FICTIONALIZED SERIES

In The Shadows Of A Rare Betrayal

No Consent #3: December 1993 to 25 February 1994: Joe’s Betrayal — He kept on telling Annie all was fine, but his actions said something else

Series content warning: Mental and physical abuse, grooming and
gaslighting, bigotry and shaming, naivety and immaturity.
This is a fictionalized story of real events.

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Annie and Joe embarked on another hiking trip in December 1993. From the first day, Annie noticed Joe was somewhere else with his thoughts. She asked about the underlying cause for his mental absence, but gave it up when he kept on telling her that nothing was wrong.

Two weeks later, Annie and her children spent Christmas with Joe and his parents, and then spent another week with Joe, while his parents were on a trip. Even though she saw Joe less than before — he claimed it was busy at work — her worries about their relationship seemed to vanish, as everything felt okay.

During their relationship, Annie had frequently visited Joe at the precinct, where she met the fiancée of Joe’s best friend, also a police officer. Vivian and Annie grew fond of each other, and they frequently talked on the phone.

By the time February 1994 came around, Annie realized Joe was avoiding her. He didn’t return her phone calls like he used to do. When Annie discussed this with Vivian, she too thought something was going on.

Annie made plans to stay with Joe for the weekend, as she wanted to discuss their relationship. She wanted to go there on Friday after work, but Joe told her she could only come on Saturday, as he had to work on Friday evening. This was strange, as he had never minded before when she was in his house while he worked. Annie didn’t question him.

Saturday turned into a terrible day. Joe hardly spoke a word to her or her children. Twice, Annie and Joe almost had a fight. They made love that evening at his initiative, but it was like Joe was only going through the motions because he had to. Physically, he was there; mentally, he was far away. After both of them finished, he rolled over and went to sleep without another word.

When they got up the next morning, Joe mentioned to Annie he had to work at noon. He didn’t tell her, but it was clear he wanted them gone by then. Joe disappeared into the bathroom, while Annie packed their bags.

After his bath, Joe walked into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. It was the piece of white toilet paper in his hand that caught Annie’s attention, and the way he looked at it.

“Do you know what a louse looks like?”

Annie didn’t even want to look at it.

“Why? Do you think you have lice?” she asked, laughing nervously, not knowing whether he was just joking.

“I don’t know if it’s lice,” Joe snapped, “but I’ve had an itch in my groin for some days now and just now I discovered this thingy in my pubic hair.”

Annie’s breath caught in her throat.

What the fuck? He has lice? He’s had an itch for days? How could he even have dared to make love to her, knowing that? He should’ve told her!

“And where the hell did the lice came from?”

Her voice instantly cooled the air in the room.

“I don’t know!”

Joe looked perfectly innocent and very perplexed.

Maybe he really did not know where it came from, Annie thought.

A bit of sympathy started melting her icy anger, until he spoke again.

“Maybe you gave it to me?”

Annie put down the jersey she had in her hand with an uncanny calm. Several seconds passed before she found her voice.

“The last time I checked, pubic lice needed pubic hair to feel comfortable. You find out for yourself where you picked it up. Your problem, not mine!”

She grabbed the jersey, grabbed their bags, ushered her children out the door and drove home, still fuming. For days after this, she had an imaginary itch all over her body.

The patience Annie had for weeks was gone. Anger had replaced it, and the anger moved her to a decision. Joe was mostly unreachable. Annie was tired of being his toy. She was tired of always getting the worst deal in a relationship. Her decision was to let the relationship with Joe bleed out. Annie wouldn’t put any more energy into it.

Continued… No Consent #4

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This is the rework of a fictionalized auto-biographical story, self-published as a book in 2008, and rewritten for this platform. The story comes with a content warning of mental and physical abuse, misogyny. Names of characters have been changed, not to protect them, but to protect me.

Another series written by me:

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