Handed A Slice of Life

Elisa, smiled as she positioned herself at the end of the dinner table. Tonight was the end to her singleness. Hearing the laughter as others had already sat down enjoying the festivities, she glanced at the man, who tomorrow, she would call husband. She caught his eye as he leaned in to touch his forehead with hers, he grinned. A brief chill ran down her spine. She thought to herself, "please, don't get cold feet now" and forced a smile back, looking down avoiding his eyes.

The excitement began, food was placed for each person attending and the clank of the utensils could be heard throughout the reserved room. Once the main course was all but complete, Elisa heard the clinking of the wine glass, it was time for the toast. She watched as Bruce, her older brother who was the inductor of this honor, stood up and steadied himself to begin his speech.

"Tonight, we celebrate the giving away of my baby sister Elisa to Markus." he leaned towards Markus, "you better take good care of her man" and laughed.

"So here's a look back on both of these two crazy kids as they grew up, hit the lights over there and let's get the movie going."

Bruce sat back down, the room went dark except for the swirling light against the blank wall and the picture slideshow started. All the oohs and ahhs then laughter could be heard as everyone watched excitedly at the show. Elisa watched and giggled at the family photos that popped up of herself and her family. Her brother had outdone himself. She could feel herself relax in her chair and thought maybe she had been over reacting earlier. Once the slideshow finished, he stood up once again,

"If everyone would raise their glass to this toast," he paused, "To Elisa and Markus, may your lives, as they become one, be blessed by God and last for an eternity. May you two grow old, surrounded by a long extended family of your own! Cheers!"

Everyone tapped glasses together and cheered in agreement.

"Now, where's the dessert? Hahaha" he exclaimed!

The waiters were busy once again placing different desserts in front of each person sitting and filling their drinks. Markus had opted for apple pie topped with ice-cream, cut a piece from it with a spoon and reached over to Elisa, urging her to take a bite. She refused.

"No, thank you," she said, as in front of her was placed a slice of chocolate cake, it was several layers and oozing with fudge,

"But, would you like a bite of mine?"

Markus huffed, "you refused mine, yet you want me to have some of yours? No. We need to talk, let's go outside."

Elisa wasn't given the opportunity to respond before Markus grabbed her wrist and yanked at her to follow. In a rush, Elisa apologized to their guests not able to say much of anything beyond that. She was being dragged out the door while asking what she had done wrong. She could see the anger on his face and she grew scared. She had seen this look from him many times before that didn't turn out well for her. He took her to a back hallway that he thought would be private.

"Why do you do this to me EVERYTIME?" he yelled. "If you're going to be my wife you're supposed to be submissive!"

He grabbed a tight hold of her arms, backed her into the wall and pressed in close to her face. Terror gripped her and could be seen in her eyes. She began to tremble, slinking her head down. Markus grumbled in a low, deep menacing voice,

"When I give you something, you take it, when I tell you something to do, you do it...understand? There is no 'no' in your vocabulary to me, got it!?"

"I understand," Elisa whispered trembling.

"We're going back in there, DON'T disrespect me in front of them again," he spewed with hateful firmness. As he spoke, he gave a shove to Elisa's arms and shoulders into the wall, huffed once again, turned and started to walk away. Looking back, he gruffed,

"Are you coming?" and once again turned around. Elisa pulled herself from the wall, not speaking, caught up with him as they began to walk back into the dining area. She lifted her hand to wipe away the tears that were searing at the corner of her eyes and tried to rub the pain and bruising from her arms.

Walking in the room that still held laughter and happiness, Elisa's heart and spirit dropped with the realization this would be her life. Because they had already bought a house together, she didn't know how to get out. She just knew she couldn't walk down the aisle tomorrow and be stuck in this kind of forever life. She had tried previously to leave him, but he had found her and brought her back. He had made all the promises imaginable to keep her beside him and for a while she believed him, she wanted to believe him. Markus had managed to control his anger issues and even started counseling...at least that's what he had said anyway. Since he had shown improvement, she had decided to give him one last chance. Then, tonight, everything now showed to be a lie. Elisa put on the face of a happy bride and smiled...thoughts churning. Bruce approached her,

"Everything ok?"

"Oh, yeah...Markus just needed to tell me a few things he needs for tomorrow," she could hear the falsehood fall out of her mouth.

"Well, come on then! Let's finish this out so the guys can do our thang! Hahaha and don't worry, we'll have him to the church on time!" he laughed again. Then, all of a sudden, Bruce embraced Elisa, whispering,

"I'm going to be serious right now. You know I like to joke around, but, if you need anything...anything at all...I'm here. If he ever does anything he shouldn't, you'll come to me right? All you have to do is tell me. You'll remember, right?"

