head.
“Denise, they say love is blind. Remember? There’s even a song about it. But, you can beat this. You don’t have to end up that way because you have the blinders off.” Marie said patting her on the shoulder. “You know I love you and I’ll be here for you no matter what. Why don’t you try to get some sleep? You’ll have a busy day tomorrow.” She said standing and giving Denise a motherly hug.
Marie went into her bedroom. She showered put on her PJ’s and knelt down to pray. Though she wasn’t an avidly religious woman, she did have faith and believe in God. If anyone needed God right now, it was Denise. She was worried Damon would somehow do something stupid and hurt Denise. Once she’d finished praying and asking God for help, she decided Denise shouldn’t go to work for a few days. Damon might try to look for her there. She climbed into bed and soon drifted off into a restless sleep.
The next morning Denise was up at the crack of dawn. She was up and showered and dressed before Marie even woke up. She left a note explaining where she was going and what her plans were for the day. Marie jumped on the phone and called Calvin. “Good morning baby. I love you and I need to make you aware of something. Denise has already left. She said she would meet you at the courthouse at 9am. She has a letter for Damon that she would like the sheriff to serve with the protection order.” She said.
“Okay, good. I’ve got about an hour. I’ll call you when I’m through with her. You and I need to talk about how to move her out of that house with Damon. It’ll take a while to get the order on this short notice, so it may be near lunchtime when I’m done. I love you and I’ll talk to you later.” He said blowing a kiss into the phone.
Calvin got up, showered, dressed and headed to the office. It was right next to the courthouse so it wouldn’t take long for him to get next door to meet Denise. He informed his boss of the new development and that he would be tied up for the better part of the day, if not the whole thing. He instructed his secretary to take messages from any callers. At 8:45am, Calvin left his office to go next door. As he walked out of the building, he saw a car driving unusually slow. He kept his eyes open for Denise. He took another look at the car and became worried. But, it was for nothing. It wasn’t Damon in the car. He walked into the building and Denise was sitting inside. They walked back to the counter to file the necessary paperwork for the order of protection. Calvin wanted to speak to the judge directly and he was glad the judge on this was a friend of his and he could pull a few strings.
It didn’t take the whole day, but they didn’t get finished with all of the paperwork until 2pm. When Calvin played the answering machine tape, the judge signed the order. Denise told about the choking incident and the bruise on her face. Calvin called Marie to let her know how things had gone. Denise was going to run a couple of errands. She had called earlier and Damon was working. He was on duty at the juvenile detention center. So, Denise decided to go by her house to pick up some clothes and a few other things. The sheriff would serve Damon at home later.
Before she went home, she decided to stop and get something to eat. She realized she hadn’t had anything since last night and she wasn’t feeling well. Denise drove to the nearest fast food place and ordered a grilled chicken sandwich combo. As she was about to drive around to pay for her order, she felt something wasn’t right. She turned to look around checking if she saw anything unusual and then slumped over onto the seat.
The car behind Denise honked its horn for a few moments when Denise didn’t drive up. The woman got out to see why the car wasn’t moving. Once she got to Denise’s car and saw Denise, she began screaming. She saw blood splattered inside the car. She ran inside to let
David Stuckler Sanjay Basu
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