by Shay Cole
He asked how much she made, and Keisha told him a number smaller than what she actually earned. After arguing with Tyler for nearly 30 minutes, Keisha decided to give him half of what she told him she earned hoping that he would accept it and leave. Tyler took the money and continued to argue at Keisha. Keisha was so numb… she had no more energy left to argue. Shortly after, Tyler decided to leave.
Keisha showered and attempted to lay down but couldn’t sleep. She kept hearing a voice loudly in her head. The voice was as clear as her children calling her name. She heard the voice telling her to go into the kitchen and grab the knife from the dish rack. She couldn’t understand why she was hearing this voice or why it was instructing her to get a knife from the dish rack. She heard the voices get more stern with each demand and then it stopped when Keisha finally refused. She still didn’t get why this voice wanted her to have a knife so badly.
She turned on some relaxing music and closed her eyes to go to sleep. She slept for about an hour before she was started out of her sleep by the garage door opening. She hopped up and threw on a house dress to see what was going on. Before she could reach the kitchen Tyler was coming through the garage door into the house with a mission.
“I want to talk to you about the divorce Keisha.” Tyler demanded.
“I have nothing left to say Tyler.” Keisha responded with a deflated tone.
“Either talk to me about the divorce or I’m about to start tearing shit up!” Tyler told Keisha.
Keisha just stood there and told Tyler, “I’m done talking.”
“Ok then”. Tyler said before he proceeded to destroy Keisha’s sorority stuff by cutting it up and tearing it apart.
Keisha attempted to grab her purse from one of the bags and Tyler almost cut her arm. Keisha barely grabbed her purse from the bag just before Tyler made the final cut to it. She stood by the bed and waited for him to finish. When he stopped, he had destroyed all her sorority items in his sight that were in the bedroom.
He looked at Keisha and asked, “You ready to talk now?”
Keisha simply responded and said, “No.”
Tyler walked out of the room for a few seconds and returned with a surprise for Keisha. He looked at her and told her, “I probably bought this too” right before he doused her with bleach.
Moments later, Keisha grabbed her dog and took it over to the area where her kids were sleeping before she walked out the front door. Keisha looked to her right and to her left before she began walking to the neighbor’s home. She got to the front door and rang the bell asking for help from her neighbor. When her neighbor answered the door, she took one look at Keisha and told her to come inside. She closed the door behind Keisha, but she quickly opened it back up because of the smell.
“Is that you?” Her neighbor asked.
“Yes. I’m sorry. I need help. My husband just threw bleach on me. I need to call the police because my kids are still in the house.” Keisha explained.
Her neighbor quickly found her cell phone and placed the call for Keisha. “Yes, my neighbor is standing in my house covered in bleach! Her husband poured it on her and her kids are still in the house.” She told dispatch.
Keisha’s neighbor gave the information to the cops regarding the address and description of Tyler. She ended the call and turned to Keisha.
“What happened?” Her neighbor asked.
Keisha told her the details and begin to cry. Her neighbor consoled her and revealed that she had a similar experience with her children’s father. They swapped stories while they waited on the police to arrive. Less than 10 minutes later, Keisha and her neighbor saw red and blue lights flashing through the windows. The officer was instructed not to knock on the neighbor’s door to prevent Tyler from knowing where Keisha was. The officers arrived at Keisha and Tyler’s front door and was greeted by a sweat drenched Tyler.
They told him they received a call and asked to enter. He allowed them to go inside without hesitation. Once they passed the threshold, the smell of bleach overpowered them, and they had to exit to regroup. Once they gathered themselves, they went back into the home to see what had been done. After they walked through, they came to the neighbor’s house. When Keisha came out, she saw Tyler in the back of the cop car. She was not prepared to see the damage Tyler had done in the home…especially, in the master bedroom area. The first thing she did was check on her children to make sure they weren’t hurt in any way. She found them unharmed and still asleep. She saw the damage Tyler did and all she could do was wait for the next steps. A few days later, Tyler was released from police custody after his cousin bailed him out. A little over a week later, Keisha had to go to court for a domestic violence hearing to expedite a restraining order.
During the hearing Keisha was offered the house, the truck, and financial assistance. Keisha declined taking the house due to everything that was going on. She agreed to be out of the house within the next couple of months. Tyler and Keisha didn’t speak much at this point. They only communicated through the court system. It all escalated to a point of no return. A few weeks later, Keisha and the kids moved into their new place. Due to the way everything popped off, Tyler was not allowed to know any information about where Keisha and the kids were living. Keisha started to feel more secure after they left the house. For some reason, Keisha felt more secure being away from the house but often had an eerie feeling every time she left home. She always felt like someone was watching her. Nevertheless, Keisha kept moving forward, creating a better life for her and the kids as she was still in school. After about a month, Keisha started to move about with a little less hesitation.
One day, Keisha and the kids returned from a night at church and got into their apartment as usual. She got the kids ready for bed and started working on her course assignments. She was so tired that she fell asleep while studying. Moments after she fell asleep, she was startled awake by her neighbor beating on her apartment door.
