole way home."

I shrugged, then he was suddenly in front of me, grabbing me by my neck again, "You're mine, do you understand me? I don't care how upset you are, we need each other and you know it. Once you accept how things are going to be, you'll be happy again, you'll see."

That night he left me alone in our home and went to go see Maricella, I laid in bed with only one thought that replayed in my mind... "He doesn't own me."

Now, 5 years from that day, I stand in our kitchen washing blood off of my hands as I stare out at the white oleanders I had planted a few days after we got back home from his 25th birthday party. For a coward, he was actually really resilient, Maricella on the other hand, not so much. The perks of working at a hospital is that you can get around the hospital with people asking little to no questions, and you know when the security cameras are going to be down for maintenance. Such powerful machines, the compacter that he bio-hazard goes into is crushed and it would be a while before anyone realizes someone had an "accident" and fell in before being crushed to death.

You know how they say poison is a woman's choice of weapon to kill someone, well, that person really knew what they were talking about. White Oleander, so beautifully lethal, but so is slitting a mans throat while he's having sex with another woman in your bed.

He thought he was the only one with a secret for years, funny thing is... He never even knew my real name.