Rinse and repeat

A Story by starNsoul

She closed her eyes. She did not have to wait anymore. She felt herself being lifted, dragged upwards.

The resonance of the glass crashing against the wall seemed to have amplified itself since the last time.
The last time .When was that? Two minutes ago? Or two seconds ago?

“Rinse and repeat…” she muttered silently to herself. Those bony, fragile hands looked as if they had been played now and again by the cruel test of fate, not time, fate.
Another glass shattered to pieces. There were thudding sounds now as if somebody was pounding against a wall. Her lip trembled.

“Rinse and repeat”
She whispered the words slowly to herself again and again until they gained a definite tune. Her hands worked at the cloth in front of her…rinsing, repeating. There was something monotonous about the way she washed the cloth, a kind of mechanical touch in it as if the daily routine was more out of a habit than curiosity.
The cloth shone a vibrant color. But she was less bothered. Her fingertips had dried up to be rugged and uneven, but she still worked. A lone teardrop zigzagged its way down her cheek, pausing for a second on her chin before falling into the soapy water.
The tiniest splash was heard.

“Rinse and repeat” she muttered for the last time.
All was silent now.

Later, she sat against the windowsill curled up in a ball, her arms hugging her knees, her chin resting on top, gazing out into the dark. She did not curse her wretched destiny. She did not cry at her misfortune. She had learnt by now that all of it was useless. She just kept gazing into the twilight…into the bleak shadows that lay ahead and waited.
There were sounds of snoring from the adjacent room. He was probably in the hall, lying haphazardly on the sofa, a bottle of whisky in his hand and a cigarette in his mouth. She could picture it all quite vividly; his red, unshaven face and his grimy body. She could picture him muttering in his sleep, mumbling incoherencies she was sure she did not want to hear.
Something was not right…

It was too quiet, the silence so beautiful, so peaceful…it was disturbing.
Suddenly a piercing crash sliced through the stillness of the night and brought her back to earth, almost as if someone had read her thoughts. There was a loud bang as he fell on the floor followed by obscenities.

She relaxed and waited for the inevitable…

Soon enough he staggered into the room, his head lolling from side to side. He caught sight of her and smiled sickly as he lumbered towards her.
She closed her eyes. She did not have to wait anymore. She felt herself being lifted, dragged upwards. She could smell the putrid odor of whisky and garlic in his breath, the smell of a drunk. She felt him pausing, and for a tiniest moment a familiar feeling of déjà vu struck her. A flashback…of an abusive husband, a determined wife and a little girl. Then it was gone.

He was shoving her downwards, his fists grinding her back. He rolled her around with his feet just like a predator playing with its food. She opened her eyes gradually and saw the cool night sky outside the open window. Somewhere inside her she realized that he had now taken off his shoe and was beating her with it. However, she felt no pain.

“Rinse and repeat” she whispered.
She thought of her mom who had shared the same fate as her, and who like her had resigned herself to the torture. When all around her was going berserk, she remembered those times in the scanty bathroom with a little dirty towel and somehow the painful reality would seem to fade away as she became engrossed in her work. She would find herself leaving the world behind with all its suffering and injustice.

She smiled as the shoe cracked down on her like a whip.

Rinse and repeat…