“Hey! Hey! Wake Up!” Keisha faintly heard in her sleep. There was a pause followed by more banging on the door.
“Hey! Are you in there? Come out here! Please open the door!” Keisha finally woke up and answered the door.
She wiped her eyes and responded, “Hey, what’s going on?”
Her neighbor moved back and invited her to step out the door.
When Keisha stepped out, she saw a bright light just before she heard her neighbor ask, “Is that your truck?” Keisha walked out to the edge of the balcony and saw her truck engulfed in flames.
“Yes. That’s my truck. It must mean that God has something better in store for me.” Keisha said calmly when she saw the truck.
Her neighbor was hysterical! She told Keisha the fire department had already been called. Keisha thanked her neighbor and went back into her apartment. Later that morning, Keisha contacted her lawyer and told her what happened. A couple days later, she found out that Tyler was indicted on felony charges for what happened the night he doused her with bleach. He was charged with one count of simple battery, one count of simple assault, and destruction of property. He was charged a couple of days before the truck was set on fire. After he was charged, he posted a picture of him and Keisha on fire with the caption ‘Death to Dishonor’ on his social media pages. With all this information, Keisha’s lawyer knew Tyler would be facing additional charges. To their surprise, Tyler was cleared of the truck fire due to a lack of evidence.
Just like that, Keisha was left without transportation for her and the kids. She had to speak with the fire department, the insurance company, the apartment complex, the police department, and lawyers to prove that she was not the one who started the fire. She couldn’t believe that this was happening. She was quickly moved from the victim to the suspect. One of the hardest things Keisha had to do during this time was explain to the children why their truck was sitting outside the apartment burnt. There was so much she couldn’t answer. She hated that she even had to worry about this. She was confused by a lot of it herself.
Keisha did what she knew best and that was to keep going through the motions. She had to keep it together for the kids. She wanted to keep their lives as normal as possible.
Despite her best efforts, Keisha had to make some major adjustments quickly. After the courts caught wind of what happened to Keisha’s truck, they ordered Tyler to give up his car to Keisha and the kids. Keisha called a few of her friends to accompany her to the police station to pick up the car. Keisha’s friends knew Tyler and even gave him a ride back home after Keisha drove off with the car. After they dropped Tyler off, they went to Keisha’s apartment to talk to her about what happened. When they got there, they immediately told Keisha everything Tyler said. Tyler told Keisha’s friend that she was keeping the kids away from him. He told them that he would just wait until the kids are old enough to make their own decisions and try to see them then.
Tyler also said that Keisha was being irrational and unreasonable. He didn’t feel like he did anything wrong. All of this was happening in the middle of waiting for a hearing date to finalize the divorce. Keisha was ready for all of this to be over so that she could move forward in her life. She felt like this was keeping her in a chaotic state of being and she despised it. She wanted to be free of Tyler’s grip. Keisha’s friends stayed with her for a few hours before heading back home. The next day Keisha’s lawyer called.
“Hi Keisha. How are you?” Just asked.
“I’m well Judy. How are you?” Keisha responded.
“I’m great Keisha, Thanks. I’m calling because we finally have a date for the hearing.” Judy explained.
“Judy, that is good news. What’s the date?” Keisha inquired.
“December 3rd is your hearing date. At the hearing, we should be completing the divorce proceedings and getting the judge to sign off on everything.” Judy told Keisha.
They spent several minutes discussing what the hearing should look like, what Keisha would need to do, and what should happen next. Since the hearing was still a few weeks out, Keisha did what her lawyer told her to do in preparation and continued to work on her school assignments. A few days before the hearing she learned some disturbing news. This was not the time for Keisha to be derailed by bad news. Regardless of what Keisha wanted to happen, she had to deal with what the reality of what was actually happening.
“I’m sorry Keisha, I know this is not what you wanted to hear.” Judy said to Keisha after breaking the news to her.
“I don’t understand…how this could be happening?!” Keisha responded with confusion.
“Well Keisha, since Tyler decided to get a lawyer less than a week before the hearing, the judge will not proceed unless he allows Tyler’s lawyer enough time to go over the case and learn how to best assist Tyler.” Judy explained. “Due to the limited time between hiring his lawyer and the hearing, the court date must be rescheduled.” Judy continued.
Keisha listened with tears in her eyes and rage bubbling up from the soles of her feet. She was crushed. She felt like Tyler was still controlling her life and what she was doing. It was like he had delayed hiring a lawyer on purpose in order to cause a stir. It seemed as if someone was helping him plan these distractions. Whatever it was, Keisha couldn’t understand how things seemed to keep working in favor of Tyler.
“So, we have to wait all the way until April for that?” Keisha asked.
“Unfortunately, we do. That is the next available date on the judge’s docket.” Judy explained.
Keisha and Judy spoke about the change to the hearing date and the details about the divorce moving forward. Judy attempted to comfort Keisha as best she could, but Keisha was obviously starting to break. Keisha realized that things would continue to be a struggle as long as Tyler had control over anything. As a result, Keisha started working to help eliminate Tyler’s control.
