Melissa found her flight uneventful. She napped through the majority of it, finding herself tired and sleepy. She was the only passenger on the flight, and the pilot stayed in the cockpit. She spoke to him a little a couple of times, asking a few questions, but she found that she preferred to spend the time alone. When she was not sleeping, she was thinking. Largely wondering just what she had gotten herself into.
Her parents had died right before she graduated from high school. She was an only child, had no relatives that she knew of, and what her parents had in assets pretty much equaled the debt that they owed and what it took to bury them. She managed to graduate, but found herself stranded in the sea of life. She had a secretary job, though she was not terribly interested in such work. It barely covered her little efficiency apartment and what modest expenses she had. She had few friends, and did not get out much. She was depressed, though she did not know it at the time. Overall, life had not been very good to her, and she was easily impressed by Roger.
She met Roger at a bar on a rare excursion out with a co-worker from work. He told her how beautiful she was, made her feel good about herself, and convinced her that he was a great guy. He was attractive, was financially successful, and she really enjoyed his attention. The relationship moved very quickly, and before long she accepted his offer to move in with him.
She was relieved to have the pressure of making her own way taken away. He had a very nice house, and it was not long before he told her that he would like her to quit her job and stay at home to keep house for him. She welcomed the chance to get away from the nowhere job that she had just like she had welcomed the chance to get out of the small, unpleasant apartment she had had.
He made some demands on her, expecting to have meals cooked and the house clean, but that seemed reasonable to her. She did her best to make him happy. And initially, it seemed like she did. But as time went on, it seemed as though she could never actually please him. She tried, but somehow success was always partial or just out of reach. She understood that she needed to keep trying, and that if she got it right, she would then be all right. He would complain about her cooking, and even if it was something he had liked at one time, he might be very critical about the same thing another time. He found fault with her housecleaning, and would actually do a sort of inspection sometimes when he returned from work, always finding things she had failed to do to his satisfaction. He would point out how well he treated her, how he was taking care of her and all she had to do was such simple work that she could not seem to get right. He disapproved of her friends, and did not want her going out. She only had a few friends anyway, and not very close ones, and it was not long before she was isolated from them.
She was busy full-time trying to get it right, trying to make Roger happy. She seldom got any real praise, and became satisfied if he was just not critical. Eventually, he took to telling her to strip and he would put her over his knee and spank her naked bottom for her offenses. Sometimes he would even use a paddle, and she would be expected to apologize for whatever misdemeanor he had accused her of every time.
She was expected to be available for him sexually at all times. Things got worse not long after she moved in, but by the time she had lived with him a year, she had learned how to work in the system, and while she seldom got it right, she learned how to avoid any real severe punishment. She adapted pretty well, and didn't see any place to go to get away. All and all, things were not that bad. Or so she told herself. Truth was, she did not have any decent alternatives.
Melissa was pretty sure that it was his having found a new woman to have move in that was behind his kicking her out. He had always kept erratic hours, but in the few months before he threw her out, he had been gone a lot, and had treated her particularly badly. He had tied her up more than once, one time using the paddle on her until she was red all over her butt and legs, and twice using his belt. Each time, he left her tied for the remainder of the night.
He was calmer and more gentle following a night like that, but she was bruised for days. She tried and tried, but whatever it was she did it was the wrong thing. Finally, he simply came home one evening, took one bite of his supper, threw his fork down and said "That's all I can take. Get out."
Melissa stared at him. In a way, she thought that he would never let her go. But to be thrown out? He stood up and said "Now!"
She backed away, and started for her room. He followed her in and continued to shout at her, warning her to get out now. She took a few clothes, threw them into a bag, and ran for the door. He grabbed her arm as she went by, and he told her to never come back or he would see that she regretted it. He told her to give him her key, which she did. He told her she was worthless, disgusting, and that he couldn't see what he had ever seen in her. He shoved her toward the door. She stumbled, turned, and left.
She found a motel that night. She had little money, and she carefully conserved that until she could find a job. Only she couldn't find one. Not until she found this one. It seemed ironic to her that she was receiving more respect and courtesy in her position as a "sexual plaything" than she had gotten from Roger for years. She was contemplating this when the plane began to descend for landing. She would be arriving at her new residence quite soon.
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"Very nice to meet you."