Excerpts from a longer (short) story about domestic violence

She often had a nightmare that she floated in a pond paved with coloured stones, their smoothness and intensity of colour calling out, the water warm like a bath. She is excited by the stones so available to grasp, a fire is kindled in her stomach. She reaches for one, but her hand is heavy. The water churns and the stone is unobtainable, concealed in the froth. She wants to dunk down, but her brain is unable to command her actions. A stone from outside the pond, a drab, hard, rough stone, hits her in the head. She feels the pain in her dream. 

She realizes that the stones in her recurring dream are life's possibilities. Excitement for adventure in all its forms. Living life to the fullest even in the simplest way. The devil in life, rage, prejudice, subjugation, brutality, fear, throws the stone. The dull one, to silence her, shame her, blame her.