After being subject to another of Colin's beatings, I wake up the next morning and lay there for a good 30 minutes. I try to tune out the pain that's surging throughout my body, even though it's to an almost excruciating point. I'm contemplating all my past life choices, and all my days throughout which I've suffered. All the days I've suffered because of the monster I was married off to.

For the past 3 years, Colin has been anything but loving and kind to me. He has tried to brainwash me into thinking that he's my only hope and that my family doesn't miss me. I know all of that is a load of bull crap.

Why? Because, not long before I was married off, Elena and Dom told me something. They told me something that I never forgot, even in my darkest times.

"Nicole, if it was just you, Dom, and I, then people would touch you over our dead bodies. We're always going to love you, whether you know it or not. Remember that, always," Elena had said. Those icy blue eyes that were so neutral on many days had so much meaning and emotion woven into them that I couldn't find a single lie sewn into her statement.

I found those words so meaningful and inspiring. I also found it a way to strengthen my bond with Elena. For all my years of marriage, in addition to thinking about what Dom told me as a kid, all I could think about in addition to that was how Elena was doing. I wondered how long they had been searching for, and if they would ever stick to their promise and keep on looking for me.

All I want to do is go out, leave Colin, and just get out of my hellhole marriage. But, I know that was far from a reality. I know Elena had tried to look for me as much as she could manage. But, I don't know if she's going to have the motivation or hope to look for me any longer.

After about 30 minutes, I pick myself up and go to the bathroom. I sway from side to side, like someone is controlling me with a rope tied to my arm. I feel like that rope is severely affecting my balance, and I'm going to fall flat on my face any second now.

Once I get inside, I inhale the sight of my damaged body like a perfume scent. Patches of red irritation blot my body in more than a few places. Blood is encrusted around my lip like someone had taken a red marker and tried to line my lips with it. Stripes of blood are swiped all over my face and arms, like tiger stripes. There's a lot more than I expected though. Colin really made his mark on me.

I pull up my shirt, and there's a large red spot on my stomach and several on my ribs. Well, nothing a long shirt can cover up. I'll ice them later.

I look at my nose, and the blood is crusty from drying. I wet some tissue and I clean up the blood from my nose. I take my Nyx concealer and swipe the wand against my facial bruises. The cold concealer magically covers up my bruises, making them invisible. It's almost like someone took a magic wand and performed a spell to make them disappear from my face.

I take a brush and I blend out the concealer in order to cover up my bruises. I then shove a tissue up in my nose so that I don't have any additional bleeding.

Then, I wet a paper towel and I press it against the red spots in an effort to soothe them. I don't need any more bruises. I've already gotten too many to start with. And that's just counting the physical bruises.

While I'm soothing my injuries, Colin comes into the bedroom. He looks as if he's already taken a shower, as the tips of his hair are still shiny from moisture. He looks at me, with an evilly triumphant look on his face. "Ah, I see that you've regained yourself after you've fallen off of your broom," he says snarkily.

I roll my eyes. "What do you want?" I demand. He comes up to me and he grabs my face. His fingers dig into my cheeks, with the pressure weighing down on my jaw.

"Watch your tone, princess. I don't want you getting too smart with me," he demands, and he lets go of my face.

"The group is coming over for dinner today. Cook Shepherd's pie and dress nicely today," he demands. I sigh. "Fine," I say, and I throw the tissue away.

The "group" is a clan of Colin's close friends from work. They come to our home once in a while, and we go to their houses sometimes. The group consists of Colin, Mark, Alex, Will, and Dylan.

They all treat me fairly, but out of all of them, Mark treats me the best. He's the only one that knows about the abuse I'm suffering because of Colin, because he saw one of my bruises as he was over for dinner one night.

I begged him not to tell anyone, because we both knew that Colin would find some way to kill us because of it. He agreed, although very reluctantly, but his door is always open if I need anything from him.

I still have some stomach pain from the beating from last night, but that doesn't hinder my hunger. I'm wolfing down my toast like it's air, and the milk runs down my throat like it's oil. Food feels like a luxury after a long night.

While I'm eating, Colin comes down, in old sweats. He's holding his head, possibly from the hangover, and he groans as he walks into the kitchen. He just looks like someone drug him through a redwood forest.

