The 5 acts

Act I: The Call

"911 what's your emergency?"

"I need you guys to send a cop over asap", as you can hear it with an urgent tone in her voice.

"What's going on ma'am?"

"My sister has been involved in a domestic dispute, hurry he's about to hit me!" —————-

——— 2 years ago it was his smile that mesmerized me...
His charming personality that reeled me in and odd shy interior characteristics that had me hooked. Thinking to myself what more can he offer me? Is there something he is hiding? Nobody can be this nice. The dream of marrying your high school sweetheart is what started to cloud my mind. He swept me off my feet effortlessly. He was able to unfold and allow me to express myself like never before without being judged.
Being a 17-year-old teenager who just had gotten kicked out of her mom's house because she was about to turn 18 changed my life forever.
With no place to stay, he opened up his doors and allowed me to live with him and his parents. A new family is what I imagined this would turn out to be.
Everything was going well.
Every day for the past year and a half, we would go to the pier and enjoy the boats sitting by at the docks as a late night date.
The views and scenery made it feel as if I were living in a fairytale everyday.

Eventually, as the months passed by, it was not until the arguments would get aggressively worse.
My inner thoughts are, "now he's showing his true colors." ——-
What they said was true...
You never know who you're living with until you actually do live with them.
The arguments later then turned into...
Verbal abuse...
Intimidation...
Isolation...
Gradually, I started to develop a habit of apologizing for arguments of actions that were never done by me. I'm apologizing for the wrongdoings of someone else...
My foolish heart, please forgive me? Every time an argument arose, my gut would wrench. The feeling of knowing when to leave but not being able to would cause that to happen. I should have left, but did I? No...———
One of my biggest flaws is not being able to give up. I cannot give up on those who I spent my precious time and effort on. I always stuck by that concept.

Until one day I found myself crying in the bathroom. I reflected and thought why am I being treated as if I were nothing?
"Anyone would love to have me as their girlfriend", I said to myself...
Suicidal thoughts began to clutter my chickened head mind. I suddenly snapped back into reality and knew I was worth more.
But why do I continue to apologize? I found myself terrified to make him angry.——-
"Sorry babe, please don't hit me!"
I wanted to avoid the abuse, the violence, the loneliness. Sinking like quick sand over the years to a very dark and gloomy place.
I soon found myself being in a relationship where I felt very single.

I would find me blaming myself for everything and thinking, "maybe I'm not doing this right."
Imagine being my boyfriend for a day... Spoiled by my love, affection, and all the materialistic items you could ever wish for.
Soon to be pushed down 33 steps of hardwood stairs...
Emotionally and physically bruised externally and internally, I was just laying there horrifyingly bleeding.
Quickly realizing what he had done, he quickly ran down the stairs and apologized.
He knew I would never call the cops.
He knew that I didn't want to ruin our future together.
Too enticed by words, I accepted his platonic apology.
Thoughts like, —-"Why is it that he would only show me affection when it comes to being brutally beat by him?" ——began to flood my mind.
This is what you call the "honeymoon" phase ladies and gentlemen.
He will never change, its just in that moment where they change but the cycle keeps repeating itself.

In fact, the abuse would continue to worsen and the apologies would continue to pile up.
Mentally I was gone.
I let the abuse gain control over who I really am as a person.
Through the infidelity and abuse, I stuck with this possessive-overly jealous relationship.
It had gotten to the point where he had stalked me through an app to locate my whereabouts.
He knew how to keep me under his wing. As the tension worsens, he would call me out of my name and intimidate me in front of his friends.
He would slap and shove/push me around and yeah I know what you're thinking. —- "how is it possible for her to still be with him?!"
I would only stay in this relationship because to me I thought it would mean according to an "internet quote", that my loyalty would run deep if you stay in an abusive relationship (sarcasm) so that is exactly what I did...
To never give up on your partner no matter what...

Oh how I prayed for better days...
Miraculously one night I received a phone call from my then 22-year-old sister, worried about me due to my extreme isolation from the family for a long period of time. She checked up on me. I decided to vent to her and I now could catch myself slipping into a realm of reality.
He overheard my conversation with my sister and threatened me while I was still on the phone,
"I swear to you Marilyn I will put your head through this wall right now if you keep it up" ——my sister hung up.
Not knowing whether she was going to come or not, I could remember me saying it would not happen again to him---(conversations with my sister that he would isolate me from partaking in).
I felt a sudden strong force pull me in and slam my head into the wall then to a glass countertop dresser.
Dripping badly and gushing blood it didn't stop there... He was the sudden strong force.
In a panic, I frantically started to try to pack as fast as I could before his next plotted attack.
As he grabbed my wrist trying to prevent me from leaving, my sister breaks in through the door.
As I'm trying to simply grab my stuff in order to avoid conflict with the police, I see my sister and then-boyfriend arguing.
"You ruined her life, you took her away from us, what else are you going to try to take? Her life?!" my sister replied screaming in raging anger...
He replied, "if I can't have her, nobody will. Back off and leave before you get beat too!"
As I'm pushing my sister out of the house getting in between them arguing, I started to tell her not to call the cops.
I stated to her that everything was going to be okay and very shortly I will be getting my belongings and leaving. ——
That was not enough for her. The humiliation that her little sister endured. She was not fine with that at all...

This is the mind of a domestic violence victim.
"Everything is going to be okay"...

I should've known better from his well-known violent past with previous women.
To be thinking that I could change him, I was only young, confused, and manipulated.
It was all like being stuck in a desert with no vegetation... Looking at a mirage of something that is not there...

"911 what's your emergency?"——-

"Marilyn, please I'm sorry. I love you so much. I promise I won't do this to you ever again!", he shouted as they had him restrained in the back of a police car.
I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel as an evil entity lifted off of him in the police car.

This was the last time we spoke to one another.

It takes more than 5 acts for women to leave an abusive relationship... For me it took 100...
My alarm buzzer goes off and I finally wake up from this nightmare.
I look at my phone and it dates 04/01/2018...
—— April fools.

DISCLAIMER: This is based on actual events that happen everyday with domestic violence victims that are women. This is not intended to mock or disrespect any domestic violence victims. I love and support all women and encourage women that are domestic violence victims to seek help.
It's okay to not be okay. Call for help.
800.799.SAFE (7233)

Please follow and stay tuned for more short stories that may or may not be based on actual true events.

Credits:
Edited by: NÈJ