by Jamela
Then she remembered Marie begging her not to marry Damon. Her argument was that they were too young. They hadn’t had a chance to experience the world. Damon was so possessive of Denise that she had to attend the same college he attended. She had to belong to the same clubs in high school and they did everything together. Denise was an only child and that is one of the reasons she and Marie got along so well. They deemed themselves the other’s sister and had been that way since 8th grade. Wow, that was over 15 years ago. If anyone knew her, it was Marie, whose job indirectly focused on stuff like this. Since this was the case, she knew Marie was gonna be upset that she hid all of this from her. She stayed up watching TV and thinking about the day’s events. When the phone rang, Denise looked at the clock on the night table instinctively. It was 12am. Since she didn’t tell anyone where she was, it could only be Marie. “Hello.”
“Denise, why are you at a hotel? I got your message, but you didn’t give much detail, so what’s going on? Do you need me to come get you or what?” Marie spit out in a rush.
“Umm, I’m not sure how to say this. Maybe I should just come over to talk to you. I have a problem and I need some help. Could I spend the night at your place?” She asked meekly.
“Sure. Can you get here alone or do you need me to come get you?”
“Oh, I’m driving. I’ll be there in about 20 minutes.” She said and hung up the phone.
“Denise grabbed her purse, went to the office, checked out and drove the few miles to Marie’s townhouse. When she got there, the front light was on. She didn’t even have to ring the bell. As soon as she got to the door, Marie opened it. “Denise, hurry up. Damon called. He’s really upset. What happened?” She asked breathlessly.
“Marie I honestly don’t know.” Denise said through tears. “When I got home from work, he was sitting in the bedroom in the dark. I started to change my clothes so I could sta-sta-start cooking din-din-din-dinner, and he came over and dragged –m-m-me backwards to-to-to the bed. He threw me on it, then sa-sa-sa-sa-sat on m-m-m-m-me and started cho-cho-cho-choking me.” She finished and burst into hysterical tears.
Marie stood beside her and held her to give her a chance to get it out. She couldn’t understand what it was about Damon that Denise loved so much. He was a royal jackass, he always had been, which is why she didn’t want Denise to marry him. But love is blind and she couldn’t get Denise to see her point of view. After a while, Denise calmed down as Marie stroked her hair and held her close.
“Denise, what do you want to do? You know you can’t go back to that house and stay with him with the way he’s behaving. You can stay here for as long as you need. But, if Damon comes over here starting trouble, you’ll have to get a restraining order against him. I think you should have done that after this morning, anyway.” Marie said gently rubbing Denise’s back. “Now, let’s see those wounds and see if we can treat them. If you don’t mind, I would like to speak to Calvin about this, since he is a lawyer and deals with this kind of stuff.”
“That is fine. Please let me know what he says, because I have no idea what to do. It’s like he’s lost his mind. I mean, I know he hasn’t been taking his medication and the voices must be getting worse for him to behave like this. I never imagined that he had a mental illness issue and that it would lead to things like this. Lord have mercy on me, because I don’t know if the children are safe around him.” Denise finally finished with a big sigh.
They walked to the bathroom. Denise went in first and closed the toilet lid, then sat down. Marie opened the cabinets beneath the vanity and began pulling out the things she thought would be able to help Denise’s bruise. They worked on the bruises n silence as each of them had racing thoughts.
“I think it would be a good idea to get a police report for this.” Marie suggested. “At least that way there would be something on record.”
The bruise from this morning and now this would be evidence of the abuse. It didn’t matter why it started. The fact that it was happening was bad enough. Around 45 minutes later, the police arrived. Since it was a non-emergency, they took their time getting there. ‘I understand that there was a domestic altercation which occurred earlier this evening. Tell me what happened.” Said Officer Jones with pad and pen in hand.
“I got home from work at the usual time and found my husband sitting in our bedroom on the bed in the dark. When I spoke and asked why the lights were off, he didn’t respond. I walked past him to put my things down and that’s when he came behind me and dragged me to the bed, threw me on it and began choking me.” Marie explained.
“Has he ever done anything like this before?” The other Officer asked.
“Yes, this morning, he slapped me. I don’t know why, he just did it.” She replied.
So, you’ve had two instances where he got physical, in one day?”
“Yes, Officer.”
“I hope you have a place to spend the night. I would not advise going bad to the house with him there.” Officer Jones commented.
“I know. I’ll be staying here, with Marie. At least until I can figure out what’s going on.”
“It’s good to have support in situations like this. Well, that is all the information we need for right now. You report will be ready for pick up in a couple of days. Here is my card. Please give me a call if you remember anything else or if there are any more problems.” Jones said as he turned on his heels.
His partner stopped him, then said, “If the two of you want to work this out, I suggest you meet on neutral ground in a public place so you can talk. Remember to give him a chance to express himself, but if he seems to be getting angry… politely excuse yourself to avoid a physical confrontation.”
