Post by ALEX on Mar 16, 2011 15:12:05 GMT -5
Please note that this story is part of a larger story. I just want to ask what you all think of this.
“Ms. Conners”
I heard the voice but it didn’t register in my mind just yet. So, I kept walking.
“Hey, Rose!”
I jumped about a foot in the air as I heard it the voice a second time, followed by running footsteps. I had just gotten out of court and was at the process of making my way down to the parking lot of the courthouse. I turned to see who it was. I blinked for a moment, out of it before I noticed who it was and put on a smile.
“Oh gosh, sorry your honor”
“I’m not your honor, I’m retired remember, anyway, I just wanted to come and tell you congratulations on the trial, you did well”
I shook my head. “No, I messed…”
I stopped talking when I noticed the serious look on the older woman’s face. I shook my head and corrected myself.
“Thank you, Leslie”
She had been my mentor back when I had been her clerk many years ago, she had been a judge back then and we had kept in touch since even after she had retired to a small law firm, I hadn’t known she would be watching me but I didn’t see why it mattered now since I was about to go home and if I was late, I’d have to go through another night of being hollered and screamed at not to mention slapped.
In my train of thoughts what Leslie had said to me drowned out until I forced myself to snap out of it.
“Huh? W-What?” I stammered.
Leslie shook her head.
“I wanted to know if you were doing anything tonight, we’ll celebrate just you and me it’ll be like the old days and it’s all on me”
I had never been the one to refuse her but I thought that going out after coming back home and telling Nicholas that I had to meet someone for dinner would be a suicide mission but I never disobeyed anyone older than me before and I was so not about to start now.
“Oh of course, if you want you can pick me up at my place an hour from now you know, it’s not that far”
So it was agreed that I’d see her then. She’d come to my house with her car and we’d go off to have Chinese. As we parted ways, I thought about my husband and what to tell him. We’d been married for the last five years and our first year had been wonderful. But ever since he had lost his job at the middle of our second year of marriage, it had started to get really bad, he had started to drink and when he drank it was worse than some of the cases I prosecuted. Of course, the fact that I had an abusive husband was a secret to the rest of the world, a secret I would carry with me to my grave if I could. I did love him or I thought I did and I had no intentions of getting anyone else involved in my problems, it would be too risky and more reason for him to be more violent and I didn’t need add fuel to the fire.
Twenty minutes later, I was home. I came in through the front door and shut it quietly so I would not disturb Nicholas if he was asleep. I tiptoed around the couch where he lay snoring and went to the TV. The sound of the boxing match was deafening and I fumbled for the remote trying to turn it off. When I did, he woke up as if an alarm had went off. He smelled of alcohol and I had just turned off the TV, which was very bad.
“You’re late and you’re useless! How many times do I have to tell you not to touch the damn TV? This isn’t your house, this is my house!”
I sighed as I put down my bag of files and made my way into the kitchen with him following me.
“Stop yelling, you are not an animal and I am not deaf.”
I told him as quietly as I possibly could. I tried not to flinch as he slapped me across the face. He was a good foot taller than I and he was than me. He was also more violent. Not even me, a District Attorney for the state of Pennsylvania could do a thing about it. How could I? I was married to him.
He was still screaming but by now I had tuned him out. I was now looking around the fridge looking for some food to fix him and was thinking about my other case and the dinner with Leslie.
“I have to get that motion passed, Oh God I hope they found some new evidence and I want to…Let me go!”
I screamed as I dropped the plate of mashed potatoes. It clattered to the floor as the dish shattered and broke. He grabbed me by my one shoulder and punched me on the nose with his free hand. I felt something break; probably a bone and then I felt blood. I said nothing trying to remain calm. He grabbed me by my both shoulders this time and threw me to the floor. I lay on the carpeted floor back throbbing, trying to stand up. I looked up at him, I knew what I’d done wrong, it was the worst mistake you could make in front of my husband, think about something else while he was trying to yell at you. It didn’t go well and I had known better.
“Okay, Nicholas let me go.”
I pleaded with him as he pinned me on the balcony door.
“Now you listen! You don’t listen when I say things the first time. It’s your damn job!”
“My job has nothing to do with anything. Let me go, Nicholas. Please”
I cried out as he pulled me from the balcony door and threw me against it again. My head hit the glass but it didn’t shatter. I felt something warm trickle down the back of my head though.
