She Survived Read Online Free PDF Page A

doorway,” Melissa later recalled, “turned completely white and almost couldn’t get his gun unholstered.”
    When he finally did, he asked, “Is the intruder still inside the apartment?”
    Melissa hadn’t even thought about it. If the door was still locked, maybe he was still inside, hiding somewhere.
    Holy shit .
    The idea terrified her. The night was coming into perspective. Victims of violent crime often later discuss how, when they are in the moment, they don’t feel as though they’re victims of a crime—they don’t comprehend the reality of what is taking place around them. The need to survive kicks in and they react to what is happening, instead. It’s only after the situation begins to wind down that the gravity of such madness envelops a violent crime survivor. It is then he or she begins to have thoughts of what could have happened, what happened, and that true trauma kicks in as their post-crime life begins to come into focus.
    That adrenaline rush of Melissa’s stabilized. She was coming to terms with what had just taken place inside her apartment.
    â€œI don’t know,” Melissa said to the cop. “I have no idea if he’s in here . . . but I . . . I . . . have to go back to the phone now.... I need to . . . I need to . . . lay down.”
    The cop used his handheld radio to call for an ambulance.
    â€œThat’s what I’ve been asking for all this time!” Melissa said as she walked back to her bedroom and fell on top of the blood-soaked bed.

    When the paramedics arrived, they went to work. I couldn’t understand why everyone was so upset. But the paramedics started with their usual speech: “We have to cut your nightgown off you.”
    To which I replied, “That’s fine. I don’t have anything you haven’t seen before, just in smaller amounts.”
    He replied, “Well, we’re trying to preserve your dignity.”
    Of course, my response was “Dignity? Hell, after what I’ve just been through? I just want you to save my life.”
    I heard the other paramedic calling in my vitals to the ER: “Yes, she’s alert and coherent. She’s cracking jokes.”
    He was right; I was cracking jokes. At that point it was the only way I knew how to keep my sanity. I couldn’t dwell on what had just happened. As they put me in the ambulance, they asked what hospital I wanted to go to. I said, “The nearest one would be nice.”
    Understand that when I got to the ER, I still had no idea what I looked like, other than my arm was completely mangled and I thought it was broken. I knew my jaw was not moving properly, but I was still talking best I could. Nurses and doctors kept stopping by and asking if I was involved in a car accident. At one point they took me down for X-rays. I caught a glimpse of my face in the metal reflection on one of the machines and said, “Oh, I’m bleeding on my cheek.”
    They told me, “No. In fact, that is the fatty tissue from the inside of your face coming out.”

CHAPTER 10
    MY FRIEND
    Melissa spotted a doctor friend she knew and called out to him.
    He stopped at the foot of her bed and stared.
    Do I know this woman ? he seemed to be thinking.
    She had to tell him who she was.
    â€œI was that unrecognizable.”
    Melissa’s friend walked over and sat by her side, held her hand. Then he spent some time “putting that tissue back in my face until the surgeon on call could be reached.”
    One of the paramedics visited Melissa after his shift to see how she was doing.
    â€œI later found out it was because, quite frankly, no one had seen anything like this before—nor had anyone expected me to live through the night/morning. He was so shaken by the whole incident. Come to find out later, apparently everyone who encountered me that night was quite shaken by the sight and details of what had happened. No one in this