Bleed no more

In the spirit of commemorating 16 days of activism against abuse of women and children, I'd like to publish this story, based on true events, in an appeal to stop violence against the defenseless. Please support this cause:

Bleed no more.

Sharon Maria Moemise

She curled in a ball near the dresser just behind their bedroom door. She had only a vague idea where she was as her eyes were swollen shut and blood was dripping from her nostrils and her mouth. All the while, she said a silent prayer. "Oh God... Why doesn't he just finish me off, please. I can't take anymore..." He kept coming at her. He was not even stumped by the blood or her bruised face. He pulled her up by her hair and and threw her on the bed. She feebly tried to fight him off but her attempts angered him even more. He beat her once more till she lapsed in and out of consciousness. While fighting to stay awake, she was struck by a vicious pain tearing through her body. For a moment she couldn't believe what she saw before she blacked out. He was holding an insecticide spray can, big enough so he can only just cover it with his hand. He forcefully shoved the can, lid first into her privates as though to see how far it would go. As she tried to get up once more, he twisted the can into her so hard and pulled it out, leaving the lid behind. All the time he was carrying out his sadistic act, he had a terrible smirk on his face. It was while he fished out the lid from her, that she finally gave in to the pain and sunk into a welcome oblivion of darkness.

She awoke on a cold and hard surface. "Maybe I'm really dead," she thought. "I'm in a morgue." The surface was flat, hard and very cold. She decided to accept her fate. It was better than going thru that again. As soon as she thought that, she felt a painful throbbing in her head. She tried to move but it felt as though her body was hit and trampled over by a bulldozer. She realized then, that she was somewhere in her house. The dog barked outside and she could hear the morning birdsong she had come to love. The room was dark. She started to shiver. She was not sure whether her shivering was caused by the cold tiles on her naked body or because she just realized what happened and was scared. She became aware of someone in the room. She heard the bed creak and movement. A door opened and she guessed it was the bathroom because moment later, she heard the sound of someone urinating. She tried to curb her sudden panic attack, but she couldn't. She could hardly see where she was because here eyes wouldn't adjust to the darkness. She painfully lifted her hand to her face to try focus in the dark. She caught hold of something large and soft. She touched it for a while and realized it was her face. It was swollen and numb and she could still not get to her eyes. It then struck her... It was morning. She heard the bird-song. But why was it still dark? Slowly she felt across her face. It took a while to understand that her face was so swollen, her hand felts as though it was moving through peaks and groves just to get to her eyes. Finally she felt it. Her eyes were still swollen shut, that's why it was so dark. The bathroom door creaked but no one came out. She lay there, motionless. Too scared to move for fear that he might think she's not dead and continue his attack on her.

She's not sure how long she lay there while he was running a bath, having breakfast got dressed until she heard the car leaving. She slowly crawled around the room, feeling her way to the bathroom. Any movement she made was sheer agony. She felt wetness between her legs and for a moment thought she was peeing herself. She gave a strangled cry from the pain in her privates. As she touched the wetness on her legs, it felt thick and slimy. Not like urine. Finally she reached the bathroom. The floor was wet and a towel lay carelessly discarded on the floor. She dipped the towel onto the wet floor and painfully tried to wipe her eyes. That, and having crawled all the way to the bathroom was too much of an effort and she passed out again.

The shrill ringing of the bedroom telephone tore through her throbbing head. She gradually came awake and tried to crawl to the telephone. She could see a sliver of daylight through her one eye. The phone stopped ringing. Her only thought was to get up and get help. The dog started barking incessantly at something outside and the sound felt like a buzz-saw slicing her head. She held the wet towel to her head and prayed the headache would seize for just one minute. The rest of her body felt separated from her. She felts pain in places she never knew existed. After what seemed like hours, she finally mustered up some strength to crawl out of the bathroom, toward the unmade bed. She got to the telephone and dialed the emergency number for the police. There was no answer and it brought her close to tears. She then changed her mind and called a number on the bedside table. Her doctor. It was early, still and while the phone on the other end rang, she said a silent prayer for someone to answer. Finally, a voice on the other end answered. It was Velna, the doctors receptionist. She didn't recognize the voice because she could hardly open her mouth. Velna knew the woman from previous doctor's visits and she had to do was say her name. Velna, bless her heart, was quick to realize something was very wrong and immediately transferred the call to the doctor who was a close friend to the woman. The woman could only whisper and the doctor immediately understood. She was lucky that it was still early and his first appointment was only in a couple of hours. The doctor promised to be there shortly and she sat back, tired, sore and broken. She was broken in every aspect of the word. Only then did she start sobbing. She sobbed her heart out for being in the situations she was in. She was violated, raped, beaten and abused in every way possible. He hadn't only trampled her body but her heart as well. He did that all night, went to sleep, woke up and stepped over her bruised and broken body as though she was nothing. He just left her there, bleeding. He had told her over and over again she was useless. He had shoved anything within reach up into her and he enjoyed doing that. Causing physical and emotional pain to her was how he passed time. He was her lifeline, her soulmate, her husband.

She had to get out of there... She had to leave before she could bleed no more.