“Okay, I’m listening. What do you want from me?” I turned to him and asked my voice calmer than I felt.
At this point, Nicholas did something unexpected. In the four years of abusive relationship that I had with him, he had never pulled a weapon on me. Sure he’d slap me and swear, call me names not to mention hit me with his hands but never before had he pulled out a weapon. He went to the drawer where we kept the kitchen knives and pulled out the sharpest one, turning it to me.
That scared me enough for me to slowly turned sideways from the balcony and went back towards the kitchen counter. I only had one thing in mind, if he started stabbing me I knew I would die. I had my strengths but defending myself was not one of them.
“Nicholas you don’t want to hurt me. You don’t want to kill a D.A I assure…”
“Shut up! I don’t care what you are.”
“I’m your wife, and trust me if you kill me, you’re going to have a lot of problems, Nicholas come on, I’m listening you’ve got to stop this”
“I don’t answer to you, you crazy bitch!”
I was so exasperated but I knew I had to calm him down.
“I didn’t say you answered to me! Trust me, when you answer to me you will know about it.”
I knew I had it coming and he did slap me again.
Just then, something hit me. Just a thought. I could die and he could very well commit the murder. But killing me was one thing; getting away with it was something else. I smiled faintly as he slapped me again.
“What are you smiling for you crazy bitch!”
“I’m not afraid. You’ll never win. You will kill me, fine, but you’ll never get away with it.”
That got him so mad he pulled me by my arm and yanked to the floor. I managed to avoid the broken pieces of the dish and by this time I knew of course that I was digging my own grave. But I didn’t care. Someone had to put him away, he was sick, I almost wished I could change him to the way he had been but of course I knew that was impossible.
My last comment seemed to have pissed him off enough. He grabbed me by my throat with both hands and he started to choke me. All the while I tried to smile and not show how much pain I was in. I kept talking as long as I remained conscious. A part of me wanted to die, to be a testament to his brutality.
As he shook me I felt dizzier and dizzier. I felt myself slipping away. Just before my world went dark however, I heard a bang and two voices.
“She’s over here, oh God Rose, stay with me”
It was Leslie, and as I let myself go and fall into her arms, I knew that as traumatic as this experience was, I would not die at least, not yet.
“Ms. Conners”
I heard the voice but it didn’t register in my mind just yet. So, I kept walking.
“Hey, Rose!”
I jumped about a foot in the air as I heard it the voice a second time, followed by running footsteps. I had just gotten out of court and was at the process of making my way down to the parking lot of the courthouse. I turned to see who it was. I blinked for a moment, out of it before I noticed who it was and put on a smile.
“Oh gosh, sorry your honor”
“I’m not your honor, I’m retired remember, anyway, I just wanted to come and tell you congratulations on the trial, you did well”
I shook my head. “No, I messed…”
I stopped talking when I noticed the serious look on the older woman’s face. I shook my head and corrected myself.
“Thank you, Leslie”
She had been my mentor back when I had been her clerk many years ago, she had been a judge back then and we had kept in touch since even after she had retired to a small law firm, I hadn’t known she would be watching me but I didn’t see why it mattered now since I was about to go home and if I was late, I’d have to go through another night of being hollered and screamed at not to mention slapped.
In my train of thoughts what Leslie had said to me drowned out until I forced myself to snap out of it.
“Huh? W-What?” I stammered.
Leslie shook her head.
“I wanted to know if you were doing anything tonight, we’ll celebrate just you and me it’ll be like the old days and it’s all on me”
I had never been the one to refuse her but I thought that going out after coming back home and telling Nicholas that I had to meet someone for dinner would be a suicide mission but I never disobeyed anyone older than me before and I was so not about to start now.
“Oh of course, if you want you can pick me up at my place an hour from now you know, it’s not that far”
So it was agreed that I’d see her then. She’d come to my house with her car and we’d go off to have Chinese. As we parted ways, I thought about my husband and what to tell him. We’d been married for the last five years and our first year had been wonderful. But ever since he had lost his job at the middle of our second year of marriage, it had started to get really bad, he had started to drink and when he drank it was worse than some of the cases I prosecuted. Of course, the fact that I had an abusive husband was a secret to the rest of the world, a secret I would carry with me to my grave if I could. I did love him or I thought I did and I had no intentions of getting anyone else involved in my problems, it would be too risky and more reason for him to be more violent and I didn’t need add fuel to the fire.
