Coffee cup in hand, starting another typical day... I got a text message from my friend Riley... it started a series of dominoes throughout the day.
My friend sent an email with a photograph; her
shoulders, side, and ribs were covered in fist-sized bruises, and blood had ran from her forehead down the bridge of her nose. This is someone I feel very deeply about. You don't fuck with my family... and she is family to my circle of friends.
My friend Riley and I
quickly discussed it, I told Marshall, Riley told Sinh, and we quickly made a
plan.
That abusive son-of-a-bitch wasn't going to harm her anymore.
Marshall called our friend's mother, and we rapidly deployed to her house 90
minutes away as if we were a military extraction team. She can be extremely OCD... she can lock up washing her hands
for over an hour until her skin turns red. Her abusive boyfriend has
been taking away her phone, blocking her internet, basically making her a
prisoner in her home. Step one was to get contact... with her... if Riley or I
texted, and her boyfriend had the phone, the message would not get
through, and likely she would be punished for it.
We
had her mother send the text message, "What's up?"... and a few minutes later, we got a
reply... we told her mom that we didn't know if it was really her... to call her so we could verify that it was actually
her by voice. And we were happy when she actually picked up the phone.
Her mother tried to plead
with her to move out, but that pushed her into a panic mode... she was
shocked that our team had gathered at her mom's house, confusion set in, and she went into a
downward spiral. I reached for the phone and softly said, "Hey girl, how
about if just Riley and I come up for lunch, just to talk... we can
stop at your favorite sandwich shop, and we can bring something back."
That made her calm down, and she started to tell us about how wonderful
the food would be, then read off the menu from memory. She said there is a
horrific deluge of rain right now... heavy lightning, and sometimes wind... she was another half-hour away... and wondered if we could make it.
I told her, "Hey...God likes me, when we get there, the rain will stop... you'll
see." 😁
We headed out... and this left her mind to do what we had hoped and needed... wander and calm down.
Her
boyfriend had taken a chemical fire extinguisher and shot her with it, covering her in its toxic chemicals only the day before, then
proceeded to coat her entire room and her belongings in the acrid yellow
powder. She thought about this, and how it was the SECOND time he had
done it. And then there were the punches and beatings.
We reached the
sandwich shop and placed her order... A text came in from her mom... our friend had sent a message, "I want
to do it now, Mom, I'm afraid, and I need to go."
As
we pulled into her town, the rain dwindled. When we reached the gate
and entered the pass-code, as we crossed the gate, the rain stopped...
Completely.
We went inside and had her start to
put things into bags... we had to keep her mind focused on lunch,
and bags of stuff to keep all the other bad thoughts away. It was rough sometimes, this towel could
not touch this toolbox because it was not clean, these rolls of packing
material could not be put on this pile of laundry because it was
dirty... OCD... in full form... we just had to keep pressing on.
I became the time-keeper... "5 hours, we have 5 hours until he gets here."
Slowly,
things were staged; her mother and Marshall pulled up in her car and a large moving truck. We navigated between the trees and backed up to the
deck... soon we started a steady flow of items... "3 hours remaining"...
"2 hours remaining"...
Her OCD would kick in, and she would spiral down, weeping, screaming, crying, and confused. We gently got her back on track, and like ants with morsels of food, made a line to and from the truck.
We funneled her on track... 90% complete... 30 minutes until he came home.
Then
he arrived... his car pulled up and he started toward the house... he walked up the steps and I stood just inside the door. I had the look on my
face of, "I will snap your neck if you speak." He saw me and walked
past, sitting in a folding chair at the end of the room, silent.
We got the final items out of the trailer... headed down the drive and crossed the gate... and in that moment, the rains fell again, softly.
We
headed for her mother's house as a caravan, her mother texted with a
discussion of how we would unload her things to the carport... and while doing so, handle the rain... all while dealing with keeping our friend calm and focused.
I called them, and I teased...
"It will not dare rain when we
arrive! I think God knows that would piss me off." 😎
We crossed the town square, the rain stopped within two miles of the house, we turned onto her mother's road. The sun peeked out through broken clouds.
We
backed in, and in one wave, unloaded everything. The sun was setting, a
yellow hue settled everywhere... and there was an incredible sunset. We were tired, sore, and somewhat confused about what we had pulled off.
Her sister came home and we all rejoiced together as a family.... we had never met her mother nor her sister... but it felt like we knew each other for years. Her mother cried. Our friend did something we had not seen in years... she smiled. A genuine smile of excitement and love.
We
sat together and chatted until about midnight. Marshall passed out on
the sofa, we covered him up... he was exhausted... he will come home tomorrow. Honestly, he needed more time there with with his friend, and the universe made it happen.
We finally tore ourselves away around midnight. We almost just stayed there... but I needed to be at work at 7 am, and Riley and Sinh also had work. I got home at 2AM, Riley left my place and got home about 3am.
My alarm went off at 5:50am... and at 6:10 I was downstairs making coffee.
I
typed this message, and I looked at the bruises on my feet, and felt the pain
in my arms, feet, and back...walking was a bit of a challenge... and I smiled... first time in a while, yesterday was a good day.
