The Humble Luna

Chapter 1: Jazmine

Six Months Earlier:

Fear… All I feel is fear. I see it, in his eyes, the rage. The anger. The hate. He hates me. He has hated me for some time now, but I didn’t realize it. Or maybe he doesn’t hate me? Maybe he actually does love me… I know this much, he loves to hit me.

I cower away from Malik as he rears back and strikes me across the face. I feel the sting as his hand connects with my cheek. I know he isn’t over yet. He had just started this time.

This has been going on for months now. Ever since we found out I was pregnant. At first he accused me of cheating. Said he would never and could never give me kids. I believed him when he told me he had a vasectomy before we met, but when that test popped positive, it was all over.

He flew off the handle and started accusing me of cheating and sleeping with his best friend. I never even thought about that, let alone actually did it.

The abuse started slowly and grew until I started ending up in the hospital. I tried running away a couple of times, but I never had a plan. He always found me with his inner circle looking everywhere. When he did get to me, I always ended up with beatings and he would lock me down to bare minimum movement.

He strikes me again as the pain starts to shoot down my jaw and into my chest. Am I going to have a broken jaw again?

He screams at me in frustration. “YOU w***e!!! f**k YOU!!!”

He slams his knee into my stomach as I double over in pain. Not nearly as painful now that I don’t have to worry about Marcus, but it still hurts like hell considering I just had a c-section about two weeks ago.

The paternity test finally came back and sure enough, he is the father. He is the only man I have ever slept with, and I have a feeling that is never going to change. Once he found out that I was pregnant, the abuse kicked in. He continued to hit me and punch me and even tried to push me down the stairs of our apartment building. It didn’t work, but no one came to my aid. He started leaving the bruises in more visible places. My face, my neck, my wrists, and even across my abdomen.

Each check up I had with my doctor during my pregnancy resulted in several attempts to get me away from him, but no matter what I did, it never helped.

He grabbed me by the back of my hair and slammed my head into the ground.

He broke the coffee table about three months ago while I was still pregnant and that resulted in a trip to the emergency room along with several stitches on my forehead. No one was happy and the emergency room staff tried to convince me to press charges, but I couldn’t… Not yet…

He stood on my skull and pressed his filthy work boot into my hair.

“YOU f*****g b***h!!! I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE!!!”

He slammed the beer bottle against the wall and it shattered into pieces. I closed my eyes tightly as the shards danced down onto me. This is it. This time has to be it. He is going to kill me for sure. I know he is.

That’s when I hear it. A soft cry. A cry only a mother would know…

“WHAT THE f**k IS THAT!!!!” His screams rise louder and louder as Marcus starts to cry out for me. “THAT f*****g BASTARD!!! I’LL KILL HIM TOO!!!”

“NO!!!”

I push against his boot and sit up. He stumbles back as I press my back against the wall. I feel the fear rise in me before I run towards Marcus’s room. I have to beat him there. I have to. I know I have to.

I rush into the room and slam the door shut behind me. I lock the door into place and I act quickly. Malik has no idea, but I made a safety plan when I was in the hospital. The nurses begged me to do this. If not for me, then for my son, they had pleaded.

I pushed his heavy chest of drawers in front of the door to barricade myself and Marcus in his room. I quickly picked Marcus up and started trying to soothe him.

“Shh,” I whispered. “Everything is alright. I promise.”

I kiss the top of my two week old son’s head as I hear Malik try to open the door.

When the doorknob doesn’t give, he starts to slam his fist against the door.

“OPEN UP YOU f*****g w***e!!! NOW!!!”

I shake with fear as I hold Marcus tightly to my chest.

My sweet baby boy, I promise to raise you right if we make it out of this alive.

I swallow hard as I move quickly. I put him into his carseat and strap him into it tightly. We were only on the first floor of our apartment complex, but I still wanted him to be safe when I set him on the ground outside of the window. I pull his diaper bag out from under his crib and start to stuff it full of diapers, formula, clothes, wipes, and everything else I could carry with us.

I move to his closet and pull out my two go bags. One is full of all of my stuff like clothes, toiletries, important documents, and some cash I pulled out of the bank when Malik didn’t notice. He always said it was our money, but really and truly it was my money.

He slams his fist against the door of Marcus’s room again and I hear the wood crack.

“YOU f*****g w***e!!! OPEN THIS GODDAMN DOOR!!! NOW!!!”

I move faster as I pull the bag with food in it out of the closet too. I open both bags and stuff as much baby stuff as I can into them and then I move towards the window. I look around one more time and that is when I think of something.

I grab three blankets off the edge of the crib. I wrap one snuggly around Marcus, I toss one over the handle of his carseat, and I stuff the last one under my arm. Once I have the blankets, I slide the window open and kick the screen out. As I do this, I hear the wood splinter again.

I have to move. I have to go!

