List

I decided to make a list tonight of all the reasons I will never get back together with Tom. I went through my diaries, listing everything out, and as I read through everything, more and more memories came back to the surface – things I had never written about but were obviously hurtful enough for…

Reaquainting

There are many things that people might think are the worst things about the kind of relationship I’m in. Maybe they think it’s the shouting and screaming, or they may believe it’s the actual words that get said. They may see it as the manipulation that’s the hardest thing to bear, or the constant worry…

Passed

Recently, I’ve been feeling that life has passed me by and it’s really starting to get me down. In the last couple of years, I’ve gone from being someone who lived life to the full with parties, pubs, clubs and singing lessons. I’ve gone from going out dancing, to karaoke, camping weekends with Susie and…

Knowledge

One day last week, Tom woke up in a bit of a mood. The best way for me to deal with his moods is to leave him alone until he snaps out of it. He was working from home, so he spent the next couple of hours on his laptop. I got on and tidied…

Thunder

Christmas Day didn’t quite go the way I hoped, unfortunately. The children woke and opened their presents while Tom sat with a face like thunder, watching them. He spent the rest of the day complaining about what I’d bought for the children, saying they should have only had one small present each, and that the…

Empty

Tom shocked me by saying he would do the Christmas food shop. I used the opportunity to spend some quality time with the children by taking them out for a couple of hours. It was cold but so nice to spend time together. I came back to find the cupboards as I left them; the…

Holiday

We’ve just returned from a visit to Tom’s family, and I hated every minute of it.

Silenced

Amelia had some friends over to sleep tonight for her birthday. The girls’ bedroom isn’t big enough to sleep everyone, so I decided they could sleep downstairs in the living room. Tom has been in a mood all day; tonight he exploded. He said I had no right to arrange a sleepover in his house…

Grass

I was about to cut the grass today when Tom stopped me. He told me I wasn’t to do it as I didn’t know what I was doing and would fuck it up. Instead, he said we’d tackle the house together. He suggested he would do downstairs while I did upstairs. I went to our…

Steps

Tom’s many trips away and the endless nights at the pub have been really affecting me, so when I saw a 6-man tent in perfect condition for sale for £25, I snapped it up. I planned a weekend away for us all. He refused to come with us. The children and I came back from…

Cinema

Tom actually agreed to go out with me tonight, just me and him. Whenever I’ve asked him before, he’s refused to go because he doesn’t want to leave Annie with babysitters or because he thinks he’d be bored with just my company.  I was so excited when he agreed, and I allowed myself to imagine…

Mission

Dreaming I am in Ashcombe; there is a feeling of a disaster has taken place and a rescue mission happening. A car has crashed through some railings and gone into the water.  There is a rocket that is about to take off; my children all get on board, but I am scared that it will crash the same as the car. I don’t want any of us to have to get on, but we don’t seem to have a choice. I climb on…

Allowance

Tom and I don’t have a joint bank account; he doesn’t want one. Instead, he gives me money for food. Until recently, he was giving me £10 or £20 each day to get dinner, but when I said I wanted to be able to do a weekly shop, he agreed to put a monthly amount…

Waiting

For the third time this week, Tom is at the pub twenty miles away. He left home just before 5pm. He planned on coming back sometime after midnight. Usually, he’ll come home on the last train, stumble through the door, pour himself a glass of wine, maybe a second, before staggering up to bed and…

Saturday

It’s Saturday night, which, for Tom and I, has always meant having a curry and a drink together, except I stopped drinking almost nine months ago when I fell pregnant. He didn’t stop. Tonight, when our curry arrived, he opened his beers and brought out a bottle of vodka that he’d bought earlier. He poured…

Weeks

As I’m nearing the end of my pregnancy, I’m feeling emotional, tired and stressed. I have too much time on my hands. I’m looking back over the last few months, and I’m seeing a picture that I don’t like. In the first weeks of pregnancy, when the tiredness was extreme, I mentioned how exhausted I…