Twenty minutes later, I was home. I came in through the front door and shut it quietly so I would not disturb Nicholas if he was asleep. I tiptoed around the couch where he lay snoring and went to the TV. The sound of the boxing match was deafening and I fumbled for the remote trying to turn it off. When I did, he woke up as if an alarm had went off. He smelled of alcohol and I had just turned off the TV, which was very bad.
“You’re late and you’re useless! How many times do I have to tell you not to touch the damn TV? This isn’t your house, this is my house!”
I sighed as I put down my bag of files and made my way into the kitchen with him following me.
“Stop yelling, you are not an animal and I am not deaf.”
I told him as quietly as I possibly could. I tried not to flinch as he slapped me across the face. He was a good foot taller than I and he was than me. He was also more violent. Not even me, a District Attorney for the state of Pennsylvania could do a thing about it. How could I? I was married to him.
He was still screaming but by now I had tuned him out. I was now looking around the fridge looking for some food to fix him and was thinking about my other case and the dinner with Leslie.
“I have to get that motion passed, Oh God I hope they found some new evidence and I want to…Let me go!”
I screamed as I dropped the plate of mashed potatoes. It clattered to the floor as the dish shattered and broke. He grabbed me by my one shoulder and punched me on the nose with his free hand. I felt something break; probably a bone and then I felt blood. I said nothing trying to remain calm. He grabbed me by my both shoulders this time and threw me to the floor. I lay on the carpeted floor back throbbing, trying to stand up. I looked up at him, I knew what I’d done wrong, it was the worst mistake you could make in front of my husband, think about something else while he was trying to yell at you. It didn’t go well and I had known better.
“Okay, Nicholas let me go.”
I pleaded with him as he pinned me on the balcony door.
“Now you listen! You don’t listen when I say things the first time. It’s your damn job!”
“My job has nothing to do with anything. Let me go, Nicholas. Please”
I cried out as he pulled me from the balcony door and threw me against it again. My head hit the glass but it didn’t shatter. I felt something warm trickle down the back of my head though.
“Okay, I’m listening. What do you want from me?” I turned to him and asked my voice calmer than I felt.
At this point, Nicholas did something unexpected. In the four years of abusive relationship that I had with him, he had never pulled a weapon on me. Sure he’d slap me and swear, call me names not to mention hit me with his hands but never before had he pulled out a weapon. He went to the drawer where we kept the kitchen knives and pulled out the sharpest one, turning it to me.
That scared me enough for me to slowly turned sideways from the balcony and went back towards the kitchen counter. I only had one thing in mind, if he started stabbing me I knew I would die. I had my strengths but defending myself was not one of them.
“Nicholas you don’t want to hurt me. You don’t want to kill a D.A I assure…”
“Shut up! I don’t care what you are.”
“I’m your wife, and trust me if you kill me, you’re going to have a lot of problems, Nicholas come on, I’m listening you’ve got to stop this”
“I don’t answer to you, you crazy bitch!”
I was so exasperated but I knew I had to calm him down.
“I didn’t say you answered to me! Trust me, when you answer to me you will know about it.”
I knew I had it coming and he did slap me again.
Just then, something hit me. Just a thought. I could die and he could very well commit the murder. But killing me was one thing; getting away with it was something else. I smiled faintly as he slapped me again.
“What are you smiling for you crazy bitch!”
“I’m not afraid. You’ll never win. You will kill me, fine, but you’ll never get away with it.”
That got him so mad he pulled me by my arm and yanked to the floor. I managed to avoid the broken pieces of the dish and by this time I knew of course that I was digging my own grave. But I didn’t care. Someone had to put him away, he was sick, I almost wished I could change him to the way he had been but of course I knew that was impossible.
My last comment seemed to have pissed him off enough. He grabbed me by my throat with both hands and he started to choke me. All the while I tried to smile and not show how much pain I was in. I kept talking as long as I remained conscious. A part of me wanted to die, to be a testament to his brutality.
As he shook me I felt dizzier and dizzier. I felt myself slipping away. Just before my world went dark however, I heard a bang and two voices.
“She’s over here, oh God Rose, stay with me”
It was Leslie, and as I let myself go and fall into her arms, I knew that as traumatic as this experience was, I would not die at least, not yet.
