Why don’t you just leave?

Billie-Jean Niedorowski, an advocate at Spruce Run-Womancare Alliance in Bangor, put her domestic violence experience to paper in an OpEd for the BDN today. She details horrific examples of her former abuser’s control. Importantly, she discusses why it’s not easy to leave.

She writes:

For all the screaming and crying, all I knew was I needed to leave, or he would eventually kill me. Surprisingly, he let me get up to go to the bathroom. As I was heading to the bathroom, I ran. I ran for the door. But he was right behind me with his knife and sliced my hand open and stabbed me in my forearm. Blood was everywhere.

Even though I had never cheated on him, I told him I did, so he would stop. I couldn’t go to the hospital. I couldn’t call the police. I couldn’t do anything. Except tell him what he wanted to hear.

What he told me then I will never forget to this day: “This is your fault. If you had just told me the truth to begin with, this wouldn’t have happened. If you lie to me again, if you try to leave again when I’m talking to you, I will kill you.”

Read the full piece here: http://bangordailynews.com/2013/10/03/opinion/contributors/why-dont-you-just-leave-a-domestic-violence-survivor-responds/

This blog has been archived

This blog has been archived and is no longer being updated.