“Oh, and it would be a good idea to call and let him know that you’re safe. That will give him less to be angry about., You don’t have to tell him where you are if you don’t want to.” Officer Jones interjected.
Finally she went to bed. As she woke up and sat up in bed, her right hand instinctively went to her throat and then to her chest. She was sore. Her chest felt like an anvil was on top of it. She opened her mouth to check her voice since her throat was sore, and hardly any sound escaped. Marie had suggested that Denise take a couple of days off work and get herself some counseling, since this was so sudden. Anyone would be traumatized. Of course, her bestie informed her that she was more than welcomed to stay and really get some rest. She accepted the offer and called her job to use a couple of sick days. The secretary informed her that Damon had already called several times and that he wanted her to page him. She also mentioned the files Denise was working on and told her that they needed to be returned, so someone else could work on them while she was recuperating. Damon said he had missed her leaving for work and needed to talk with her about their plans for the weekend. At first Denise was tempted to call him, but then she tried to swallow and the pain reminded her of what had happened. She thanked the secretary and hung up the phone. Instead, she called the house and left a message telling him she was okay and that they needed to talk.
Fortunately, she and Marie wore the same, went into the size, now. She used to be the heavier of the two after having the boys and Marie never gained any weight. She sat on the edge of the bed after swinging her legs over to the side then got up. She walked into Denise’s bedroom and found something to wear. Then she headed back to the guest bedroom, went into the adjoining bathroom, showered and dressed in the casual outfit she had gotten out to wear. She checked the messages on her phone. There were fifteen messages since she last checked them yesterday and all fifteen were from Damon. He was blowing her phone up and must be sick with worry.
“He was sorry for what happened. He didn’t know what had come over him. He wanted to see her and hold her. Could she ever forgive him? She should give him a chance to explain face to face. She just didn’t understand how much he loved her. She was the center of his whole world. He couldn’t live without her. Please come back home, it would never happen again.” Final
ly Denise selected ALL of the messages and pressed delete.
She didn’t doubt that he loved her. But lately, he was showing it in a way she didn’t care for. She got out the phone book and found a program for battered wives. “Am I a battered wife?” She wondered aloud. She made an appointment then laid across back to bed on top of the covers. She hadn’t slept much during the night and she was rather tired. A few hours later she awoke to the annoying ringing of the clock. She had an hour to get to her appointment. She cleaned up and the jogging suit she had put on. She left a note for Marie, “Hi, I’ve gone to talk to someone about my problem. I’ll have my cell phone on and I should be home around 6pm. And don’t worry I’m not going to see Damon.” She wrote. She left the note on the table where Marie always puts her keys. She decided she would also stop by the office and drop of the files while she was out. That would ensure that she could really rest the next day.
*******
As Denise got into her car and headed toward her office, she thought about what the counselor had told her. She realized she had to take control of the situation. She pulled into the parking lot and parked in her assigned spot. As she was opening the car door, she heard approaching footsteps. It was nearly time for everyone to get off work, so she fully expected to see a lot of passersby. She reached over to grab the file, and the car door was jerked open. Startled, she looked up into Damon’s face twisted with anger.
“Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick.” He hissed through clinched teeth.
Denise wasn’t sure what to do. But she remembered the counselor advising her not to put herself into situations where she could get hurt. She looked at Damon and smiled, “Honey, I’m sorry if I upset or worried you. I called and left a message. Didn’t you get it?” All the while she was pushing the key back into the ignition. She looked to her right and saw Susan, a co-worker coming toward her.
“Hello Damon. Denise, we are all so worried about you. It’s not like you to get sick. Oh, is that the file? I’ll be happy to take that from you.” She said stepping between Damon and the car door.
“Oh, thanks so much. I was dreading getting out of the car. I hurt all over.” She started the engine and put the car in reverse. “Thanks for taking that up for me. I’ll call you guys and hopefully I’ll see you in a couple of days. Damon I’ll see you when you get off.”
Susan stepped back to allow Denise to back out. She turned to Damon. “Now you make sure you take good care of her. She’s a good asset to the office and we all want her to get better. Poor thing, she looks terrible.” She said with a gentle smile. “Make sure she gets plenty of rest.” Susan threw over her shoulder and she walked off.
Damon was left standing in the parking lot frowning and trying to figure out how Denise had gotten away from him. Someone must have told her what to do. She never would have used someone else to block his way on her own. She just wasn’t smart enough to think of something like that. Maybe she would come back home. “If I could just find where she is staying,” he thought.
*******
“Calvin, I need to ask you a question.” She said sitting at his desk. “Denise called me last night. When I called her back, she was not at home, but she came over to my place and spent the night. Calvin, Damon tried to choke her when she got home yesterday. Now, he slapped her yesterday morning before she went to work, I saw the bruise myself when we were at lunch. I was giving her my good news and showing off my engagement ring. But, you work with this kind of thing. What do you think she should do?” Marie finished.
“First off, did she give you permission to talk with me about this?” Marie nodded affirmation. “Okay, good. Has he been doing this for a while? I mean did this start all of a sudden?” He wanted to know.
