Domestic violence story from S.

by Sherri
(TEXAS USA )

It was Mother's Day. I decided I was going to leave that day and never go back.

My children spent the night at their grandparents. I didn't go and meet my husband at his friends that night, and I slept in my car. In the morning I went to a friends house and showered, and I was going to wait there until it was time to meet my husband's parents to get my kids. My husband showed up at the house in a rage asking where I was all might. He didn't believe I slept in the car, and he wouldn't listen. He was furious, and it wasn't his usual. I could tell something was different. He usually tried to maintain composure around these friends but not this time. I normally would have gone with him to save embarrassment and to save the people from being in that situation. I'd been beaten hundreds of times, and it was easier I guess for me to deal with than most people, and I can't really explain what I mean by that. I was developing a dissociative disorder over the years, but at the time I couldn't identify that.

This time I was really afraid, and I refused to go. I had never done that, and it had added to his rage. My friends daughter was there with her baby. She was so freaked out, the baby was crying, and she was going to call the cops. It was getting so out of control, and I'd never seen him so unwilling to deal with me later. I knew something bad was going to happen if I stayed but worse for me if I went. I finally got into the van. The worst mistake I've ever made. He drove me to his friends house, punching me several times, and screaming at the top of his lungs and driving like a mad man. I was relieved to pull into the drive of his friend's house, but soon I realized nobody was home. He made a phone call and said he planned to wait there, but I had no idea how long it would be. I just sat there while he was ranting. He started the car, and he drove to the back of the property behind some out-buildings and started beating me. It lasted hours. He kept stabbing me in my knee with a spike, and blood was starting to get everywhere. At one point we saw a man that walked with a cane and had a dog come out the back door and walked towards us. I thought I was saved, but when he got up to the window my husband told him we were waiting for John and he should go back inside. And he did. I couldn't believe it, but I figured he'd at least call the police or get someone else. It made my husband get worse. I'm not sure how much longer we sat there. I was in complete panic, and I lost track of his ranting.

I think I was in and out of consciousness until he started to drive again. He was screaming so loud, and he kept punching me and hitting the place he had been stabbing my knee. If I tried to beg he'd hit me harder. He was driving to some private land way in the country, and he continuously told me the story of how he was going to rape me, kill me, film all of it, and send my body parts to my father. At one point I begged him to think of the kids, and he said I hope you told them you loved them because they will never see you again. He made me take my clothes off and constantly dared me to reach for the door handle. He kept saying "do you think it's licked or do you think you fast enough to make it before I kill you." As we drove and passed houses, they were getting fewer and farther between. I knew I had to jump out when we were in front of one of the houses so someone could help me, but it seemed everyone that I saw outside was either old or had young kids out. I didn't want him to end up killing someone that tried to help, and I'd end up dead anyway. I remember my eyes bouncing back and fourth involuntarily. I can't really explain. I was out of my mind I think.

The time came when we were going to leave the paved road to the dirt road soon, and I knew if I hadn't jumped by then I'd be on the land with nobody for miles, and I was as good as dead. I could see a car far away coming towards us and if I could time it just right I could jump at the turn and the driver might see me, and I knew it was my only shot. As soon as he turned on the gravel road, I pulled the handle and to my surprise it opened. I remember thinking how much farther it looked from where I was sitting. I knew I needed to try to run with the van, and as soon as I jumped the ground smacked me down like a ton of bricks. I remember hearing the popping of his rocks under the tires, and I remember him screaming and slamming the brakes. I knew I had to get up and run. I stood up and my leg gave out, and I fell it was like a noodle. I don't know how I got back up. I know it was seconds, but in my mind everything was slow motion. Next thing I know I was running and fast naked, and he was right behind me screaming, and I was headed to the road somehow beating him. To this day I do not know how, and it sounds like a lie I know.

I made it to the road and the car was passing, and I held up my arm and screamed help and fell. I passed out at that point. When I woke up I was somehow all twisted up on the front passenger side floorboard of the utility van, and I can remember hearing rocks flying, and we were moving very fast on a dirt road. I looked up at my husband driving, and he made eye contact with me. He said in a scared voice crying and said I'm in trouble and everything came into perspective for me, and I pulled myself up and a calm came over me that I can't explain. I turned around and that car was behind us staying right on our tail, and I knew I made it! I was alive! I remember thanking God in my head. I'd been praying through the whole thing, but at that moment I felt something different. I knew that my husband was going away, and I hadn't called. He had to live with it. All I thought was that I was finally free, I survived, and that the rest would be easy. I told my husband that he better not go on the land. I said drop me off, and the car would stop to help me, and he could get away. I was urging him like I was trying to help him, but he went onto the land and the driver stopped at the gate and he went into a wooded area and parked. I knew the police would be there any time and I wasn't afraid. Time passed, and I couldn't believe it was taking so long. It seemed like forever. My husband had time to get clothes on me and try and clean me up. I couldn't stand on my leg, so he kinda propped me up against a tree. This property belonged to a man that allowed him to park several of his trucks, cars and motorcycles on his property. It was a ginseng farm and nobody lived out there.

Finally, I heard cars pulling down the road and gravel popping under the tires. They were moving slow, but it sounded like a lot of cars. I screamed at my husband to lay down on the ground because I thought they might shoot him at that point, but he didn't listen. He just stood there about ten feet away from me and watched car after car pull up and park. Most of the cars were unmarked, and the men got out and headed directly towards all the vehicles. There was one police car that was also parked farther away, and I watched the cop walking slowly up to us, and he came to me first by the tree. He grabbed my arm. I thought he was looking at the road burn on it, and it hurt. I said be careful, and I remember that being the first time I really felt pain? He kind of threw me off balance, and I explained I couldn't stand up without the tree. I was in mid-sentence, and I realized he was trying to put my hand behind my back. I said "what are you doing" and instantly terror came back, and he said "your under arrest." I screamed "for what", and next thing I know paramedics were grabbing me telling the police officer to let me go. I had life threatening injuries and needed to go to the hospital, and, reluctantly, the police officer let my arm go. The paramedics put me on a stretcher, and, as they were carrying me, I heard him say he was riding with and they said no room, and then I passed out. When I woke up again, I was in an MRI. My leg was wrapped. I was in there for a long time. When I got back to the room, I was so freaked out that I said I had to go home. I was now afraid of the police. I had no idea what was going on. All I knew is that I needed to get out of there to figure out what was going on. The nurse said "your not going anywhere, you have brain damage, and you are going to a hospital in Iowa city that has proper equipment to treat you." My son walked in hysterical, and I tried to tell him I'm fine to calm down. He was sobbing. I assured him I was fine and told the girl that drove him to pull the car around, and I sneaked out the emergency exit of the hospital. I woke up four days later at the girl's house with a soup bowl around me, but I had no idea that days had passed. I don't remember anything after leaving the hospital. I know this sound ridiculous.