January 30, 2000
Home
9:30pm
A heavy sigh escapes me as I sit at my kitchen table and stare out into a dark that allows me to see…dark. It’s Sunday night and I am barely functioning after what can be described at best as a brutal weekend. One last thing to do before I call it a day and go try to get more than two hours of sleep. As my eyes return to looking at things inside the duplex, the screen of my laptop and I engage in a staring contest as I examine each word I have chosen to type in an email to Renae. Do these words adequately convey the horrific situation Tina and I find ourselves in? Does this sum up how absolutely everything has gone so wrong?
From: Eric
To: Renae
Subject: This wasn't supposed to happen
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000
Tina needs your prayers now more than ever. With God as my witness I thought her husband would come after me long before he would ever hurt her.
I was wrong.
I spoke with Tina this evening by phone and she is home now. He is in custody. I made a flying run to Mom and Dad's this morning to pick up Dad’s gun so I could finish this myself. There wasn’t the resolution I wanted but sometimes things work out the way they have to.
You may not hear from me for awhile. I am still in shock but am okay. I have to concentrate on getting Tina healed...physically and emotionally...and be there for her in the days ahead.
Eric
Satisfied with what stares back at me from the screen, I click “Send” and watch my email disappear into cyberspace. It shouldn’t have come to this but, in retrospect, the signs were there in front of me. I ignored them because I was having too much fun to be burdened by consequences. I had played fast and loose, being reckless with a situation that had gotten out of control. Things seemed to be going in my favor so I decided that the risk was worth it. I made one miscalculation that almost cost Tina her life.
How could I not have seen this coming?
BASED ON A TRUE STORY
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