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My first thought when I wake up is: Why the fuck did I open the door? The memories of what happened earlier flash through my mind like a movie on slow play. I was eating my lunch in the living room while working on a deadline project. Once I was done with lunch I would leave to pick up Luke from school. Well, really its go and sit and wait. I feel safe at Luke’s school, there’s a cop that shows up everyday around the same time as I do.
When the doorbell rings I think it’s the package that my sister has me watching for to be delivered. She’s gone to a conference out of town and her husband has been crashing near his station working on a case for the last few days. I open the door without looking through the peephole. I’ve been here for three months and I’ve started to feel comfortable that Jeff won’t come looking for me here. He’s found me every other time.
As I start to open the door it gets kicked sending me flying back on my ass. He enters the house and closes the door. I scurry to my feet and put the island between us. He jumps the island knocking a few things to the floor. Something hits me I’m not sure what a hand, a fist, or a foot. When it connects with my face I bite my tongue and fall back on my ass again. When I get back up he grabs me by the throat and pins me against the pantry door. He’s hitting on me, some punches to the ribs and some to the face. I take the one opportunity that I get and greet his nuts with my leg. He loses his grip on my throat and doubles over in pain.
I try to escape again down the hall since he’s blocking my escape out the front door. The hallway has a locking door and I can climb out a window if need be. As I reach for the hall door he hits me hard to the face and I hit my head on the door. He grabs me again by the throat pinning me against the hall door. He’s hitting me, I know he’s going to kill me if I don’t escape. I grope the door looking for the handle and when I find it the door opens. I fall backward no longer pinned to the door. The sudden change in the wall has him stumbling forward down the hall further tripping over my legs. I scoot on my backside down the hall to the first room that I come to. Damn them steel toe boots he wears hurt when they greeted my shin.
I finally realize that I’m in the hall bathroom, the one room without a way out. I’m trapped. I lock the bathroom door and wedge the stool that my son uses to brush his teeth on to hold the door mostly closed if he manages to pick the lock, its wedged by a cabinet door. I quietly back up until I run into the edge of the tub. Then I quietly climb in the tub and close the shower curtain. I lie down in the tub and hope that he will leave soon.
I listen for what seems like hours, I’m in pain and can’t tell the time, my phone is in the den by my computer. I hear my alarm go off telling me it’s time to leave and pick up Luke. I hear Jeff curse the alarm because it scares him. I then hear the second alarm go off telling me that school has released. Jeff walks up and down the hall saying the same things that he has said so many times before. He’s sorry he was acting out of emotion instead of talking about what he’s angry about. He promises to take anger management classes voluntarily and become a better man for me. I listen as he paces even longer down the hall. I finally hear the front door open and close again.Little does Jeff know that the front door handle automatically locks behind you so, if he really left he can’t come back in. It’s a blessing and a curse, because Kathy is out of town and not expected home for the next few days and Chris is staying with one of his co-workers working on a case no one knows I’m hurt, let alone here in the house. As I strain to hear if anyone is still in the house or if he really left, or if he’s only playing a joke to lure me out of the bathroom.
I decide to lie there and wait him out and stay in the tub, I’m not falling for his crazy tricks. I know that my boy is safe at school if I don’t pick him up they’ll call my sister or her husband. They’re the only two people allowed to pick him up from school. I close my eyes and quietly let the tears slide down my face. The last thought that goes through my mind is of my son safe with my sister and her husband. I don’t picture myself in his life anymore. Then, my world goes black.
I open my eyes, I’m sore and can’t seem to move without pain shooting through my body. The view I have is very blurry and it is dark in the bathroom. I hear something outside the bathroom in the hallway. I might have moaned when my eyes opened, and I tried to move. I try to shimmy further down in the tub. I accidentally moan this time I know that it is audible. I hear someone picking the lock at the door. I’m fucked.
I hear the person open the door and manage somehow to get the stool out of the place I had put it in. I don’t know if I moaned or if I gasped, but suddenly I see a small light then the shower curtain opens the light shines in my eyes for a second. The person asks if the person who hurt me is still here. I try to shake my head no, but I’m suddenly hit with a new wave of pain. I have yet to place this smooth southern voice, I know it’s not Jeff or Chris, but who? He mumbles something about coming back I can hear pain and anger in his voice, but I don’t think it’s aimed at me. I close my eyes again and try not to sob, because it hurts too much both physically and emotionally.
A few minutes later the figure returns with two EMT’s he enters and sits on the toilet so that they can assess me, and he can stay out of the way for the most part. Then I see through my blurry vision the figure has started taking notes. Fuck me sideways he’s a cop.
Suddenly I hear my brother in law’s voice in the hallway and the man gets up and goes into the hallway to have a conversation with my brother in law. I can’t understand what is being said because of the noise the EMT’s are making plus the walls in the house are awesome for canceling out noise. I’ve been appreciative of that a few times when working and Luke is running around the house shooting the imaginary bad guys. Finally, I hear one of the EMT’s tell them they’re ready to put me on a gurney for transport. The unfamiliar voice tells them “Two minutes. Her son is asleep in my cruiser. Let me put him to bed.” They all agreed that Luke doesn’t need to see his momma put on a stretcher and taken to the hospital.
A few minutes go by and then I’m lifted on a back board and carried by the two EMT’s, my brother in law, and the mystery man. Once they’ve gotten me into the den they place me on a gurney and I get rolled out to the ambulance, and I am taken to the hospital. I don’t remember much of the ride to the hospital I must still be going in and out of consciousness.