Putts the Problem? DISCONTINUED

Old habits die hard

Charlene's POV

I have been dating Ryan for the past few months. He started out as one of the sweetest men I had ever met. When he asked me on a date, I was shocked. He asked in such a firm and demanding voice, nothing I had heard from him before. I agreed and so began the start to what I thought would be a great relationship.

It only took a week of dating before things turned for the worse. Ryan became violent. He accused me with sleeping with other men when I hadn't even slept with him. We started having daily arguments. He couldn't control his anger. One particularly bad night, Ryan had come home from work to blame me for not cleaning the apartment. He yelled, belittled, and overall berated me with insults and distaste. I tried to stand up to him.

Wrong move.

He punched me. Not just a little one either. It was a full on punch. I couldn't see out of my right eye. He had no remorse on his face whatsoever when he declared he was going to get a drink and left.

I cried for hours afterwards. Thinking of how this could have been done to me. How Ryan changed from a sweet gentleman to a vicious abuser.

...Was it all an act?

Had it been from the start?

That was something that I realized then. Ryan has never been sweet. His whole personality was an act. The person I met initially never existed. I just saw a mask covering the dark truth.

The beatings became more regular after that; and I never regained vision in my right eye. I expected him to come home, complain about something, drink, then beat me. I grew into this routine of abuse. I hadn't realized it until today.

I woke up, got ready, and went to work. I got home and waited. I waited, and waited, and waited...but nobody came. I was confused. It was 7:00pm when I got my answer. There were two policemen at my door. I asked them what they needed. I wasn't prepared for what they told me next.

Ryan was dead.

Apparently he had been at the range when some thugs started threatening him. He went to attack one of them, but one of them had a knife. The thug proceeded to decapitate Ryan.

I stood in shock. The policemen offered their condolences and left. I felt something rising in my chest. I didn't know what it was. I felt something stream down my face and some weird sounds being emitted. I looked around and realized the sounds were coming from me. I was crying and laughing from the shock. It had been so long since I had felt anything other than despair that this was my first response.

I was finally free.

From the abuse, from the terror, from the tragedy.

I am finally free.