Two Thousand Ten

I wasnt working at the time beacause that was somehow a sort of blow to HIS masculinity. When i had been working, Peter had come into the staff room in the salon and started cursing at my coworkers and saying things about my boss that weren't true. I was let go the next day.

Since I suddenly had all this extra time it meant I could get up early and drive him to work. Convenient since he didnt have a licence due to a drunk driving charge.

After he was taken care of and the kids were both awake and fed, Beanie and I would normally go online for a couple hours.

I wasn't 'allowed' to have a social media account because that would automatically make me a cheating slut. I would have to carefully deactivate my secret account every night before he came home from work, and reactivate it each morning.

He came home one night and saw a chicken breast that I had left on the kitchen counter while I went to the washroom to wash my hands. He flew into such a rage that he ended up punching a solid wood column, almost breaking his hand. He was hollering like a lunatic and for the first time since I had known him, he had made some suicidal comments. The kids were away at their dads, so as the situation progressed, I decided to leave.

I didn't really have anywhere to go so I ended up sitting on a boulevard a couple of blocks away. I was worried about the comments he had made and his state of mind, so I had made a call to his mother to go and check on him.

I sat on the wet grass on the boulevard crying for about an hour before I heard his car pull up behind me. He forced me back into the car and began screaming insults at me and calling me names. Then all of a sudden he recognized the vehicle that was headed towards us. It was his father. And like a switch, his whole demeanor changed. It was like an entirely different person was sitting next to me as the car rolled to a stop beside us. Both men rolled their windows down to speak as I sobbed in the passenger seat.

I couldnt believe how he had gone from screaming and swearing, red in the face to so completely ccalm within seconds. It was terrifyiing.

His dad told him he was there because I had called the house and told them I was worried about his well-being.

He looked his dad right in the eye and as sincere as anything said

"Does that sound like me, Dad? Do you honestly think I would ever talk that way? I mean, look at her" he motioned to me crying in the passenger seat "she's clearly hysterical"

That was obviously enough evidence beacuse Dad simply nodded his head in response, and drove away.

I remember just sinking into my seat feeling totally defeated.

"Just take me home" I said trying not to let him see me cry any more.

I think it was the next Monday, the landlords (who lived in the suite in the basement) came up and let us know that they had been thinking of moving back into the main floor suite, and gave us 2 months to find a new place.

I knew they weren't planning on moving. I didn't blame them, I wanted to be rid of him too. I found a new place within the week, and we moved out before months end.

In hindsight, I should have just found a quiet spot for myself and my children, and snuck out while he was at work. I prefer to do things the hard way though. Maybe I thought getting a fresh start would be good for us and things would change... little did I know the freshest start was just around the corner...

-Dash