Obsequy

Pam’s body was found behind the door of some public toilets in
Eldon Square Shopping Centre at 10:31am on Monday morning. She had
cut her wrists with a broken bottle of Irn-Bru and bled to death. The
lacerations ran up both arms from the wrist to the elbow and there was
no doubt that she intended to die, this was no feeble cry for help, this
was the only way she could escape the nightmare her life had become.

It had started off well enough with a happy upbringing; both parents were
always around, she did well in her lessons, even secured a place at
Grammar school. She was a bit shy if anything but all that changed when
a friend introduced her to Rollo at a disco and he in turn introduced her
to the delights of alcohol. She couldn’t remember which she fell in love
with first but here she was, a lifetime later, and they were
still the two most important things in her life.

Pam and Rollo never got married, it just never occurred to them,
they were always too drunk or scraping together enough money for some
more booze. Children were never an issue either, Pam only managed to
menstruate a couple of times a year and most of the time Rollo had trouble
in that department too although he would never admit it. Rollo was like
that, he used to say he was born an alcoholic, that way it wasn’t his fault,
nothing ever was. When he battered Pam it was always her fault, when he
stubbed out cigarettes on her skin, that was her fault too and when he
locked her in a room and raped her she was asking for it. Always
asking for it. Luckily Pam was usually too drunk to remember the next
day but the scars and bruises were always there as witnesses. She could
have forced the memories if she wanted but she knew it was
better to leave them unremembered.