Annabelle grew up in an abusive situation,
her mother hated her, told her she was ugly and fat and good for nothing other
than to be used by men. “If you make yourself easily accessible and willing to
do whatever any man tells you to do, you will be able to earn a great deal of
money.” These words played over and over in Annabelle’s mind for months and
years, not knowing to believe anything else, she simply trusted her mother’s
direction and followed her advice.
As
she reached her sixteenth year, she found that many of the boys at school were
more than happy to pay her a lot of money to give herself to them, to be used
by them, and to eventually fade away as nothing more than an object for
pleasure. As hundreds of dollars came to her each week, she began to purchase
the things that made her happy; clothing, perfume, jewelry, birth control
pills, and the morning after pill.
She
continued this for the next six years as she finished high school and
university. After graduating from university, she eventually figured out that
her current path of earning money greatly exceeded her vocational salary. She
remained living with her parents until she graduated and was disgusted to be regularly
visited by her father, her uncles, her brothers, and her cousins, all demanding
the same attention.
Weeks
turned into months which turned into years and her bank account continued to
grow and her soul eventually become an aching void of feeling used and abused. “I
have had enough of this,” she grumbled to herself, “now is the time to find my
own apartment and focus my attention on my regular job. I am done being the play
thing for so many random men who truly don’t care about me.”
Annabelle
spent every evening after work, searching for an apartment that was relatively
close to her place of work. After three weeks of searching, she found the
perfect apartment that was close enough for her to walk to work and allowed her
to avoid her lecherous family. Using her feminine charm, she convinced four men
from her place of work to help her load her things into a moving truck and
unload them into her new apartment. Her efforts paid off and at the same time
she needed to offer the use of her body to pay for their help.
Moving
day arrived and Annabelle reserved a moving truck, walked to the rental
company, paid the necessary fees and met her four workers at her parent’s home.
The five of them emptied her room in less than one hour, loaded the truck, and
quickly transferred all of her belongings into her new apartment. All four men
offered to help her unpack, set up furniture, and receive their payment before
they left for the day. In a whirlwind of attention, Annabelle watched as all
four men left at the same time, leaving her feeling sore and tired.
“Phew,
no more of that,” she said out loud. “I will be perfectly happy if I never
interact with another man for the rest of my life.” As she listened to the
front door close, she crawled from her bed, crossed through the living room,
and locked the door. “Wow, that was really rough,” she said. “I need to take a
shower and get something to eat.” Limping into the bathroom, she took a
relatively cool shower, washed her hair, dressed in comfortable clothes, and
called for a food delivery service to bring her dinner.
Within
forty-five minutes, a knock sounded on her front door to reveal a college age
girl holding her still hot dinner. “Oh, thank goodness,” she said. “I am
starving. Here’s your tip. Have a good day.” She paused to look around her
apartment which had been beautifully set up and arranged to then sit down at
the dining room table. “I need some music,” she thought. “That will take my
mind off of things and maybe I can put together a different approach to life.”
As
she finished her dinner of Mexican food, with a side of chips and salsa, she
was happy to find a bottle of fruit juice in her fridge. Releasing a wide and
aggressive yawn, she looked at the time and realized that it was only seven o’clock
in the evening. “Wow, I am so tired, I guess I should not be surprised at that,”
she thought. “Moving all of that furniture and the big group thing that
happened just a couple of hours ago. I need to go to bed early.”
Staying
in her comfortable clothes, she stretched out on the living room floor, and performed
about twenty minutes of yoga to relax her body. “What is going on outside?” she
wondered. “Look at that, what a beautiful sunset,” as she peeked through the blinds.
“I should probably make an effort to meet some of my neighbors, that can wait
until tomorrow or the next day, I suppose.”
Stepping
away from the window, she shuffled into her bedroom, put away her clothes, set
up her clock, changed her sheets, and snuggled under two cozy blankets. Waking
up in absolute darkness, Annabelle felt confused with her surroundings,
eventually remembering that she had moved into a new location to see that it
was already one in the morning. The sound of someone banging on her door ripped
her from her much needed sleep. She put on her slippers, peeked through the
door viewer and saw her father staring at her door with his arms folded,
looking very angry.
