(3 years later)

"Get up," a harsh voice demands in my ear. Against my eardrums, it's like sandpaper; rough and uncomfortable at this time. I barely stir at the sound of the harsh voice in my ear, and remain limp on the floor. 

I feel a hand holding my shoulder tight enough to cause some pain and discomfort. My heavy eyelids lift up slightly, and I stir a little bit. Pain starts to shoot through me in more than a few places in my body. I moan a little bit, as I move my body slightly. 

"I said get up. Now," the voice barks again. My hand lifts itself and I rub my sleep filled eyes. The cold hardwood against my fairly warm body makes me shiver. I feel someone grab my shirt collar and yank me up. 

My eyes fully open, and I see Colin kneeling there. His eyes show all the fury that I don't want to see. My consciousness comes back to me fully, and I start to shake. What is he going to do to me today? I don't want to have to suffer his wrath again. 

He's already done so much to me. I just can't take it anymore. My body won't be able to take it anymore. I, as a person, can't take it anymore. "Make me breakfast, you little witch. I expect eggs, bacon, and toast in 10 minutes," he says angrily. He lets go of the collar, and he trots into the bathroom to take a shower. I scramble to get myself together and make him breakfast. 

If I don't, there's going to be severe consequences. Ones that I don't want to imagine. I run downstairs, and I grab the needed ingredients to make Colin's desired breakfast. While the eggs are cooking, I quickly discard the shells and I clean up the best that I can possibly manage. As I fry the eggs and bacon, I notice all the reminders of what Colin did to me. 

Patches of blue and purple skin are showing all around my arms, neck, chest, and legs. I gently press a finger to them, and the pain from the slight contact is enough to make me wince. My eyes also take notice of the many scars on my arms and forearms. 

The actions he has done has caused me to become a weak phoenix, and die constantly. I always was reborn, but not without mental, emotional, and physical scars from all that he has done. Those scars are a constant reminder of everything that I had been through throughout these three and a half years.

As soon as I put the food on the plate, I hear Colin come down. The second I hear his footsteps lead into the kitchen, I hand him the plate. My heart is beating out of control, because I don't know how his mood is, and I don't want to provoke him in the morning. 

He takes the plate, without a, "thank you," and he starts to eat the food. I turn off the gas, and I start to wash the dishes in the sink. I try to go as fast as I can in order to avoid his violent tendencies.

In no time, he takes the plate and he puts it in the sink. He then wraps his arms around me and plants kisses on my cheek. "I love you. I know that you love me too. I'd never hurt you," he says, lying straight through his teeth. 

Instead of being flattered by his gestures, I'm repulsed. I actually resist the urge to vomit all over the place. He has the nerve to do that after all that he's done to me. I don't care if he's trying to be nice. He's done so many horrible things to me that it's hard to consider anything he does for me romantic. 

I find it funny that he's lying about hurting me, because he's done the exact opposite throughout all these three years. He's damaged me as a person all around, and I have no sympathy for a monster like him. His grip around me is so hard that my bruises are starting to pain. I continue to wash the dishes and I don't budge. 

I put the last dish in the dishwasher and I walk away. His grip moves to my wrist and he pulls me towards him. I stop in my tracks, and I stay still. He turns me to face him, and the look in his eyes turns from neutral to sinister. "Return my love, witch," he says. Nausea starts to accumulate in the bottom of my stomach. I don't want to do this. I don't want to show him love. 

He doesn't deserve it. But not doing what he says is like asking for a death wish. I lean in and I plant a light kiss on his cheek, hoping that it will suffice. After evaluating my face and body language for a few minutes, he rolls his eyes and walks up the stairs to do gosh knows whatever.

When he goes upstairs, I head over to the bathroom to look at myself in the mirror. My finger presses the light switch, and the light shines on my face to bring the truth to the spotlight. My eyes are like pink pillows, as they're puffy from the tears that I have continuously shed throughout this week. The blood from yesterday's nosebleed has hardened, and left a crusty, rusty brown ring around my left nostril. 

One of the same purplish-blue bruises found on my arms can be found on the left side of my face. I sigh, thinking, "well, today's not so bad." For the first time in a while, I'm actually telling myself the truth. Today wasn't as bad as some of the other days in the past. "I think I can fix this," I think, and I grab a long sheet of toilet paper. 

I wad it up into a large ball, and run cold water under it. After draining out the excess water, I press it to my face. I tuck my hair behind my ear to keep it from getting wet. When I do that, I study my hair in some depth. 

The once golden blonde color it was has been replaced with a dark, muddy color. Years of layering dark hair dye have concealed the vibrant blonde color it once was. Although I miss my blonde hair, I've gotten used to my fairly new appearance.

After I've pressed the napkin to my face, I throw it in the dustbin next to the toilet. I step out of the bathroom, and I head upstairs to start dusting my bedroom. When I get to the hallway, Colin's standing in the middle, with a raging look on his face. He looks like he wants to stab something at this moment, and I really hope it's not me. 

