up the home with a crackling fire.
Jack must have come home while she was out back. She turned around and saw him staring at her from the walkway by the back door. He didn’t make his presence known.
Maggie dropped the wood and clutched her chest. “Jack, you scared me.”
He never apologized, he only stared. She scooped up the wood, knowing he would not help her. His eyes were cold and dark, his skin looked extra pale.
“What are you doing?” He asked.
She smiled, noting the flat tone in his voice. “Eli’s coming home soon. I am warming up the house.”
She moved toward the door but Jack blocked her entry. He yanked the wood from her arms. The blocks fell to the ground, two banging up against her leg. “No you’re not.”
“Jack, come on, let me go inside, it’s freezing.”
His head tilted like a dog deciphering what he heard. “You’ll burn him. And I won’t let you.”
“What are you talking about? You’re the one who holds him by the fire,” she argued as she reached for the wood.
He smacked her arm down, with one hand.
“Jack that hurt.”
“You’re not going anywhere near my son.”
Maggie’s fear heightened. What was happening?
His head tilted again as he stared at her. “You’re expecting someone aren’t you?”
His fingers were now an inch from her face. “Admit it, you’ve been sneaking around on me.”
Her head shook, “No Jack. Never.”
He gripped her chin and moved her head side to side. Tears welled up in her eyes. “No. Not my Maggie.” He touched her hair. “You’d never do that to me. Because if you did,” he now caressed her cheek, “Eli would lose his mother. And you wouldn’t want that.”
Suddenly the suspicion was gone and he backed up. Maggie however, had tightened every muscle in her body. Only when he entered the home, was she able to breathe. Maggie took the keys out of her pocket and ran to the car. She broke down sobbing as she left the driveway. That was almost four years ago.
The following morning was when she made the call to an abuse hotline. She had seen a flier at the library when she took Eli there for a toddlers meet-up. The face on the brochure mirrored the way she felt though she’d never say it.
The threshold for tension had risen higher and higher to the point of drowning. She was constantly watching the clock waiting for Jack to come home, only to second guess his every move. She tried to stay one step ahead of his mood. Each hour of anxiety mounted up until she was about to explode.
Many nights, she retreated to Eli’s room, as to not wake the beast. Jack was flipping in and out of conscious states as he slept and she knew better than to wake him. There were consequences for sleeping in Eli’s room, but she knew what those were. Waking Jack up was the lesser of two evils.
She hadn’t thought about that fate filled phone call since the morning she first called for help. She dialed the wrong number the first two tries. Her hands shook uncontrollably. She logged the number in her cell as Library, so Jack wouldn’t suspect. She stood on the front stoop as the phone rang, until she got up the nerve to speak.
The phone wobbled as she shook in fear. When the woman answered Maggie’s tongue felt like tar.
“This is Safe Haven, are you in a safe place to talk?”
“Yes, I am,” Maggie mumbled, reality suddenly hit home.
“How can I help you?”
“Hi Um, I’m calling to ask a question. I don’t know for sure, but I think I may be in a Domestic Violence situation.”
The woman was very calm, “What makes you think that you are?”
Maggie paused. “Well, I am very afraid of my husband.”
The woman spoke clear and calmly. “Has he threatened you directly?”
“Um, yes but not today,” Maggie was quickly losing her nerve.
“Are you afraid that he might hurt you or your children?”
“Well, I’m not sure. Something is definitely wrong with him. I don’t think he would hurt us. He is very angry though.”
“Ma’am would you like to come into the shelter?”
Maggie shook her head as if the woman could see her. “No. No, that’s not necessary.”
“Do you have a place you can go, to get away from him?”
Again she shook her head, “Yes I do.”
Her mother lived only two hours away but Maggie could make the drive. She questioned her own sanity. Do I really need to do that? Jack is angry