The Lamp

Through the blood which ran down her face from the cut on her forehead, the upturned lamp glowed pink. She noticed the damage, a crack in the porcelain base, where It rested mere inches from her eyes as she lay curled in a fetal position on the carpet. The lamp was now as broken as she herself felt.

Her head throbbed and she knew she must not move, not yet. Closing her eyes and waiting for her breath to steady, April waited for the sound of the front door to slam shut. She heard him swearing, he was looking for his keys and prayed he would find them quickly and leave. At last, she heard the front door open and then slam shut when he left the house. The sound of the car’s tyres squealing up the street allowed her to release a shuddering breath. Rolling over onto her knees, she grabbed on to a kitchen chair and rose unsteadily to her feet.

For a few moments, unsure of her next move, still in shock from the violence she had experienced from someone who professed to love her, she stood, unable to move.
Tears pooled, threatening to fall, blurring her vision when she thought of what her grandmother would think if she could see her now. She’d been the one who had given them the lamp as a wedding present.

“Are you sure Alex is the one for you, darling?” Those words which her grandmother had asked her so many times, came flooding back. It was as if she’d seen something in Alex, April had been blind too.

It had been only a few months into the marriage when Alex began to show signs of controlling behaviour. Tonight, his anger had boiled over when she was later than she’d said after visiting her grandmother, who lived a few miles away.

“Where have you been?” His words, although spoken quietly had held a threat.

“I told you I was going to visit Gran.” April felt the need to give a reason. “She’s very unwell. I’m worried about her.”

“You’re always round there. You should be here when I get back from work.”

“That’s not true. Anyway, I’m all she’s got. You know that.”

“You are all I’ve got. She should be in a nursing home, let someone else take care of her.”

The thought of putting her beloved grandmother in a care home shocked April and defiantly she had told him that wouldn’t be something she would ever consider.
For the first time Alex’s frustration turned physical. The first slap across her face was
as if a floodgate had been opened. It was followed by a series of vicious blows culminating in April lying on the floor bleeding. The broken lamp, collateral damage.

She came out of her trancelike state and knew she needed to leave in a hurry. She had no money and no friends since her marriage, she had allowed Alex to isolate her.
With trembling hands, she called the only person she could trust.

“Gran, I’m so sorry to call this late.” She paused before admitting what Alex had done. “I need to leave.”

“Oh, April.” The sound of her grandmother’s voice instantly soothed her, as it always had since being a child. “Come home.”

“He took the car, Gran.”

“Call a taxi love. Get out of there quickly, while you can. We’ll figure it out together.”

Finding hidden strength, April gathered a few essentials and prepared to leave the house which had become her prison. The lamp still glowed, and on a whim, she unplugged it and prepared to take it with her as a symbol of hope. She would repair the damage, and even though it would never be perfect, the cracks in the lamp like the scars she bore would become part of her story, a story of survival, strength, and the courage to reclaim her life.