Elisa nodded, she couldn't make the words come out, but in her mind, she was screaming for help. All she could do was pull away and look at him with begging eyes. She hoped he understood. Looking back at her, he grinned that brotherly grin, slight nod and hugged her.

"It'll all be ok, I promise." With that, Bruce took her hand, squeezed it with a bout of assurance and walked away. Elisa found her seat again and took a bite of her cake, chewing, then swallowing hard. She had lost her appetite as Markus had given her the staring eye, but didn't speak. Her chair felt like a hot seat and she wanted all this to end.

Her waiter came around collecting plates to clear the table.

"Ma'am, are you done? May I take your plate?"

"Yes, please. Thank you."

As the waiter reached to take her plate, Elisa had picked it up to hand to him. As he took it from her, he quickly placed a piece of paper in the palm of her hand, looked at her and said,

"Ma'am, the manager needs to speak with you, will you please follow me?"

She was puzzled, but nodded and complied. Looking at Markus, he was being entertained by her brother so she rose from her seat and followed the waiter. Once out of sight of the dining room, she glanced at the now crinkled paper, it read:

'Help with the wedding is coming as a gift to you. Hang in there.' No name was attached and Elisa remained confused. As she began to look up, there walking toward her was the manager.

"Hi, Elisa, I'm Luke, the manager," he reached out, she responded and reached out as well to shake his hand.

"Hi, umm...Luke? Is there a problem with the bill? I thought it had already been taken care of."

"Yes, the bill is actually fine, but I wanted to talk with you for a few minutes, if that's ok?"

"Well, I can't be gone long, but maybe a few minutes."

"Please, follow me."

Elisa looking behind her, not seeing Markus, followed the manager to his office.

"Please, have a seat," he outreached his hand towards a chair. She sat down on the edge.

"I asked to see you because, well, though this may be none of my business, something happened in my restaurant." He paused, "I saw and heard your fiancé and you earlier in the hallway. I didn't want to interfere immediately, but I did speak with Bruce, your brother, who asked me to call you in here. We want to help if you need it. He shouldn't have man handled you like that. Has he done this before? I can call the police for you. Would you like me to do that?"

Elisa broke down, not able to hold the secret in any longer,

"Yes, he has and I'm afraid. This is not the first time. He'll find me like before if I leave. Please help."

"There's an organization I know can help. Please don't be afraid, be alive."

Luke dialed the police and told them what had happened. They weren't far away and would be there soon. While waiting, he pulled up the organization that Elisa could get help from and wrote down the information;

https://www.thehotline.org/ 1-800-799-SAFE

As he handed it to her, he then proceeded to call on her behalf and explained the situation. Help was on the way.

As Luke hung up the phone, he could hear a commotion outside. Elisa recognized that it was Markus. He realized she was gone. She had to go. As she stood to leave, Luke reached for her and asked for her to stay, that she was safe in his office. His voice was kind and his eyes were even kinder. She reclaimed her seat and waited.

"No matter what you hear, do not come out. Your brother or I will come get you. Promise?"

"Promise," Elisa shook her head as she wrung her hands in stressed anticipation.

Luke exited his office, closing the door behind him. Elisa could hear Markus screaming for her along with others telling him to calm down. Soon the sounds of sirens rang in her ear. She heard the calls to get down on the ground, a scuffling struggle and then, footsteps towards the door. She held her breath. The door knob turned and there in the doorway stood Bruce and Luke. Elisa leapt up and ran over to Bruce, swinging her arms around his neck and bawling. It was over. There would be no wedding tomorrow. Markus was going to jail for domestic abuse.

Elisa had a long road ahead of her, but knowing that now she had support to make it through, she knew that what her brother said was true. It would all be ok.

Three years later, Elisa found herself in the same restaurant, watching the same picture slides, hearing the same speech given by her brother. This time she was smiling from ear to ear, her heart happy and her soul was light. Tomorrow was the day her life would change forever. She thought for a moment, no, that slice of chocolate cake from that time is when her life changed forever...and for the better.

Elisa looked down. She felt a kiss on her forehead. Slowly raising up, there were the kindest eyes and an even kinder heart gazing back at her. While intertwining her hand with his, he sat beside her. Lost in his eyes, Elisa saw tomorrow and her future, living a long life surrounded by their own extended family. This time, the only message in her hand was:

"You are my gift, my heart, my love. You are the mirror I want to look into every morning and every night. All my forever love...Luke.