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Early Abuse In My Relationship – A Story of Abuse

June 26, 2012 Kellie Jo Holly

Early in my relationship with my ex-husband, Will, I felt afraid in his presence. I've often wondered why I stayed with him in these early days. My boyfriends before him generally treated me well - very well. I'd known no one like Will before. He seemed exciting and different. I think my curiosity got the best of me; by the time I'd figured him out, we were entrenched in the cycle of abuse.

I think this episode I'm sharing today illustrates what was going on in my head during our earliest abusive interactions. As you will read in the story, Will and I firmly attached ourselves together very quickly. This story happens before he asked me to be his girl.

At the time of this story, I'm 19-years-old and a Private First Class in the Army. Tommy, my last high school boyfriend, wrote a letter to me. I wrote him back, telling him I'd met someone (Will) and broke off our relationship. He'd written a reply, but instead of answering it, I stored it in a box where I kept several mementos, past and present.

This evening, I planned to meet with Will after work, and excitedly hurried back from headquarters to get ready for our date.

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Entering the barracks, I jumped over every second step up to the fourth floor, and breathless, thrust my key toward the lock. But the second the key connected with the lock's metal faceplate, the door swung open. I had forgotten to lock it, but had I forgotten to close it, too? The door contacted the wall behind it with a thud and shuddered to a stop. Now I could see Will, sitting on my bed and reading Tommy's letter to me. I wasn't mad, I didn't feel invaded. I was scared.

Will sat there looking like a straight-backed 1950's father holding a newspaper, reading my letter with deliberation. I got the sense he was reading it through for at least the second time; I thought he'd been studying it, and what conclusions he may have drawn scared me, more than a little.

I tried to remember exactly what Tommy said, his phrasing, his assumptions. I wanted to defend myself and it didn't matter that Will was in my room without my knowledge, looking at my papers, sitting on my bed looking at my private correspondence with a frightening steely hatred in his eyes.

I was somehow wrong; it didn't matter why.

"I came up here to take you to dinner," he started, quiet and slow through clenched teeth. His voice now crescendoed into a yell as he said, "And this is how you repay me?!" Bellowing now, he said, "I saw you skipping to headquarters...now I know it was because of this f&+k-stick you met in training!"

And then, maybe to himself, he muttered, "Females - fucking whores."

"No, no!" I said quietly, running to him. I got down on my knees and put my hands on his forearms, pressing down to lower the letter so I could see his face. "I wasn't skipping - I didn't meet him in training!"

Will had it all wrong; if I could only calm him down to hear me out! If he had asked me before, this wouldn't be happening because I would have told him everything and now he'd understand! But there wasn't time to be upset about that. I had to explain.

Will glared at me over the letter. His brows knit tightly together and he clenched his teeth, jutting his chin forward and forcing his ears lower by a half inch. His face turned redder, almost purple and amplified his green eyes full of glowing, crackling, hissing anger. He abruptly stood up and my face was in his crotch. I looked down at his boots, half expecting him to hit me.

I heard him crumple the letter into a tight ball. His hip bumped my face as he turned to throw the paper toward the trash can. I leaned back, caught my balance and stood up, then quickly backed away from him. I forced myself to look at his face despite my burning shame. I didn't take time to question why I was ashamed.

My heart beat faster, tears sprung to my eyes. It wasn't going to be easy to calm him, he was in so much pain.

I took a chance and stepped a little closer to him so I could reach the bedside table's drawer. I opened the drawer and pulled out an 8x5 inch flat box that once delivered cookies from my grandmother and now served as my letter holder. I opened the box and sifted through it quickly until I found my and Tommy's prom picture taken under the white arch decorated with black and pink balloons.

"Look!" I said, "This is Tommy and me - I've known him since high school," and thought that I'd make a dent in Will's assumption, get him to admit one part of what he'd said was wrong, calm him so we could talk.

Will's voice lowered to a threatening whisper, "It doesn't matter who he is!" and then louder, loud enough for the three people accumulating in the hall to hear, "You've been cheating on me and you're not even my girlfriend yet!"

What? He thought about me becoming his girlfriend?

"No! I haven't cheated on you! Look!" I said with a smile growing in my heart. I side-stepped Will and dumped out the contents of the box onto the bed. Pictures from high school and training. Letters from my sister, mother, father ... and Tommy all in their envelopes folded just as the sender intended.

Will turned to the bed, leaned over and abruptly sorted through the pile of memorabilia, flinging what wasn't Tommy's letters onto the floor. He found five letters. He studied the postmarks, and I felt like he was looking for a lie. He methodically tore each envelope in half, then surreally, gently placed the torn letters back into the box. He turned away from me to walk toward the door, leaving greasy motor pool footprints on the letters and pictures strewn on the floor.

At the door, he turned back to me and pointed toward the paper on the floor and in the box. Calmly he said, "Get rid of it. All of it. I never want to see any stupid letters or pictures from any of those idiots again." He looked big. Strong.

Did that mean he would see me again? "Okay," I said, "I'll get rid of it."

"Okay," he said, "I'll come get you in an hour. We'll go to dinner in town." Rounding on the people in the hall, he yelled, "What the hell do you want?" He stepped through the door frame and slammed the door behind him. Through the door, I heard what sounded like rats wearing boots scurry away down the hall.

I dropped to my knees, scooping the papers into a pile, then putting them back into some kind of order. I took the box from the bed, looked at the torn envelopes, and threw the rest of the trash on top of them. I didn't know what I was feeling, but I knew these scraps of paper were trouble.

