Love is the only reason I haven't given up. I kept holding on through it all. I went through the despair, the inner thrashings, the emotional scars. I believed it could work, I pulled myself up, I tried harder than I ever have. As he beat me everyday I held on to that thought. I thought about how he would let me go in three years and I could live my life again. I could see my beloved Tom again.
As the whip sends sensations of pain and agony against my bottom I think of his blue crystal eyes. As I wait in hunger for my one meal a day I think about his hair falling over his eyes, every brown tendril glistening in perfection. Every time that bat cracks against the small of my back I think of his husky comforting voice. Every pain that touches me I think of him. I haven't surrendered to the pain and I won't. Love is the only reason.