"Fanny? Fanny Mae!!! Open up this damn door right now!" The violent knocking persisted. "I'm not kidding woman, you know who this is. OPEN UP!!"
Fanny Mae curled up in a corner in her cold, dark kitchen. The knocking and yelling continued, but she remained still and silent.
The knocking eventually weakened and then there was silence for a minute. She started to get up to check the doorway. Maybe he finally got tired and left, she thought. But she was startled by a quiet plea from the other side of the door. "Baby, just let me in, I was real worried when you wasn't there one morning, I just want to talk. C'mon baby."
It sound like he's calmed down...maybe it won't hurt to talk this out. She opened the door slowly, and looked up into the eyes she had always found so irresistible. Wow...she thought. He's a lot taller than I remember.
"Hey," he said.
"Bert."
"Sorry about earlier... I just want to talk about this like grown ups now."
"Ok."
"Why'd ya leave baby? You know I love you, I came all this way to find you. Now come back with me."
"You know why I left," her eyes moved down to her bruised arms, "I'm not coming back."
"Look, I'm sorry baby, I was just drunk. It won't never happen again, I'm gonna try to quit drinking. I don't wanna hurt you no more, all I want is for you to come back to me."
Fanny Mae momentarily got lost in the sea of his beautiful blue eyes, but snapped back. "No! I can't, I don't wanna. I- I like it here," she lied. "Besides, I have a new job at this place called The Jaguar."
"You can't possibly like it here! This place is a dump, you're coming back with me!" Fanny Mae could sense that rage coming, the rage she had experienced several times before. She backed slowly into the counter. He approached her angrily,
"Get in the fuckin' car, woman! Don't think I'm playin', you're my wife and you best do what I say!" Fanny Mae backed further into the counter with her hand behind her back, positioned on a kitchen knife. Bert lunged at her, she whipped out the knife and stabbed him right in the shoulder. He fell to the ground in pain and she ran past him into the hallway. Outside of the room, she ran into a man in a track suit.
"Are you alright lady? I was passing by and I heard screaming and-" He looked into the apartment and saw Bert lying on the floor passed out and bleeding. "Oh, oh ok. Um, I'll call the police." Fanny Mae leaned against the wall and slid down, listening to the man talk to the police.
"Yes, Hi. My name is Jeremiah Taylor, I'm in the Jupiter Apartments and there's been a man stabbed...Yes, there is a woman here. She hasn't left so I assume it was a case of self defense...Yes...No...I'm not sure....Apartment 556C...Yes, ok thank you." He hung up the phone and turned to Fanny Mae, "Are you alright? I assume that you knew this guy, yeah? Well the police and an ambulance are on their way. Do you need something?" Fanny Mae didn't say a word, she just buried her head in her knees, sobbing as a crowd began to form outside of apartment 556C.
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That man is someone else's
Hearing sirens blasting as an ambulance or police car speeds down the street is nothing special in this city. But when the ambulance parks out front of Jupiter apartments and the next thing I know a crew of EMT's are rushing into the apartment down the hall from me, I became alarmed. My curiosity and worry got the best of me, so I slipped into the buzzing hallway. Fanny Mae, the woman living in the apartment which was causing so much excitement, was frantically explaining exactly what happened to the policeman who had just arrived. Her clothes soaked in blood
Her sentences spewed out of her mouth so quickly they could hardly be differentiated. "I don't know what happened.I just came back to my apartment and he was angry and drunk and he started to hit me and I tried to push him away but he wouldn't stop and next thing I know it that he' sprawled out on the floor and he wouldn't respond to me. And there was blood... Oh gosh. So much blood. Oh no. Is he dead? "
The policeman said some comforting words about the man's condition and continued on with further questions...
Fanny responded, " Well, he's my husband but we have been split up for awhile. He just came back into town. I hadn't seen him for so long, and I think he had been drinking....actually I know he had been drinking... a lot. But I was used to that. After all, that was the reason we had split up in the first place. So i didn't think much of it when he showed up drunk at my apartment. But I guess when I let he kept drinking a lot more. I mean, he was just out of control when I come.I was scared for my life. It all happened so fast. And when I tried to find a pulse....Oh gosh. I'm so scared...."
As soon as I heard her talking about the man being a drunk, my heart dropped. I felt for her.I tried to suppress and fight off the old memories that shot to the front of my mind. Violence. Fear. The smell. I pushed them to the back of my mind where they belonged. I just couldn't deal with seeing Fanny Mae all hysterical and distraught because of her husband's stupid decisions as a drunk. This wasn't her fault. She was just trying to defend herself, whatever happened she had reason to do it. I remember seeing my mom all distraught over my dad( "That Man" as i often refer to him) when he was the one being the violent jerk. My mom in that same position...I don't ever want to see anyone feel manipulated by loving a drunk again. And now, this man had done the some thing to sweet little Fanny Mae.
This man was just as despicable as That Man. I saw the stretcher coming towards me as I continued to stand in the threshold of my apartment door. The EMT's rushed the stretcher towards me and Fanny Mae began to cry harder as she saw the limp body of her husband sprawled out across the stretcher covered in blood. And as the stretcher was hurriedly rushed in my direction, my heart skipped a beat. I had to take a second look...the man looked familiar... (closer). Maybe I have seen him with Fanny Mae before...(closer) Wait, I definitely have seen this man before, but....(closer). OH MY GOSH!! THIS MAN IS THAT MAN. THIS MAN IS MY FATHER!!!WHAT WAS MY FATHER DOING ON THAT STRETCHER, CAUSE THAT WOULD MEAN...that would mean...that would mean that Fanny Mae's husband, the drunk jerk, is also my father. This man causing all that hurt to Fanny Mae is MY FATHER. The man that was now stabbed, covered in his own blood. What??!!!HOW COULD THIS BE....ooooohhhhhhhhh, that's why my I saw "That Man" back in town sitting in the bar the other day. Now it all makes sense. And now my birth father was being carried away on a stretcher because he's still a drunk mess. Still causing more women pain. Still with his violet temperament. I remember those nights I would fear for my life, for my mom's life. I had put the past behind me for the most part. Up until now that is. As soon as the EMTs all had made it down the hall and out of the building, the hall returned to its quiet hum from the air vents. But Fanny Mae's sobs and gasps for air resonated. The policeman stood there quickly, giving FannyMae her space. I took a deep breath, stepped out of the threshold and towards Fanny Mae. Nothing could prepare her for what was coming.
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