Keisha was ready for this to be over so when April came, she showed up to the hearing eager to close out the marriage. She was glad that Tyler didn’t pull any more stunts before the hearing. However, she learned shortly after the start of their hearing that Tyler had plenty more tricks up his sleeve and he was very strategic with his next moves.
When the judge mentioned custody, Tyler declined to discuss it and told the judge, “She can have them.”
Due to the incident after the garage sale, Tyler was only offered supervised visitation with the children. He was so upset by that offer that he cussed Judy out. This was his opportunity to discuss everything and get the resolve he expressed that he wanted. Keisha thought his reaction to the judge was strange since he was so enraged by the thought of supervised visitation.
When the judge heard Tyler’s response, he questioned him, “Excuse me? So, you do NOT want to discuss the custody of your children?”
Tyler told the judge the same thing he told him before, “She can have them. I’ll pay whatever I need to pay but she can have them.”
The judge was appalled by Tyler’s response and as a result, placed a permanent restraining order against Tyler since he expressed that he didn’t want anything to do with their children. Tyler shrugged his shoulders and the proceedings continued. The judge attempted to set up child support requirements and learned that Tyler was now unemployed and out of the military and could no longer afford the amount he was paying while he was working. The judge required Keisha to keep insurance for the children and cover the costs of anything they wanted to do regarding camps, daycare, etc. since she was now working. At the same time, Tyler’s child support payments decreased by more than half. Keisha was pissed! She felt like Tyler getting his way again and the children were being dismissed but there was nothing she could do.
A month later, the final divorce decree arrived in the mail. Keisha looked at it and thought that things were finally over. A few days later, a woman came into Keisha’s job looking to buy something for her husband. The person who helped her was Keisha’s friend, Layla. Layla worked in the cubicle next to Keisha so Keisha could hear the entire conversation between Layla and the customer. As Layla is gathering the customer’s information, Keisha recognized a lot of her responses. The customer gave Keisha’s last name and former address as her own. When Keisha heard this, she felt her blood stop flowing and pure rage filled her veins. All the information revealed to Keisha that this customer was Tyler’s new wife!
Keisha walked past Layla's cubicle to catch a glimpse of this lady who took her place. When she walked behind her, she saw the customer had a 6-month-old baby with her. Keisha walked to the front of the store and told her manager what was happening. Shortly after, Layla walked up to the front and revealed the severity of a possible situation. Layla told the management team to keep Keisha in the back until the customer left. Keisha was stunned by what she had just found out. Tyler was building a whole new family while he was destroying theirs!
Eight
Transfer
It was a whole new world for Keisha. It was a whole new life for Tyler. It seemed so surreal…as if it was all a bad dream that Keisha wished she could wake up from. After everything calmed down at work, Keisha started to focus on keeping up with her success. She was doing very well at work and still doing fairly well in class. She felt like she could bounce back from this latest drama and come out better than before. Although Keisha was progressing at work and in school, she was not progressing emotionally and mentally. It was like she was always being watched. Her classes quickly started to become too much for her to handle as she switched gears to focus on her mental and emotional health.
She could no longer commit to the demands of school and work full time with no support. She was taking on more responsibility at work and slowly, school was put on the back burner. There was no possible way for Keisha to do it all alone. She was struggling trying to work and keep the kids in extracurricular activities. She wanted to keep their lives as ‘normal’ as possible. She wanted to work, finish school, and move into her career, but the effects of the divorce were taking a toll on her and she realized she couldn’t manager everyth
ing on her own. Keisha did all she could in her courses before she completely stopped. While on her break from school, she thought she would have more time to focus on her well-being, but that was not the case.
It was a hard choice to make because it was a setback in Keisha’s plan, but it was the only option. Being out of school haunted Keisha. She felt like she failed herself because she had to take a break. She also felt like she couldn’t leave her kids with anyone because she didn’t know if Tyler would be able to get to them. Since the fire, Keisha never really felt safe. She always felt like someone was always watching her…like she couldn’t move without looking over her shoulder. She talked to her manager about how she was feeling, and her manager told her that the company was expanding and there was a possible position for her in a new location. She told them she was interested, and about a month later, Keisha and her kids were moving nearly 2 hours away to a new place. She was so happy to have the opportunity to relocate and regain some peace!
Keisha and the kids moved into their new home and Keisha was given a couple days off to get settled. They were in a whole new area with little to no support, but it felt safer than being where they were. When Keisha arrived at work, she was informed that she would have a new position. Not only was she relocated, but she was also now in management! She received a raise in her new position! She was so excited! The first few days of work were so full of excitement. Keisha was meeting new people and learning about her new neighborhood. By Wednesday of the first week, Keisha learned that there were some challenges with this new location and new position.
“Keisha you’ll be working on Saturday to make sure we have an internet manager on duty.” Her manager told her.
“My daycare is closed on Saturday. I don’t have anyone to watch my kids for me.” Keisha responded.