Maybe I figured I got what was coming to me. For what I’m not sure; I wasn’t exactly thinking straight back then.

But one night when I saw him get that look in his eyes – that horrific, rabid animal look that made him look like some possessed demon – when he looked at my 12 year-old daughter, something in me just snapped.

Damn it, no, I wouldn’t let him do to her what he’d done to me! I’d fight for her. She deserved it even if I didn’t think I did.

And so right after he left for work the next morning, I stuffed what I could into the kids’ school bags and scooped them up and never looked back. I didn’t know where I was going or that I would end up at Phoenix Place a few weeks later. It’s all still a blur.

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