He swings open the pantry door, and tears it apart looking for some Advil. It's like a robber looking through all the belongings you have in your house in an attempt to find something that is of monetary value.

When he finds what he needs, I place a cup filled with water next to him, and I go back to eating my breakfast. "Can you not eat so loudly?" he snaps, as he downs his Advil with some water. To be fair, I can't blame him. Hangovers amplify your hearing by a thousand times.

"Hangovers," I think to myself as I roll my eyes. That's probably one of the reasons I will never drink in my life.

As I continue to eat my breakfast, Colin eyes me weirdly. "Don't eat so much, Nicole. You're already fat enough. I don't need you to get any more fat," he insults, as he slams the pantry door shut and walks back up the stairs to possibly either take a shower or sleep off his hangover even more.

Behind my back, my middle finger shoots straight up, while glaring at him. "And yet, this body still got some awards in her varsity softball team in high school. Take that, you little jerk," I snap back in my mind, as I finish up my breakfast.

After cleaning up the kitchen, the phone rings. "I got it!" I call, and I pick up the phone. I do know Colin doesn't want to pick up the phone because he will complain that it will blast his eardrums out.

"Hello?" I say into the line, as I'm wiping down the counter.

"Ah, Nicole! How are you doing?" the person asks. I immediately recognize the kind, yet booming voice of Mark as I wipe down the counter. I smile.

"Doing fine, Mark! How about you? How's Elise?" I ask.

"Oh, she's great. So, tell Colin we'll be there around 6:30."

I finish wiping down the counter. "Will do." I throw away the cloth.

"Good. Hör zu, wie geht es dir? Hat er dir wehgetan? (Listen, how are you doing? Did he hurt you?)" Mark asks.

I shrug. "Es ist nichts. Wirklich. (It's nothing. Really)." I assure him, but I hate lying to him. Lying to the one person I know I can trust shoves a sword through my heart. Everything is wrong, but I don't know if I can tell him the incident that happened last night.

"Wir werden sehen, wenn ich da bin. Bleib in Sicherheit, (We'll see when we get there. Stay safe.)" he says, with a hint of suspicion attempting to mask the worry in his voice. I sigh.

"Okay. Bis dann (okay. See you)," I say, and hang up. Mark always talks to me in German, since I'm fluent, just in case Colin's listening, because I don't want him to overhear on our conversations and understand that he knows about the abuse.

Colin doesn't understand any language in some sort of relation to German, so it's just a way to ensure that I'm not getting into any trouble with him. I'm just playing it safe. I go upstairs to give the news, and Colin's laying in the bed, staring at the ceiling. his eyes are squeezed shut in an effort to tune out everything around him.

"What was that about?" he asks.

"Mark just wanted to let you know he's coming at around 6:30," I say.

He sighs. "Was that all?" he asks, like he's about to die. He sounds like he just wants to nail his own coffin shut and lower it into the ground as of that moment.

I nod. "Pretty much," I say. He nods, and that's my cue to go and finish up the rest of the work in the house.

One day, I do hope that Mark's offer does come in handy for me when it comes to the marriage. I just don't know when, but all I can hope for is that the future is more fortunate than last night.

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Fun fact: this is actually the shortest chapter in Phoenix. I'm sure of it. So the chapters will definitely be longer than this one. So, we got introduced to Mark! It seems like, other than Colin, he's the only person who knows about everything that's happening to Nicole. Do you think she will ever take up that offer? Let me know in the comments.

Hey everyone! How are you doing? Okay, I made a LOT of these requests in INI, because I incorporated lots of French, some Italian, and a touch of Czech and Estonian because of Sophia's Italian and French blood, and Ray's Czech and Estonian blood. So, if you are a native German speaker, let me know if I made any mistakes. I would've asked my dad for help, but his German isn't that advanced, haha.

If you're a hochdeutsch (high German) speaker, that's better, because that's what Nicole's dad learned (he was born and raised in Germany until he was like 8), but honestly, I need all the help that I can get. So if you can help me, or if you know someone who can help me, thank you!

Other than that, I don't have anything else to say. 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.