Authors: Jamela
Damon never opened his mouth. Instead he jumped on the bed beside Denise and grabbed her by the throat with his right hand. He positioned himself across her, sitting on her chest and placed his left hand around her throat. Finally Denise, saw that he was not himself. She barely recognized his contorted features. He began squeezing harder and harder. Denise began to cough. Through the coughs she screamed as much as she could, “Damon, Stop! Please, Damon! Damon, it’s me, Denise! Please, Damon. Stop!”
She hit him with her fists anywhere she could, trying to get his attention. She squirmed until she could reach the lamp. She grasped it in her hand and swung with all of her strength toward Damon’s head. The corner of the lamp hit Damon on the shoulder. Denise continued to scream as much as she could. She swung the lamp again and hit Damon in the head. He released her neck with his right hand and grabbed his head. Denise struggled and freed herself. She rolled over onto the floor as Damon held his head. Denise could see the blood coming from where she had hit him. She stumbled to the living room and grabbed her keys and her purse. She opened the door and ran to her car as fast as she could. Once inside, she locked the door to give herself a chance to catch her breath. She didn’t want Damon to come outside and drag her from the car.
After a few minutes, when she could at least get some air down to her lungs, she started the car and drove straight over to Marie’s house barefoot. She wasn’t at home. More than likely, she was at Calvin’s place. She really didn’t want to bother them, but she didn’t want to go back to the house with Damon either. She drove around for a few minutes then decided to check into a hotel. She found a place that she felt was okay then went into the trunk to grab a pair of shoes, since she was barefoot. Once inside the rented room, rather than call Marie’s cell phone and cause a panic, she called her home number and left a message. Denise examined herself in the mirror and saw the imprints of Damon hands around her neck. It was so clear that she could count the finger indentions.
“What was he thinking? That’s not the man I married,”
she thought.
As she sat on the bed, she tried to think what she could have done to cause this behavior in him. Surely he was not still angry from this morning. She knew he was stressed out at work, but lately he had been getting more and more aggravated with her. This is more than not taking his medicine. She couldn’t do anything right. When she cooked, it wasn’t what he wanted, even if she asked first and prepared what he said. When they went out, she never wore the correct outfit. She didn’t clean the house the way he wanted it done. She didn’t pay the bills the way he wanted it done. She didn’t behave in bed the way he wanted her to. There was nothing she did correctly. But, one thing was for sure. She was not gonna take him hitting on her. Twice in one day was more than enough. She dismissed the yelling, shoving and other things as being minor, even though she knew in the back of her mind that they weren’t. She resigned herself to tell Marie everything that had happened; maybe she would know what to do. Her sister always knew what to do.
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.” Finally 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.