Freedom Fought

Ch 1. Into the Light

***********TW:**********

This contains a description of domestic violence. Please proceed cautiously with that knowledge.

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Penelope DelVecchio took one last look around the house she had shared with her husband for three years, making sure she hadn’t missed anything. Outside, a cab was waiting with the few bags she had packed with clothing, essentials, and family mementos. She was leaving everything else behind: furniture, her nice kitchen things, the china from her wedding, and all her decorations. It wasn’t just that she couldn’t carry it all, she didn’t want it. They were just reminders of the things that should have been, but never were. The furnishings of the lies she had told herself and everyone she knew. Taking them with her would only serve as a reminder of the pain and disappointment. As she walked through the house she reflected on how drastically her life had changed.

There was so little happiness left between them anymore. He didn’t start violent, they were so happy at first. It seemed like they were soul mates, they loved the same things, they hated the same things, they made each other laugh hard and often, How could she have predicted it? It was so slow, like a creeping vine slowly rooting into her walls and tearing her down. First he was critical, it was like she was forever falling short of his expectations. “Didn’t she want to be better? Do better?” he would ask. Didn’t she know he was only hard on her because she could be even more? Then he didn’t like her friends, they were rude to him, he said. They encouraged her to be irresponsible. Then he didn’t like what she wore, everything was too low cut. Then one day he thought a man she worked with was paying her too much attention. He called her a w***e, he said she liked was egging him on and encouraging it. Finally, one day during an argument he shoved her to the ground and since then, the violence escalated.

He was always so contrite afterwards. He was full of love and apologies, he tried so hard to show how much he loved her. No other person on earth had ever been as sorry and grateful as he was when he was convincing Penny to stay. Till she found out about the other women. It seemed his constant accusations of infidelity were just him, looking in the mirror. There were texts and nudes from strange women. There was even a young woman who had just turned 18 when he seduced her. She tried to confront him and he was so angry and embarrassed at being caught, he choked her until she blacked out on the bedroom floor. When she came to he was sitting on the edge of the bed with his hands folded, his face was so calm. The way he looked at her was so quiet and eerie. Then he told her there was no where she could go that he wouldn’t find her. The most recent time she tried to leave he pulled a knife on her and told her she would never escape.

Apparently “Never” had come, because she was escaping and there was nothing he could do. She finally reached out to the one person he didn’t know about and he couldn’t cut her off from, an old friend from college. Her name was Marie Silva and they were on the student newspaper together. They hadn’t spoken in years, but Penelope was an only child, her own parents had passed several years ago, and her own friends had long thought she had abandoned them. She needed someone, she couldn’t do this alone. Penny had contacted her on social media as a long shot, knowing that Marie was a social worker and might have some insight. She couldn’t believe it when not only did Marie remember her, but she was committed to helping. They spent the last several months planning and replanning until everything was perfect. Marie’s family had a house in the Outer Banks in North Carolina. It was just outside where tourists gathered, out on its own piece of land, surrounded to the back and sides by forest and looking out into the water of the ocean. It even had a small dock with a little motor boat. Marie was loaning the house to her and she could stay there till she got on her feet. He would never think to look there.

Satisfied that she had everything she needed, Penny got the cash she had been hiding in the bathroom air vent, and then she took her goodbye letter, folded it in half, and set it on the kitchen table with her house keys, and all of her credit cards. It was short, but it said everything it needed to say.

“Jeremy,

By the time you see this, I will be long gone. I’m tired of living in fear and our good times no longer outnumber our bad. I’ve left everything but my own personal belongings and my own money I’ve been saving from my job. Please don’t try to find me. Please just let this be over. We both need to be happy and we can’t do that together. My lawyer will send you the paperwork.

Penny”

She had always imagined that if she could finally leave, it would be under the cover of darkness but here she was, walking out the door while he was at work. It was just after noon and the months of planning, saving, sneaking, and looking over her shoulder were finally paying off! It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and she was never coming back here. Standing next to the open car door she looked up into the bright blue sky, put on her dark sunglasses to cover her blacked eye for the last time and got into backseat of the waiting cab. She relaxed her shoulders into the worn plush, took a deep breath, and told the driver to take her to the airport. Today was the first day of the rest of her life.