“You know, I never wanted Denise to marry him. There is just something about him that I don’t like. He’s very possessive and controlling. Until last night, I had never thought about him hitting her or anything physical. Denise says he’s yelled at her, shaken her and even pushed her.” She said with down cast eyes. “But I never knew anything about that stuff. I guess Denise didn’t want me to know because she knows how I feel about him.”
“Do you know if she’s ever reported any of the other occasions of violence?”
“Knowing Denise, probably not. But we called the police last night and made sure they took a report. Calvin, I’m scared for her. Damon called me when Denise didn’t come back home after a few hours ranting and raving. He made all kinds of threats. He said if she didn’t come back in a reasonable time, he was gonna make sure she never had to worry about anything again in life. You should see the bruises around her neck. He was really trying to kill her. I don’t know how she got away, but I’m glad she did and came to me. But what I want to know from you is what legal actions should she take to keep him away from her at least until he calms down? The good thing is that the boys are away for the summer.”
“Marie, I know you love your sister, but I really need to discuss this with Denise. You can be her support and help her with things. Is she at work today? If so, maybe I can go by and talk to her about this privately.”
“No, she stayed home. She can barely talk. So she took a couple of sick days. She is resting at my place. The good thing is I just moved into the townhouse and Damon doesn’t know where it is. Denise hasn’t brought him over yet, thank goodness.”
“Okay, I’ll come by and speak with her when I’m done at the office. You know, you are a good friend. Some people don’t recognize the signs of domestic violence. They mistakenly think it’s cute that they’re man/woman is so possessive of them. But we lose people every day because of that wrong view.” He said standing. “I’ll see you tonight, baby.” He planted a sweet kiss on her lips before she walked out of the office.
On the way back to work, Marie decided she would take the rest of the day off. Fortunately she had a good secretary and she could handle the office for the afternoon. She drove to the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner. Since Calvin was coming over, she would cook and they could eat-in. She stopped to pick up her dry cleaning and got the groceries. She arrived at the house around 5:30. When she put her keys down she saw the note from Denise. So she put the bags in the kitchen and the clothes in her closet.
Before she started to prepare dinner, she played back the messages on the answering machine.
“Marie, this is Damon. I told you last night that I want to talk to Denise. She called me to let me know that she is okay, but I want to see her. You tell her what I said. If you truly love her, you’ll make sure she comes back home. She has responsibilities here and the children will want to see their mother. I’m not gonna wait much longer. Remember what I said last night, Marie, for Denise’s sake. You know I can’t live without her. I’m not going to live without her!” Damon screamed and then there was a dial tone.
She listened to the rest of the messages. She made sure she saved Damon’s messages. She would at least have that for Calvin to listen to when he arrived. Just as she was putting the roast into the oven, Denise came through the door.
“Hi, do you feel any better?” Marie asked Denise.
“I don’t know. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I just left the support group counselor. My throat is still sore.” Denise whispered as she lightly fingered her throat. “Is there anything I can do to help?” She said coming to sit on the bar stool on the opposite side of the counter.
“Yeah, you can sit on the stool and keep me company. I’ve got everything else under control.” Marie wasn’t sure how to tell Denise about Damon’s message. She didn’t want to upset her any more than she already was. “I hope you won’t be angry with me, but I talked to Calvin about your problem with Damon. I told him about the bruises and what he did last night. He’s coming over tonight to talk with you about it. Can you forgive me?” She asked. “I only did it ‘cause I want to make sure you’re safe.”
“I’m not upset, Marie. In fact, I was gonna ask you if it would be all righ
t if I talked to Calvin about this thing with Damon before you said it. I’m glad you did because I am so lost and confused. I’m not sure he’s still the same man I married. And after talking to this counselor, I realize that I’ve been in an abusive relationship and I’ve just been denying it to myself. I’ve got to make some changes in my life. I need to talk to Damon at some point so we can…..”
“Denise, Damon called today.” She interrupted while slicing the onion for her salad. “He left a message on the machine. I think you should listen to it. At least you’ll know what you’re dealing with whenever you decide to talk to him. I’m sorry for interrupting you, but I thought you should know.” Marie finished.
“That’s okay. Thank you. I’m going to listen to it now.” She said walking over to the answering machine. Denise took a seat on the sofa next to the table containing the answering machine. Marie watched Denise as she sat there holding her head. She took a deep breath then reached over to push the play back button. She stopped and leaned back on the chair. She got up and walked around the room for a few minutes then abruptly returned and pushed the button. She listened as Damon talked, all the while contorting her features in disgust. How could I have married such a violent man? When Damon had finished Denise looked up at Marie. “What am I going to do? I don’t know how to handle this. It’s too much for me! I can’t raise my boys with a man like this in the house. Maybe I should call his doctor tomorrow and find out if the new medication for the schizophrenia and bipolar disorder could cause this.” She said sobbing softly.