She rolls her eyes when he gets into fights or comes home drunk at 3am. She is beautiful and keeps their house just the way he likes it. She thoughtfully displays his collection of antique medical instruments on their mantelpiece, despite finding the objects alien and unnerving.
She sometimes hides in their next-door neighbours’ garden. She sits quietly in the sun behind a thick curtain of ivy. He calls her name when he arrives, then again, and again, his urgency increasing as the silence reveals her absence to him. She sips her tea and leafs carefully through her book.