Just then, my door opened a tiny crack. I heard my suite-mate say, "Kellie, can I come in?" It had been a long time since someone called me something other than Private; hearing my name seemed to pull tears from my eyes and they dropped like heavy bomb shells onto the box cradled in my arms.

"I heard what he said," Carrie whispered as she sat on the floor in front of me. "What are you going to do?"

"I guess I'm going to throw this crap in the dumpster and get ready for dinner," I said, not looking up from the box. I saw her two hands reach for the box, slowly, gently. I cried harder.

"Okay," she said, "but why don't you let me keep this box for you? Just for a while until you feel better. Then I'll walk to the dumpster with you and throw it in myself, if you want."

I looked up at her. She smiled. I relinquished the box filled with my past to her and wiped my eyes. I forced a smile and said, "What should I wear to dinner? The mini-dress or black skirt?"

-----

Does my thinking seem familiar to any of you? Let's identify the "stinking thinking" going on in this story of abuse. Please leave your comments.

APA Reference
Jo, K. (2012, June 26). Early Abuse In My Relationship – A Story of Abuse, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, March 29 from https://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/verbalabuseinrelationships/2012/06/early-abuse-story-abuse



Author: Kellie Jo Holly

Gina
May, 17 2014 at 1:23 pm

I can relate to this story. My husband would constantly check my phone while we were dating and even when we got married. He would always say that he felt like I was hiding something from him...it was a feeling he had and that 85% of the time he had this supposed feeling he was right. As if he had some super powers or something...yeah it was insecurity in spades. I always felt like I could prove to him that I was different from his past relationships. He always blamed the woman in his past relationships for doing this or that which is why they cheated in him and he would pay them back by cheating on them. He has even told me he cheated on me because he accused me of cheating on him with my manager at work when I had to leave for a business trip. Then when I started tk leave him he took it back and said he only said that because he felt I wasn't answering my phone or texting him fast enough while I was away at work. I am finally coming to the the point where I have to be happy for myself instead of jumping through hoops to make him happy before myself. Thank you for this story.

Wendy Smith
September, 23 2013 at 9:03 am

WOW! I remember being told to get rid of all momentos of past boyfriends. I also remember running into an old boyfriend at a restaurant and how mad my soon to be ex (not soon enough) husband was at me because he dared to come over and talk to me. Not only that, but how dare I date someone so good looking.....I was so ashamed that B. was so good looking and mad at him for talking to me. Now I look back and wish that I had listened to B. when he called me before I got married and told me not to do it. He knew......everyone knew except for me......

sauce
February, 27 2013 at 2:50 am

Yes! I can't pin point particular incidents, but I can remember that feeling of intense fear, trying to justify myself...when it was really him in the wrong. Such as checking my phone, or something. My whole relationship has been based on this kind of scenario actually.

Nicole
January, 13 2013 at 2:54 pm

Im in verbally abusive marriage.My parents died around the time I started dating him. Basically I was pretty vulnerable -- Looking back I always wondered why it was always about making my husband happy. My feelings never mattered to him. why did I feel the need to look at him as a demigod? Im slowly starting to love myself again. He tears me to pieces with his verbal gunfire. I pretend he is a ghost that does not exist when he becomes unbearingly cruel. Your blog has helped me & is a source of strength. Thank you so much.

Crystal Laws
January, 11 2013 at 1:31 pm

wow. Yeah, I could see myself in that story. It's been a long time since that was me...and I now have a very healthy marriage, but it was hauntingly familiar to read your account, and I thank you for sharing! I forget that there are others out there still trenched in these psychological battles with abusive partners. I want to encourage those of you in these kind of "relationships" that there are healthy people in the world, get out and save yourself!

Wes Mullenhour
December, 24 2012 at 5:32 am

When I first started sharing my story with large groups I had mixed emotions. It felt good to talk about it because each time I did it became less and less painful, but at the same time I felt very vulnerable. It was like someone cut me open for everyone to see all the ugly inside. I am so thankful you are able to share the story of how it all began. It was very insightful as my last girlfriend is now in an abusive relationship. I couldn't understand why she would allow someone to put her down and disrespect her as I treated her with respect and as my equal. I can see now where she had low self esteem before she met me because she was always looking to me for affirmation that she was pretty. She was and still is beautiful but I can see where manipulated he used her vulnerabilities to exploit her low self esteem where I was always building her up. I do know the feeling of not being comfortable with complements so I realize now that it wasn't me she couldn't live with.It was me treating her good that that made her uncomfortable. The damage was done long before I met her I didn't know how to read the signs or even what they meant at the time. Thanks for sharing your story. I understand a little better how he was able to manipulate and tear her down to the point she is now..

Kelly
July, 6 2012 at 12:57 pm

This was heartbreaking to read, sounds so much like the beginning of what became an almost 15 year abusive marriage. I was also 19 and so blind when we met. Thank you for your inspiring stories.

Lisa
June, 30 2012 at 4:38 pm

The part that struck me was "he was in so much pain". I was once in love with a pathological narcissist, and that used to be a reason I allowed myself to be treated badly.

Carrie Huskey
June, 27 2012 at 10:48 am

I can surely identify with ya. I went through two abusive(physically and sexually and verbally marriages. Ex-husband 1 almost killed me. He had beaten me, shoved a pop bottle up my rectum and finally after all that he was feedin me arsenic. This man was tryin to kill me, BUT God stepped in and brought me out of it. Praise the Almighty God.

Malika Bourne
June, 26 2012 at 10:04 am

thanks for sharing. This is brave of you. I hope others who will read this will know that they are not alone.

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