She walked through the door looking bewildered and shaken. Her shaking could literally be seen from twenty feet away. Asking to use the phone she could barely hold it but dialed and walked into the other room to leave a message to quiet for me to hear. I knew something was wrong, not just because everyone who walks through the door has something going on "wrong" but because she was still shaking and visibly holding back tears. She was pacing and wouldn't sit; wasn't talking. I simply said , "what's going on?" From that point on I didn't do much talking for about a half hour as she told me her story. The details I really wish I didn't know now, and won't relay in writing. In short a story about a guy who liked computers more than people; treated them better, talked to them better and touched them more nicely. This hadn't done much for her self image. It was nearly thirty minutes later and I spoke again saying, " you are important". She smiled for the first time but didn't seem to believe me. Then she told me all the times and plans she had in the past to leave him, and her worries about the past, the present and the future; nothing seemed for sure. But one thing was for sure, if I had anything to do with it she wouldn't be going back to him. She got a hold of her step dad who lived a couple of hours away, but didn't have gas money to get her. Using technology for good, I searched his location and mine and decided I could meet him half way.


We came to an agreement and for the first time in over an hour she seemed to stop shaking; seemed calm. She made the decision to leave; leaving behind a laptop, iphone, and most of her belongings. She seemed confident and we headed north. She talked the entire time, as though she hadn't ahd a soul to tell her troubles to the past two years. I met her step dad told her she made the right decision (her step dad said if he had enough gas money he would have just gone and killed the guy).