Viciously Complicated Pt 1

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"Go to your rooms, kids, I'm gonna get your mother." he said calmly as he brandished the sword. This was met by loud, heartbreaking wails of sorrow and fear from the children as they backed away from him, unsure what to do. This was their father, said their fearful yet seasoned eyes, and the memories, faint, of days gone by, flashed vividly in their quick minds. As they turned slowly to scurry off, she saw the love, and hate, and anger, and terror in their tiny faces..and as her eyes met his, she saw the insanity, and emptiness in his.

He pointed the blade at her, an eerie smile on his face, and calmly yet pointedly , said.."I Am Going To Kill You."

Now she had seen that look before. The color of his eyes changed when the alcohol mixed with the stifled rage; anger that never had much to do with her, but was forced upon her nonetheless. His fury had been her cross to bear in the past, and she had felt his cold hands around her neck then, knowing death was not far off. She had been saved then..but tonight, oh tonight she would not stand a chance against the cold metal in his hands and his alarmingly high level of animosity.

She ran, dialing 911, slamming the door behind her, and hoping they could get there in time. Why did it seem like it took forever for the dispatcher to ring her through to police?
She whispered quietly to them, speaking urgently, hoping they could understand the importance of moving fast. As she gave her address and his description, she heard her boys in the room below her crying, terrified, and whispered "You have to hurry. My kids think he's killing me."

His heavy footsteps came closer down the hallway and she heard them stop outside her door. the metal clanged against her door in three short knocks and she remembered him using a bat to intimidate neighbors like that before. She could imagine the door being kicked in, and saw in her mind's eye, the attack that would take her life. She scrambled into the ensuite bathroom and opened the window. "Please, please hurry.." she whispered into the phone. She looked down at the concrete below..a two storey fall...if she landed wrong...

"Where are my cigarettes before I go to jail?" he slurred from the hallway, a sneer in his voice.
"In the living room, take them and go, please," she said, hoping he did not hear the panic in her very soul. The footsteps retreated as the dispatcher sternly commanded her to leave the door locked.
"No worries..but please, I don't think he'd hurt the kids, but he's been drinking and I just dont know."

As the sirens approached, she heard him say he would burn the house down, and as she relayed that to the dispatcher, she believed it. But they were almost there...surely he couldnt...
Voices, as she paced in her bedroom, filtered down to her. "They're here, she breathed, "oh thank you so much, They're here."

"GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!" They shouted, from a seemingly far off place in her home, and she opened the door and bolted down the hallway, down the stairs where he was being cuffed, down to her babies. Her youngest boy was coming to meet her, saying "I hear police! Mommy...?"
He smiled and cried at the sight of her and she soothed him, "Mommy's okay baby, everything is okay."


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AUTHORS NOTE:

THIS IS NOT FICTION. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO ME AND MY CHILDREN.

We were almost a statistic: multiple homicide. Where the father kills the estranged wife and the children and then possibly himself. This excerpt is only about half an hour out of the three hours of arguing and crying and pleading that occurred. But it's a happy ending. Luckily for me. Many , many women and children are not so lucky. Family violence occurs every day, with people who are still together, and people who have been apart. DON'T BE A STATISTIC. When the signs are there, don't wait for them, run. When years have passed, don't believe that you have gotten past the issues that made you split up and that you can still be "friends". RUN. AND DON'T LOOK BACK.

This story narrowly came to ending so differently, that I would not be here to write it.
LADIES.....BE SMART. BE SAFE. YOUR CHILDREN'S LIVES DEPEND ON IT.