I set Marcus outside in the chilly night air. At only two weeks old, I have no idea how long he can stand the January night, but I have to do my best.

I throw all of the bags out of the window and then do one last pass over the room before I decide the rest of it can burn in hell. I do my best to squeeze my wide hips and thighs out of the window. I land hard on the cold ground next to my newborn son, but I don’t stop to soak in the pain. The ground is cold with ice as the wind howls.

I have to move.

I pick up the bags and the carseat and rush towards my car. I open the back door and set the carseat into the base and then I shut the door quickly. I rush around to the driver’s side and throw the bags into the backseat behind the driver’s seat before I climb into the car.

I quickly lock the doors after I slam my door shut and then I turn the car over. At first it didn't want to start due to the cold. I know it is due to the cold because after I beg for about forty-five seconds, the engine roars to life. I thank God above as I slam the car into reverse and speed out of the horrible neighborhood Malik made me move to.

I didn’t relax until I reached the freeway. I hate this, but I have to go home. I have to go there, because that is the only place I might actually be able to get away from him. It might be the only place I will be safe from him.

I head south to my home state of Alabama. I know it is going to be a long drive, but it will be worth it to be safe.

I sigh as I do my best to try and relax until Marcus wakes up in the backseat. I hear his little cries as he tells me he is hungry and wet. I sigh as I start looking for the nearest exit.

“It’s okay, little man. I’ll pull over.”

I swallow hard as I pull into the nearest twenty-four hour gas station and move towards a parking spot. As soon as I park, I hop out of the car and pull Marcus out of the car along with his diaper bag. I close the door behind me, lock it, and head inside to the bathroom. Once I get into the bathroom, I pull my phone out of my pocket and I realize that Malik has my location on my phone.

Fuck.

I inhale deeply as I do my best to make this phone call quick. I have to make it quick.

I set Marcus on the changing table as I opened the phone and called the one person I hope would answer me. My mom.

The phone rang twice before she answered it with a very sleepy voice. “Hello?”

“Mom… Hey, it’s Jazmine… Uhm, I was wondering if I could come stay with you for a little bit.” I feel my heart rate shoot through the roof as I wait for her response.

“Jazmine…? What…? How…?” She sighs and I know she is shaking her head on the other end of the phone. “You finally got tired of him hitting you… How far out are you?”

I sigh as I feel the tears spring to my eyes. “I’m still in Chicago… It should be about a nine hour drive if I shoot straight down.”

“Please tell me you have the baby with you…” I hear the desperation in her voice.

I sigh and nod my head. “I do… Make it closer to ten or twelve hours for the stops I am going to have to make in order to get gas, change him, and feed him.”

I hear her sigh of relief as the words come out of my mouth. “I’ll be waiting for you when you get here. Make sure you park the car and turn your phone off as soon as we are done. You got that?”

I swallow hard as I nod my head. “Yes ma’am… I’ll see you in a few hours.”

I hung up the phone and turned it off just as she said.

I finish changing Marcus and then move to feed him. I was lucky that I was doing a combination of breastfeeding and formula feeding, so I was still producing a lot of milk. I allowed him to feed for about ten minutes before he finally shook his head to let me know he was full.

Once I covered myself back up, I put him into the carseat again and moved towards the bathroom door. I walked out into the lobby of the gas station and moved towards the counter. I needed to buy a drink or two if I was going to make it to Alabama safely. I pulled two monster energy drinks out of the cool and placed them on the counter.

The older woman behind the counter looked at me and I could see the concern on her face. “Is this everything, dear?”

I swallow hard and nod my head. She started to ring them up when I heard it… His car. I feel the panic rise in my chest as Malik’s car comes screeching into the parking lot on two wheels.

The woman must have seen the panic on my face because she quickly grabbed my hand. “Go to the back room at the end of the hall. Step into the office and lock the door. I’ll take care of the rest, dear.”

I sighed with relief as I grabbed her hand. “Bless you.”

She smiled firmly and nodded her head as I rushed to the back office. I did as she instructed and I waited.

I heard him enter the gas station with his drunken rage, but it didn’t last long. About three minutes later, I heard the sirens of the police cars pull into the parking lot and that is when the lady came back to the office door.

She unlocked it from the outside and standing beside her was a police officer. His eyes filled with rage as he looked down at me and I watched as his eyes doubled when he saw Marcus sound asleep in his carseat.

“Where are you headed, ma’am?”

I swallowed hard as I looked around him. “Is he still here? Can he hear me?”

The officer shakes his head hard. “No… He is gone… Now, where are you going?” He looks at me hard as pulls his wallet out of his back pocket. “I need to know how much help you are going to need in order to get there safely.”

I sigh with relief as I feel the tears spring to my eyes. There are good people in this world after all, I suppose. I sniffle as I shake my head slowly and I feel the watery smile on my face.

“Decatur, Alabama.”