Earl Had To Die

All She Found Was Earl

TW- SPOUSE ABUSE

The first time Earl hit Wanda, she felt it coming. He had been slamming doors in their now shared house all day, and his anger ran through the whole place, a constant undercurrent of primal terror. The feeling seeped into her bones, making her buzzy and anxious. As she reached for a glass of water to cool her nerves, a door slammed. Wanda jumped, dropping the glass in an instant. The glass shattered at once, and the second the sound reached her ears she was back in the restaurant, everyone staring, judging. Then the door flew open, and she was back in the kitchen, and his hands were around her neck, and she couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't think.

''Stop being so fucking airheaded.'' Earl hissed. His breath smelled like whiskey. ''I bet you do this on purpose. Just to make me look bad.'' Wanda was seeing stars. She clawed at his hands feebly, and he dropped her to the ground. She fell, gasping for breath. Earl squatted down and said something, but she couldn't hear him over the rushing in her ears. Then his hand was on her face, almost soothingly. His hand left her face, and then it was coming back, much faster. He slapped her. It stung like hell, and tears filled her closed eyes. Earl left, and she broke into sobs. She couldn't marry him. She couldn't. Wanda took a deep breath and got up, tears still streaming down her face like rain. She walked over to the old-fashioned landline phone Earl insisted on having and, with shaking hands, dialed Mary Anne's number. Her nerves were so shot that she had to redial three times. No one picked up the first time, so she called again. She called over and over, until she fell asleep on the floor.