Love Means Nothin' | Markee Anderson

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Story Behind The Story: Love Means Nothin'

I wrote this story for all the women in the world who are abused in some way in their lives, and for all the people who feel imprisoned in their situation.

My character, Melody, has a very sad life and is abused by her father and her brother. She's forced to be a slave to her family, and her father will never let her leave or get involved in any normal relationship. She has to be very careful of what she says, or her father will go to jail, again, get out, and beat her.

I've seen many women in this same situation, in almost every state in which I've lived. They feel trapped by their past, unable to move to the future. Their self-confidence level has been so diminished, they don't think they can even correctly sign their name.

Two women, specifically, come to mind when I think about this topic. Both were trapped in their marriages for different reasons. They had to follow the rules or their husband would get upset, and possibly beat them (I have no proof of that, but from the way they behaved, I suspected something was going on). Neither of the women were permitted to speak or spend any money without their husband's permission. Their husbands also controlled the clothes they wore, their haircuts, where and when they went, how much money they spent down to the penny, and even tried to control their thoughts.
One of the women was very timid (she moved here from Germany to marry her husband) and I believe she thought she owed him her citizenship. He was the type of man to throw it in her face every day. She was miserable, only able to talk to others if allowed. If I'd ask her questions about her happiness or her marriage, she'd shut down. We used to walk together for exercise, since she was a neighbor. When she'd shut down, she'd immediately leave and go back home. This woman was truly afraid her husband would find out how she truly felt. She had no freedom.

The other woman seemed to enjoy being controlled, even enabling the process, because she thought it was Biblical. Her husband came first, even before the children, and he was allowed to do as he wished. She even served him his meal first, because he was the 'love of her life,' her only chance to wed, according to her. Even though he didn't work (she was the breadwinner), he could spend money like water, could go out when he wanted to, and didn't have to answer to anyone. But if his wife wanted to get a can of soup, the husband said no if it wasn't on sale. His needs came first, as did his big-screen television, new cars, and new computer every year. That woman died of cancer, without her husband at her side. The woman's own family watched her die in Hospice. The woman's mother and sister called the husband at two in the morning (he couldn't be bothered to be there, knowing his own wife had little time left) and the first thing out of his mouth was, 'when do I get my insurance money'? No kidding.

The men, in both of these stories, had entitlement and control issues. They weren't men, but little boys who would throw temper tantrums and place such a burden of guilt on the women, that the women can never be free. I know of other stories much like these, so don't think they're very unusual.

I based Melody's father on these type of men. By no fault of her own, she was more of a slave than a person, not able to break free of her past through lack of money and heaps of guilt thrust upon her…until she meets John Spencer. John's family believes in equal rights and compassion, something Melody never experienced before. John and Melody's old friends have a goal to save her from her abusive life back home. John is an ideal to Melody. She couldn't care less that he's a big star, because to her, his heart of gold means a lot more than his money. He truly cares about her.

John's also fighting his own battle against fame and his own family. His mother is a socialite and his father is a rich businessman. They don't have an ideal marriage, with a goal to make money and gain fame, especially through their son. John isn't happy about it, either. He hates tennis and fame. He'd rather do something to contribute to society and get away from his family.

Things begin to unravel in John's life. His strained relationship between his parents and him becomes caustic between his mother and father. John only has Melody left, but she's forced to leave New York to save John's career. With each other's help, they can both move forward and break free of their imprisonment, stronger with the help of each other's assistance.

It's my wish for every person stuck in a place where they can't escape, to find someone to help set them free. I don't believe our lives were meant to be forced to a cage, to be controlled in any way. So for all of those readers who are fighting their own prisons, know there is hope. Sometimes it comes by way of meeting someone by chance, and sometimes, it takes some real backbone to become free. It just takes one kind word or one step, but hope for freedom is out there.

~~~~~
Read the first chapter here.

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