But He's Not Like Lee (Part 8)

I confessed the majority of the story that night over the phone to my friend. I thanked him for his chivalry. He didn’t say much else and then quickly got off the phone. I just knew that he was finished with me because he didn’t need this kind of drama from his study partner. The next day of class, my friend greeted me with a cup of hot chocolate and peanut butter cookies, our calculus sedatives. We agreed to skip class and went to sit in a common area enjoying our breakfast. He then began confessing that his mother had been abused by his step father. He said it was horrible dealing with that growing up and that is why he moved out at the age of 16. His mother had chosen this abuser over her own child. This is when I knew I was ok. I had made the biggest step and gotten away. I was thrilled that I still had a friend despite the craziness. His grandmother passed away that winter and he moved back to his hometown to help his grandfather. Although, I have lost touch with him I think of him every now and again, and feel so blessed to know he was a true friend.

The rest of the semester passed without incident, and I was so glad for Christmas break to arrive. I was having fun with friends and family, celebrating the season, shopping, and just hanging out when I wasn’t working. One afternoon I was out picking up some last minute presents at the mall. I had been there for about 4 hours when I decided to head home. I got to my car and put my packages into the trunk. I opened the door and then I noticed a book on the windshield. It was a huge 3-ring binder. I opened it. On the first page there was a note that said “thought you might like to have these”. There were things inside, notes that I had written to Lee while we were together. Things like “gone to the store” or “have a good day”. There was a picture of us taken at his mom’s house when we first started dating. A card he had given me after a fight. Then there were other things, things that were less familiar. There was a picture of me in the parking lot of the grocery store that I didn’t remember being taken. Then there was a picture of me outside of my parent’s house. I thought to myself, wait a minute, my hair is short, and that means this picture is recent. My hair had been longer while we were together. I looked closer at the grocery store pic. It was my local store, not the one we had gone to when we lived together. I got nervous, and locked my car doors. I flipped through the rest of the book. There were dozens of pictures of me. Pictures that I had not known were being taken. There were even some brave ones, like the 2 in restaurants while I was out with friends. I was completely freaked out at this point. I didn’t know what to do. I went home. I locked the doors, I shut the curtains and I went to bed. I was moving on with my life, why couldn’t he just let me go. I mean, seriously, I saw the arsenal of girlfriends he had kept on the side, not that I wanted him to abuse them, but I wanted him to go to them and leave me the hell alone. The next day I went with the notebook to the police department. They told me that I could file for an order of protection. They stressed that I would be responsible for paying to have it served because I lived in a different county than he did. I kept stressing to them that he was crazy, and I was willing to do whatever it takes. One officer kept asking why the book bothered me so much. He truly didn’t understand what the big deal was. He was married. I explained to him that he would be concerned real quick like if his wife’s ex boyfriend started leaving notebooks full of pictures of her lying around on her car while she was shopping. He would not believe that I had a new car that Lee didn't know about, that I hadn’t had contact with Lee when he found me at school, he couldn’t believe that I didn’t still talk to him. He continuously tried to make me feel that I had done something wrong. I asked for his supervisor. I explained to him and his supervisor that I had not done anything wrong, all the way back to that first elbow under the chin, and I would not let them make me out to be the crazy person now. The supervisor had some quiet words with super cop, and then helped me to fill out the appropriate paper work. They set a court date, I went. My restraining order was in place. I was done with this for good.