“Nope,
I am not opening this door,” she thought. “I am going back to sleep. I need to
be rested for the next day of work.” Sliding back under her covers, she drifted
once again into sleep to again be wakened by more knocking. “This is dumb,” she
grumbled. “Call the police, Annabelle,” she told herself. She dialed 911 and
reported that someone was causing a great deal of noise and aggression outside
of her apartment door. Within thirty minutes, she saw a police cruiser approach
the building, to then watch two officers enter the building.
Stepping
to the door viewer, she watched as the police officers hauled her angry father
away from her door, down the stairs, and place him in the back of their car. “Oh,
thank God,” she said. “Now I can go back to sleep without being interrupted
again.” Annabelle was pulled from sleep by her six o’clock alarm. “Ugh, well at
least I feel rested now. I hope I can find something for breakfast before I go
to work.”
Freshly
showered, she dressed for a day of professional work, quietly left the
apartment building and began her short walk to work. “Oof, I am so hungry, I
guess I can pick up some pastries and a coffee on my walk,” she thought. Smiling
and waving at a few people as she left her apartment building, she spied a
coffee shop a few blocks ahead, which offered a large variety of breakfast foods.
Walking,
drinking, and eating, she finished her small meal before arriving at work. She
took her place at her desk and worked very hard to avoid interacting with the
four men who helped her move the day before. “That’s it, no more men for me,”
she grumbled. “What does a new life for Annabelle look like now?” she wondered.
“I wonder if I can find a good man who will genuinely love me for who I am and
not for what he can take from me?”
Three
months passed and she began interacting with multiple people in her apartment
building. Her dream came true when she met a handsome and kind young man about
her age on the floor below hers. He introduced himself as Timothy, invited her
out for dinner, and the two of them spent the following Friday evening enjoying
a pleasant meal, a long genuine conversation, to learn the details of one
another’s lives. Annabelle of course, did not reveal her lecherous past and
invented a story about a kind, loving family and her great success at work, and
in investing.
Two
years passed and Timothy eventually proposed to Annabelle, giving them a few
months to plan for the wedding. When the wedding invitation list was formed,
Annabelle only invited friends, inventing the story that her family lived on the
opposite side of the country and were not willing to travel to attend the wedding.
The few months passed, Timothy and Annabelle enjoyed a beautiful wedding
ceremony, and a three-week honeymoon in Paris, France.
Their
marriage started out as a beautiful relationship to eventually slide into a
cacophony of anger, mistrust, and empty accusations. On several occasions,
Annabelle caught Timothy spending time with other women, whom he had met on
various dating services, which only fed the fuel of her anger and
disappointment. In the face of gross adultery, she filed for divorce and once
again found herself alone and wondering what she had done wrong.
“You
didn’t do anything wrong, Annabelle,” she told herself. “It seems that all men
are the same. I am so disappointed. I guess I’ll need to find some girlfriends
who will not betray my trust or turn against me.” Chapter three of Annabelle’s
life turned out to be radically different than the first two chapters. Now with
a friendly and chatty roommate, she found a good and true friend who cared for
her, and asked her questions to help her make her life a good and beautiful
thing.
Annabelle
and her roommate Jennifer, slowly grew old together, never having children, and
both vowing to never be involved with men ever again. Jennifer reached her
eighty-fifth year and Annabelle found that her life had come to an end one
morning when she woke up early to check on her friend. “Oh, this is terrible,”
she thought, “now I’m alone again. I guess I ought to call 911 and find out
what we need to do.”
Annabelle
sat on her couch, curled up in a ball, and watched as the EMT’s rolled the gurney
out of their apartment with a cold and lifeless Jennifer. Three hours later, a
grief counselor came to her door to offer words of consolation and questions
about her plans now that she was alone.
“Thank
you for coming over,” Annabelle said. “I am getting very old so maybe I’ll move
into an assisted care facility so I can be with others like myself.”
“I
believe that is a great idea,” the woman said. “I can suggest a few locations
and I can take you can visit each one so you can make an informed decision. It
is not good for someone to be alone all the time. I’ll return tomorrow
afternoon with this information and we can work through it together. I believe
this is a good path for you. I am sorry for your loss. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
The
two women hugged, said goodbye again and wiped tears from their eyes. Annabelle
returned to her couch, wrapped herself in a blanket and resumed her balled up
position, feeling empty and lonely, wondering what the rest of the evening and
the next day would look like.