DOMESTIC ABUSE

My Husband Could Never Find Out

He would have been furious if he’d known where I had been

Claire Franky
6 min readOct 26, 2023

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Photo by Amanda Dalbjörn on Unsplash

He hadn’t come home last night. I was thankful for that.

I’d set my alarm an hour early, showered, styled my hair, and applied makeup while trying to stay calm. I then woke my eight-month-old daughter and fed and clothed her.

Five minutes before we needed to leave, I nervously glanced out of the window to check his car was not in the driveway. It wasn’t.

Returning to the bedroom, I reached under the bed. I pushed the box of shoes to the right, the box of purses to the left, and pulled the two neat bags from under a blanket. I slid the smaller bag into the diaper bag and I carried the second, a professional-looking tote to the kitchen. After buckling my daughter into her car seat, I peeked out the window once more — still nothing.

Locking the door behind me, I walked down the path to the driveway, holding my breath, and hearing my heart thudding in my ears.

Reaching the car, I quickly placed the diaper bag inside and edged the tote bag underneath the passenger seat. Then I opened the back door to click my daughter’s car seat into its base. Just as I heard the click, the sound of a car engine blared.

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Claire Franky
Claire Franky

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