If you think this only happens in the movies you are wrong.

There’s probably someone you know who is suffering from this.

I have always thought this would never happen to me. That I would never allow a man to raise a hand at me.

However it happen to my best friend, and therefore it hit very close to home. It did happen to me.

I met Joan when I worked as a “temp” for an airline.

The first time I saw her I thought she was an amazing person. So full of life, so funny, every second of the day she spent it in a very good mood. We laughed together all day long. Very smart and hard working.

A petit size woman. Being 5 months pregnant with her second child, she didn’t weigh more than 100 pounds. Very light colored skin.

I thought she had everything going for herself. Until one day. I went into the office early and found her on the phone. Crying, covered with heavy clothes from head to toe. I waited until she got off the phone to ask her what was wrong. She was embarrassed. She didn’t want to look at me. I got the hint and went back to my desk. However I had grown to love this friend and I could not let her sit and cry without me offering some kind of help. She finally hanged up the phone and I asked what was wrong. She didn’t want to tell me but I was finally able to get it out of her. She told me her husband had a bad temper. And sometimes lost his temper and let it out on her. And that the night before it had happened. Only this time she was pregnant and she was worried something could have happen to the baby.

HIS baby.

I couldn’t quiet understand what was happening. I couldn’t believe a situation that I had only seen in movies was developing in front of my eyes. My brain wasn’t processing this.

She proceeded to pull her pants up and that’s when it hit me. Blue and green spots on her legs, her arms and her back appeared before my eyes. This coward kicked her in places that she could actually cover.

Her cousin said this time she needed to go to the police. She was shaking. I had never seen anyone shake like this before. She feared him so much. He had threatened to kill her if she went to the authorities. She went anyway.