I
always believed I could see people for who they truly were. That had been until I had fallen in love with
the wrong guy. And nothing had been the
same since. I didn’t know what Domestic
Violence was. It had never existed in my
world until Mitch.
When
it first began I thought that I was imagining things. Making issues out of nothing. At least that is what Mitch had led me to believe. So one by one – little by little I shrugged
them off. I didn’t realize that by doing
this that I was allowing myself to be beaten down a little at a time. I didn’t want to fight about all those little
things that Mitch would throw at me. I
was ten minutes late because I missed the bus.
It seemed an easy enough answer.
After all, it was the truth but Mitch would accuse me of meeting another
guy. As though I had time when he seemed
to monitor my every move. Every detail
of my life needed an explanation.
My
cell phone had quickly become my leash and I became a quick learner. To some degree I had also become a pretty
good liar. Not by choice but rather by
necessity. The truth became a battle
ground where I could not survive so it just became easier to lie. I didn’t like it but I will admit that it
made my life easier.
When
I discovered that Mitch had been monitoring my phone account, checking my
messages – yes I had ignorantly given him all of my passwords to gain access to
them just to avoid a fight that had only been a temporary fix at the time. I was beginning to realize that I was in over
my head and was going under fast. I
needed to get away from Mitch and he wasn’t letting go easily. It seemed that
over the course of six months Mitch had become so deeply imbedded into my life
that I felt like there was no escape. We
had foolishly moved in together so now I was faced with yet another dilemma.
Throughout
everything no one in my small circle knew anything. No one accept my dearest friend Drew who I
had grown up with.
It
was funny how Mitch and Drew had never seemed to hit it off. One thing I had decided was that Mitch didn’t
need to know every detail of my past.
All he knew was that Drew and I had gone to school together. He never knew that we were as close as we were
and I had purposed that he never would.
It wasn’t because I was hiding this big dark secret. Drew and I had never gone beyond
friendship. We loved each other dearly
and been through some tough times together.
Drew was the type of guy that was always there. Through good times and through bad times we
had drawn strength from each other.
When
Drew and his girlfriend had separated Mitch had gone through the roof once he
had found out. Of course he had accused
us of sleeping together even more than before.
Nothing that I said would change his mind. Everything I said, everything I did became
suspect. I had to admit that my life was
spiraling quickly out of control. I had
to take my life back again. It wasn’t
going to be easy but it was something that had to be done.
With
Drew’s help and over the course of six months, I had finally gotten the nerve
to move out. Asking Mitch to leave had
been a joke in itself. He wasn’t going
anywhere. Fine with me. One of us had to leave so it was me.
No,
it wasn’t easy. I had to change my
number a couple of times, and even my mom had to change hers but it was well
worth the aggravation. The changes may
have been small but my ultimate goal of being free has finally been achieved.
It
has been close to three years now. Mitch
has moved on and had actually moved away.
I have dated on and off and I like the fact that I don’t have to explain
to anyone what time I walk in the door after work. Drew and I are still the best of friends and
we still spend a lot of time together.
Just the other day we had gone out with some friends and they were suggesting
that we should try the couple thing. We
both cracked up laughing saying it could never work. But later that same night as Drew walked me
to the door after a fun night out he took my hand and looked deeply into my
eyes. We didn’t say anything but instead
shared a moment of mutual silence, an understanding between two close friends
that had been through the fire together.
I don’t know what tomorrow might bring but I do know that Drew will
always be a big part of my life.
Grace
Peterson writes short fiction stories.
Writing a book is a dream but a dream that might not be out of reach.
Next up to the plate...
November 7- Lillian Duncan
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