.....
How many times did I find myself on his bathroom
floor cowering beneath him, feeling the hot spit land on me as he
screamed? Stop crying like a baby. You're crazy. No one
else would put up with you. How many times did I shudder on
that floor counting my breaths, bringing myself back from
the brink of suffocation during a panic attack that was
triggered by one of these maniacal and regular assults? But he
never hit me.
How many hours did I remain on that bathroom floor after he had
gone to bed, my eyes red with burst blood vessels? How many times
did I hear the sound of his snores and realize he had fallen
asleep, no more than a meter away, to the sound of me
hyperventilating while still in the throes of that panic attack?
How many times did I whisper aloud, "How did I get
here? How did I become this girl?" How many times did I tell
myself to get up, call a cab and walk out the front door? How
many times did I get up and look in that mirror and fail to
recognize myself? How much hate could I have for the broken girl
staring back at me? But he never hit me.
How many times did I crawl into that bed, rather than into a
cab, and wake up with his arms around me, telling me that I
brought it out in him? He wasn't like this. I made him
like this. I needed to change the way I approached him about
these things. Be less accusatory. If I just softened my
approach, it would allow him to react differently. How many
times did I adjust my approach before I realized the only way to
avoid the abuse was not to bring it up at all? But he never
hit me.
How many emails and text messages did I find? How many parties
did we attend knowing that one of the women was there? I
learned quickly not to address it so that "I"
wouldn't ruin a perfectly nice evening. When his family
member asked me if a lipstick she had found under the couch was
mine, I threw it away and said nothing more of it. Neither did
she. Another humiliation taken in silence. But he never hit
me.
How many times did he tell me he was going to sleep, out for
dinner with a client, couldn't hear his phone, but
actually taking out another woman? How many times did he ignore
my calls and call the next morning telling me nothing had
happened? It was sadistic. I could see how much he enjoyed being
that powerful. How many defamatory lies did he concoct and
propagate to my colleagues and friends when I walked away from
him? How many times did he smear my reputation? How many times
did I go back, believing every promise that he was a new
man, believing every half-hearted apology? But he never hit
me.
How many times did a friend pick me up because he had kicked me
out of bed in the middle of the night for questioning him about
one of the women? How many times did I go back before those
friends had had enough. How many times did I defend him and
justify his behavior when I told a friend about
what he had done? When did I stop telling altogether to avoid the
shame of the insanity of the circumstances I was somehow in --
The shame of being a strong independent woman who couldn't
take care of herself enough to leave a situation that was so
toxic? When did I stop expecting more? But he never hit
me.
How could I explain to someone that believed it was partly my
fault, even though I was embarrassed to hear those beaten
woman's words spoken from my lips. No one really
understood. No one knew him like I did. It was my job to protect
him from the truth of what he did to me. I couldn't let them
think he was a monster. I wouldn't tell anyone. I was
entirely alone. But he never hit me.
My solitude meant that I could no longer see the reflection
in other people's eyes indicating what was normal. I could
only see the reflection in his eyes and began to believe
what he told me about myself. I began to believe his irrational
explanations despite my own heart and eyes. I let him define
reality. I became isolated. It became easier to cut off my
support networks completely than to have to lie about
everything. Than to face the humiliation of my reality. A
part of me knew that once they knew the extent of what was
happening, they would force me to get out for good. I knew I
would always need to even in the worst of times. But he never hit
me.
I set a benchmark. The red line I wouldn't cross. The minute
he hit me, I would leave. But the truth is, I know I
wouldn't have left then either. I would have rationalized
that in hitting me, he would realize how out of hand things were.
Everything would change now. I wouldn't have left. By hurting
me, he showed me he loved me. He cared enough to go that crazy.
He cared so much that he was overwhelmed by anger and jealousy or
sadness and simply couldn't control himself.
When it was over, I wasn't permitted to mourn him. No one
could understand how love, hate, fear and comfort could
coexist simultaneously. They could not understand that in
addiction to my abuser, I also lost my confidant, the person
to make dinner with, the person to watch movies on a rainy
sunday, the person to laugh with, the person who knew me. I lost
my companion. How can you explain to someone that the abuse was
only a part of who he was? How do you explain that to
yourself?
There are still days when I remember tender moments and
wonder if it really was that bad. I still struggle with
reconciling how he could love me to the point of tears and yet
hurt me as if I was an enemy. Like a child, I'm learning to
redefine the borders of normal behavior and to realign my
expectations. I remind myself that acts of violence can
never be acts of love.
.....