She’s done all she can. But her story still needs to be told. Most she did tell, but people refuse to believe her……or worse yet, know it to be true, but won’t do anything to help her.
I remember the night she told me. We were driving around town when she said: “Nothing I can’t handle now, I’ve been through everything already, did you know that I’ve been beaten for the past 21 years?” She still sees the look in her husband’s eyes when she screamed “if you beat me again I’m gonna call 911!” He knew she meant it.
The first time he beat her, she was 18 and pregnant with his child. She had learned, as a child, to stay quiet throughout the ordeal or the punches would become more violent.
And so secret beatings unfold. Each time things would go wrong in the barn, he would enter the house…..fiery red eyes….foam spewing from his mouth…..he walked toward her. She would dash to the bedroom to keep the kids from seeing….daddy’s anger was not for their innocent eyes to see. But children are not easily fooled.
And so…. In the privacy of her own home, she endured her pain, always hoping that maybe, if she would be good enough, the beatings would stop. She would show him how much she loved him.
My sister kept her secret well. She hid it in the form of a bottle hidden somewhere in her home….but even alcohol couldn’t disguise her soul from slowly dying.
After 21 years of beatings, reality has kicked in. Her day to day survival turns into emotional turmoil.
She continually relives her past, each hit, each bruise, now more real than ever. Her fear turns into ‘Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’ She panics at his every move. He’s afraid that their secret might leak out, He becomes gentle and kind. She can’t stand the touch of those hands that tried to strangle her. She knows her marriage is over.
She fills for divorce. She doesn’t trust him. Her head is all confused. Her P.T,S,D, takes over. Everything is overwhelming.
Two years come and go. Most of it a blur. Her children are torn, some in silence, some in rejection. And so my sister endures still yet another kind of pain.
There’s a new court case. This one’s to prove money was hidden from her in her first settlement. Maybe now’s her chance to tell her whole story.
The court hears it all. Each memory she recalls allows her to become vulnerable to her hidden pain. But the court demands hard proof evidence. Pictures…Witnesses….The court silences her story. Oh Yes! There was substantial evidence of hidden money. She will get her due…. But what of her beatings…..’I only wanted to make a difference. To tell my story, to help others, to change laws so such abuse will be criminalized.’
Well sis….your story will not end in court. Hear it again. Maybe someone, maybe just one person, will hear your story, speak up, keep evidence, talk to someone they trust, and abuse such as this will be exposed for what it is,
I LOVE YOU SIS
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