The Domestic

**This is verbatim from the statement I gave to police. Most of it I don't remember but it gives you an idea as to how dysfunctional we were and how crazy this disease made me. I'm sorry it's so long. I was very wordy....**

It all started in my bedroom. DH cam in and told me he had decided that he didn't want to go to a movie. I got upset and told him that I was getting ready and that he was going with me. He went to leave the room and I stood in front of him so he sat on the bed. After talking for a few minutes he told me to get ready and we would go and he went into the living room.

While curling my hair I heard the front door close and footsteps on the stairs. So I ran from my room to the stairwell and down the stairs and I caught him at the bottom of the stairwell and asked where he was going. He said to get a cigarette and he promised to come back so I went back into the apartment.

I continued to curl my hair and DH came back up and went out onto the deck to smoke. After a few minutes he came back to the bedroom and said I really don't want to go. I told him that he promised and he got mad and said whatever and stomped into the living room. I then heard the door open again and I sprinted for it. He was on his way down the stairs and I tried to stop him numerous times but couldn't. Finally at the bottom of the stairs I got in front of the door and told him to go upstairs. He told me that he wanted to leave and I said he needed to go upstairs. He tried to move me but I held on to the door knob so he stomped back upstairs and sat in the living room.

Back upstairs I was getting really mad and so was he. Every time he would get up I would go stand in front of the door. It was that this point that MW came over and started bitching about him. She said, "Well just tell him to go to hell and you can come with me. He's an asshole you should just come out with me." Well this made DH mad and he came over and told her to stay out of it and that we shouldn't be talking behind his back. I told him we weren't and that I just wasn't leaving because I had to stay and babysit him because he has promised to do something with me so he was going to, whether it was at a movie or sitting in the apartment all night.

By this point he was pretty angry. MW headed towards the bathroom to finish getting ready and DH went into the living room and sat down. I went in to talk to him and sat in another chair. We talked for a little bit and then he got up to leave and I ran to get in front of him. I tried to shove him and he tried to get to the door without hurting me. We kind of wrestled for placement a little and somehow I ended up in front of him. I grabbed on to the doorknob and he tried to move me. He then looked at me and said, "You better move because I don't want to hurt you." I didn't move so he tried to move me again and couldn't. He then said, "Move, I don't want to hurt you." and I said, "Go ahead because I'm not moving." However the next time he tried to move me I let go of the doorknob so the added force he used sent me flying across the kitchen. I was so mad I went after him and jumped on his back and hit him on the back of the head.

He was a wrestler so he swung me around into sort of a headlock and tried to get me to go back into the apartment. I stumbled and he looked at me and said you better be careful, you don't want to fall down the stairs. I said I didn't care and he went back inside. Then MW decided to get involved. I told him that I wanted him to go and get anything he had brought with him (because he was supposed to spend the night) and get out.

{{Interjecting briefly here... he lived with us... but I was trying to convince the police he didn't so they would drop the domestic charge. I was hoping they would see that both of us were crazy and that he didn't live there so it couldn't be domestic. I think the crazy part is well established....}}

He said he would come back for it later and I told him he wouldn't and that I wanted the key he had to the apartment. He took it off of the key chain and threw it across the apartment. MW went and got it and picked up the phone and set the key on the counter.

He went to leave and I was in too much of a shocked state to stop him but then I ran after him. He went to his car and I followed telling him he didn't need to leave and that he needed to go get any clothes he brought because I didn't want him to come back. He got into the car and started it and I reached for the keys and he pushed me away. I then jumped into the car as he was backing it. My body was behind him and my legs were out the door but he wouldn't stop. I guess he must have hit the other car then because he stopped and pulled forward. He then got out and I grabbed his keys. that's when he grabbed my arms and swung me into the other car in an attempt to get his keys back. He tried to pry them from my hand and said you better give me my keys so I don't hurt you.

At this point I thought he might hit me so I told MW (who was standing at the bottom of the stairs) that if he touched me she needed to call the police. So he walked away from me towards her and told her if she called he'd hurt her. So I put the keys in my pocket, locked the car and shut the door. I then walked past him and past MW and up to the apartment. MW followed and then DH. She tried to shut the door but he came in. I went and sat on the couch because I was in shock. DH came to talk to me and I wasn't scared of him. he asked me for his keys but I didn't give them to him. He then headed for the bathroom and I followed. He tried to use the phone but I unplugged it saying it was my phone. He then got a phone out of the closet that he had given me and tried to use it and I wouldn't let him so he went to the closet to put it away and I went into the bathroom.

The next thing I know I heard him yell, "If I can't take my car I'll take yours." And so I ran after him and he said give me my keys and I refused so he headed towards my car down the stairs and I got in front of him and he just looked defeated and set my keys on the stairs and walked past me.

He walked through the parking lot and was on his way to a pay phone when the police arrived. The house key he had he must have grabbed on the way out with my keys.

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Wow.... it has been a good 5 - 7 years since I have read that story and just reading it now makes me cringe. That, right there, is how DH and I continued to fight for the remainder of our relationship. He would try to leave I would threaten, cry, scream, take away keys, anything to get him to stay.

In the end he was physically violent with me but over 50% of the time there was a chance to walk away before it happened and I didn't take it.

The Party

I'm not a partier. I have never been a partier. I did not attend a single party during my high school days and during college I went to one and only one party. I remember vividly trying to fit into DH's life. He was living with me now and I desperately wanted to try to be that happy couple I had been dreaming of.

So one weekend he decided to take me to a party with his new friend D. I'm guessing he figured this would be a mild party for me to get brought into. I can remember the row of "apartments" we went to that looked like storage sheds from the outside. I can remember the one that they told me not to get to close to, it was guarded by a big dog. In my head I have a vision of something off of the Sandlot but I think that was just in my head. I'm not sure I ever saw this killer dog.

Once I was inside this "apartment" (and I use that term loosely) I began looking around and immediately judging what I was seeing. It was small and not well taken care of. The people at this party were making crude druggie jokes. At one point there was a story told about C's little sister and how they could say to her that it was 3:20 and she knew that meant she had to go to the other room so they could get high.

It was at that point I felt trapped. I wanted to run for the door but I didn't want to seem uncool. I desperately wanted to fit in to DH's world so I could be a part of it but I felt horribly uncomfortable and out of place.

After a little while longer one of the guys said something and then they all headed upstairs. The gist of it was that they were going upstairs to get high. Thinking back on this I kick myself. I knew they were going upstairs to get high. Yet, I stood there and did nothing. Just allowed it to happen. This is what happens at parties I told myself. Be the cool girlfriend. Act like it's no big deal. Be a part of his world.

In the 13 years I was with DH I never once saw him do drugs. This night was no exception. He went upstairs and I stayed downstairs. After about 20 - 30 minutes he came back downstairs and we acted as if everything was cool.

Finding Them

When DH moved in with me I guess I thought moving to a new town would force him to find new people. This is something that happens a lot in the program. People think a relocation will change things, make them better. But it doesn't.

As soon as DH moved in he set about finding a job. The first job he found was as a chef in a restaurant. Unfortunately they had him working the night shift which he didn't like. He says it was because he never got to see me but I'm guessing it has more to do with him not getting to see his friends.

After about a week or two he ended up quiting that job and finding a job for a landscaping company mowing lawns. Within the first week of that job he had found a new group of druggies to hang out with. D worked with him and his girlfriend C was also into it.

I remember at one point having a conversation with DH, one I have also had with several people in the program regarding finding these people. How do they find them? How do you know to just walk up to someone and ask them about illegal drugs?

Regardless of how he did it, he did it and thus began the same old ways just in a new location.