When I see his face, I swallow the lump that has formed at the back of my throat. "I-Is everything okay?" I ask. It seems like that question strikes a nerve for some odd reason. His left eye starts to twitch violently, and a vein in his left temple starts to throb. 

"You didn't do the laundry or clean the bedrooms. And you dare to ask what's wrong?" he growls at me. I snort at him, because his reason is so pathetic and insignificant. 

"Why are you getting mad at me for something that insignificant? It's not like I missed the opportunity for a raise. Wait, how would I know? You never gave me the opportunity to get a job or go to college so that I could get a job!" I fire back, gritting my teeth at the last sentence. 

When that sentence spills out of my mouth, regret fills me up from within. I probably just crossed a line with that comeback, and I don't want to know which of the hundreds of millions of lines in Colin's mind I've crossed.

The look on his face escalates quickly. All of a sudden, he grabs me by the hair and he drags me to our bedroom. My body stiffens at the sudden feeling of pain. I try to dig my feet into the floor to stop the movement, but my attempts are futile. He's overpowering me easily. 

When we get to our bedroom, he throws me into it. His hand then makes sudden contact with my face. I feel the sting almost immediately. Blood starts to dribble out from my nose and down my upper lip. 

Colin then takes his hands, and their grip shifts to around my neck. I gasp out of surprise at the speed of his actions and how hard he can choke. Yet again, I'm deprived of air. I'm choking and struggling against his grip, and trying to get him away from me. 

I've been fighting against him for the last three years, in an effort to stay alive. The last thing that I will let happen is to have my life taken away with the hands that he's used to destroy it. 

"You dare show me sass, Nicole? A true wife and woman doesn't show that kind of sass towards her husband. You don't love me," he says angrily, and he lets go of me. I fall to the ground, helpless, as I cough and gasp for air. 

"How.. could..I.. love.. you.. after.. all.. that... you've... done... to... me?" I cough, taking heavy breaths in between. He grabs me by my shirt collar and pulls me towards him. I look into his eyes, and the look in his eyes is nothing short of threatening and murderous. 

"Do you mean the things that I've done for you?" he asks dangerously. I scoff, while rubbing my sore neck. My helpless eyes then turn into those that are filled with rage, and a thirst to fight back. The thought of not letting him run over me like this is something that consumes me from all around.

"You've done for me?! You've abused and beaten me every single day of our marriage! I will never love you for as long as I live! You're a monster and I hate you!" I yell at him, and then spit in his face. This time, I know I've struck another nerve. 

Warning: violence ahead

Whenever he gets exceedingly mad, I can see a little flame in his eyes explode. It's like a flip switches, and all hell breaks loose. Colin lets go of my collar and he slaps me hard. I stumble backwards, holding my face in pain. His hand balls up into a fist and he slams it into my nose. 

The impact causes me to fall back on the floor, and I can do nothing but scream as he takes his foot and thrusts it into my stomach and other parts of my body. Pain surges through me like an electric shock. The house echoes with my screams as he shows no mercy. 

Unfortunately, all my screams are absorbed by the walls enclosing us, and cover the ugly truth of what goes on behind closed doors. "Shut up! Just shut up! You're a useless slut! No one wants you! Your family won't even miss you! They're probably having the time of their lives without you!" he screams at me. 

End warning

Just when I thought I had the strength to partially regenerate, he burned me back down again. It has happened so many times. I'm this close to just giving up and accepting my gruesome fate. But, there's a part of me that won't let him do that. He may have taken a lot of things from me, but a small part of me deep down tells me that I shouldn't let him take my life. 

"You're stuck with me! I'm the only person that will ever care for you! You have no one else! And I'll make sure of that. I'll make sure that you stay with me, and we'll start a family. That way, you can never leave me. We'll be together forever," his twisted self says. He then leaves me, bruised and bloodied, on the floor. I take my hand and lightly touch the parts that he made contact with. 

My ribs and my thighs are especially sore. There's definitely going to be some bruising. I hope more concealer can cover that up. After examining myself, I lay back onto the floor, and I just stay there until the pain goes away. Of course, there's definitely going to be scars.

And it's not just physical. 

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A little bit of a shorter chapter, but one that I feel like is needed to show one of the worst levels that Colin can possibly stoop to. How do you think Nicole's changed since marriage? Let me know in the comments. 

Hey everyone! How are you all? So, quick disclaimer. By making Colin a total douche isn't me saying that the actor whom I chose as his face claim is a douche as well. I'm actually watching The Vampire Diaries right now (I'm on the 2nd season) and his character is so sweet, and I feel like he's a great guy in general. So, heads up. 

Fun fact: I didn't realize half of my face claims were from fantasy TV shows (with a good handful from The Vampire Diaries) until I looked them up. If you all read INI, then you'll know that Colin's face claim and Pete's face claim have definitely crossed paths (in the characters of Jeremy Gilbert and Tyler Lockwood, respectively). They're both portrayed as the opposites of what I've written in my books. Funny, right? 

Okay, I'll shut up. I hope you guys liked this chapter!

Please vote/comment/share/follow/message if you like my work! See you all next Saturday with a new chapter of Phoenix! Have a great week!

Love you guys, 

Shree.