Courted by Karma (The Adventures of Anabel Axelrod)

Author:Ellen, Tracy [Ellen, Tracy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-03-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter X

“Man In The Box” by Alice In Chains

Wednesday, 11/21/12

1:25 PM

Anna’s hands were loosely over her ears and she was steadily rocking back and forth on the loveseat. She was also making a keening sound low in the back of her throat, her hair was hanging in her face, and she’s glaring at me. I’m not taking any offense at her actions, indeed I barely noticed them. Throughout the years, that was how Anna routinely reacted anytime I came up with fun ideas that she thought would get our butts in the wringer, or possibly kill us. She was waiting to be convinced by me that we will not get caught, or die. Despite her current impersonation of an unstable mental patient, Anna has courage and was a daredevil. Sometimes, these traits just needed a little gentle coaxing and prodding to rise to the surface. I’ll say this for her, once she’s convinced we’ll live another day, there was no more enthusiastic partner in crime than my friend.

I explained my glimmer of an idea how we could rescue Blanca immediately, and by association, her parents. Blanca’s long term safety needs remained unknown and would need to be determined upon receipt of more information. For instance, was her mother part of the problem or basically a good mother with bad taste in men? Anna stopped her moaning long enough to share a wry, heartfelt glance with me over that statement.

It’s been about two years since I ticked Anna off and signed her up to start volunteering her tutoring services. During this time, we’d also started donating and delivering food and supplies to various organizations in Rice County. Along with all the good we’ve seen being done, this has also exposed us to some seriously ugly realities in life.

If you’ve ever been in a woman’s shelter, or in a safe house providing emergency sanctuary for families escaping domestic threats, then you know there’s no walking away unscathed from the harsh truth of what some women and children endure in their everyday life. Professionals in occupations such as human services, hospitals, and law enforcement see this sort of thing routinely and build up a thick skin to keep dealing. For me, a single woman that owns a used bookstore in a small town, it has been eye opening and sickening.

Abstractedly hearing the statistics that people from all walks of life suffer physical and mental abuse was one thing. Personally seeing a young mother swollen beyond anything recognizably human after being beaten within an inch of her life was another.

What sickened me was finding out this particular woman took her kids and returned to the man that hurt her. It’s not like I couldn’t comprehend the twisted psychology that resulted in those warped decisions. After seeing the actual physical result of such a severe beating, it simply made it so much harder for me to shrug off her choice. I knew this was why I related to Larissa and her struggles to escape such a life.

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