There was nothing he could say to change what had happened. He reached his hand up to his wide-open mouth to cover the astonishment.

Her expression was sad. She lay on the ground, holding onto the new bruise displayed on her eye. Nobody had ever so much as made a rude remark to Sadie, and now she was crying like she never had before, all because of her "Player Two".

"I...I'm so sorry...I don't know what just happened. You've gotta believe me. Please? Babe, please? I didn't say 'I do' because of your quitting attitude, I did it because I love you. And you know something I love about you? You have an amazing tolerance for jerks like me."

Sadie arose, brought her arm to wipe away the stream flowing from her eyes, and looked up at him. She gathered every ounce of energy that hadn't been shocked out of her by the blow and uttered, "Lars, you've crossed a line this time."

"I said I was sorry! I'll work for both of us at the Big Donut for a week-no-a month! Please, Sadie. You've gotta forgive me."

She turned away from him, clutched the door handle with a loose grip, and spoke through a shaking voice, "I'm leaving."

Aghast, Lars inquired, "leaving?! For how long?"

"Just leaving!", she sobbed loudly, already running down the stairs to the car. Truthfully, she had no idea where she was going, but she knew there was no way being around her abusive husband was the right thing to do. She didn't feel safe around him anymore.

Only after around ten minutes was she able to get farther than their driveway, as she hit the cracks in the pavement pulling out and broke down in tears once more. Now calm and collected, the bruised blonde furiously slammed on the gas pedal and drove away.

Kleenex were strewn about the floor back at Lars and Sadie's residence, stained with remorseful tears. Lars may put on a convincing tough-guy façade most of the time, but this really tipped him over the edge. His emotions couldn't be held in, and guilt was eating away at him.

Every part of Lars just wanted to let Sadie know how sorry he was, but he understood that she needed to have some time to herself. Still, being away from her was unbearable. After all, he made a vow to be a great husband through everything, in sickness and in health, to the end of his days.

Love seemed to be a distant memory at this point-he was truly bracing himself to accept the loss of his beloved spouse. Though he wanted nothing more than to have her happy and home with him once more, he felt an overwhelming sensation of powerlessness towards his wish.

As he struggled through an episode of Crying Breakfast Friends (the subject matter of which wasn't improving his mood), he thought about every little thing he did to upset her over their last five years of marriage...

...right, even though he KNOWS he's wrong! I hate when he yells at me for working late at the Big Donut. I hate when he laughs at me for being shorter than him. I hate when he shames me for being overweight. I hate...

She stopped mentally listing the things that she didn't like about Lars, because she was focusing so hard that she almost ignored the road in front of her. Suddenly, she had a horrible thought:

Did I deserve this?

In that moment, she recalled the events of that evening, playing them over in her head like a movie.

Everything seemed so clear when she recounted it, burned permanently into the clouded banks of her memories. First, she was laying on the couch, flipping through channels to see if anything was interesting enough to watch. By coincidence, as soon as she settled on a station to stick with, Lars stormed into the room, visibly infuriated.

"Something wrong, dear?", Sadie asked.

"Alright, how many times have I asked you to clean up our room?"

"The...well...I'm sorry! I've been putting in extra hours at the Donut, and I think I might finally get that managerial position.", she remarked. "Corporate has taken a close eye to the Beach City location, and I suspect it's a good thing this time!"

"That's the best excuse you've got?", he queried her.

"Hey!", she stood up and gave an angry stare, yelling, "I'm making most of the money in this house, anyway! Why are you getting angry at me for being the responsible one? You can't even be trusted not to eat the donuts at work! If I told you to clean our room, you'd forget to do it too. What would your excuse be?"

Everything in the logical reasoning section of his brain clicked off in an instant, and all of a sudden, his fist swung through the air. Before he could stop, or even realize what he had done, his fist got a sudden jolt of pain, and his wife forcefully fell backwards.

Even if he's a jerk I WAS being a bit harsh...maybe it's just me getting what I deserve. I hope not, but it could be true...

Now that she had a chance to look around without thinking to herself, she realized she had driven her station wagon down a strange road into the woods. It was dark outside, and she hadn't seen another car for miles, so she kept going until she eventually came across a cave that appeared to be inhabited by a civilized individual. It had a satellite dish, a basketball hoop, and even looked like a house from the outside.

During her momentary amazement at said secluded residence, she heard a voice coming from inside: "Ice Bear hears someone outside the cave." The door opened...

Alright, well, I'm new and I guess I'm just looking for some feedback here. I plan to make this a three-chapter story, and I'll publish the other two no matter what, but I'd be much more motivated to do so if I knew there were people reading this, y'know? If I get some reviews/faves/followers, I'll focus more effort into getting the next two chapters out faster. Thanks.