Yet Another Traumatic Incident in the Life of Heather

 
Dean and I the day he got released from jail (that's why his hair looks like that). Look at how possessively he's holding my wrist and shoulder. He thinks he owns me. I guess he actually did own my ass at the time. Ha! As in, "You got owned!" lol

Dean got very out of control and abusive during the last year of our relationship. There were many times that I feared for my life. He threatened to kill me a lot when he was in a rage. Of course, I broke up with him. The last time he attacked me we had been broken up for a few couple of weeks because of his drug addiction and violent behavior towards me. The night of the senior party, I slept with my good friend Steve Hall (a cute stoner kid with longish, bleached-blonde hair). I had been friends with him for a long time and kind of had a crush on him anyway so he and I made out that night. I figured since Dean had cheated on me (twice at this point that I knew of) I could get him back by cheating on him with Steve. Obviously an immature way to view things but I was only 17. Dean was 23 so he really shouldn't have been dating someone as young as me in the first place. I told my parents he was 19.

The previous summer when Dean got arrested for selling my anti-depressant pills to his neighbor who happened to be an undercover cop (what luck), Mom saw Dean listed in the jail dockets in the Banner and found out that I had lied about his age. But by that time, they had already accepted him as part of the family. He had even lived in our home for a short time when he had no place to stay.

Back to the senior party though... Dean visited me a week or so after the party. He and I were broken up at this time because of his cheating and abuse. He started badgering me about whether I had cheated on him. I eventually (stupidly) told him the truth that yes, I had been with someone else, but it wasn't cheating since we were broken up. He had been calm but menacing up until this point, coercing me, telling me that I should just tell him what I had done and that he wouldn't be angry with me because he had cheated too so we would be even. He couldn't be mad at me for something when he had done the same thing, right? (Wrong!) He told me that and I reasoned that that was right - he had no right to be angry at me. I kind of wanted to get back at him anyway for all that he had done to me (which was a LOT.)

After I confessed that I had cheated, he exploded in a rage. It was clear that he intended to hurt me so I ran away from him and ran up the stairs towards my bedroom. He chased after me. I knew how violent he was so I was scared for my life. I sincerely felt like he would kill me if he caught up with me. I screamed to my brother for help, thinking he was in the house. As I ran into my bedroom, Dean was too close for me to slam the door. I quickly grabbed my telephone and threw it at his head before he could grab me. That stalled him for a moment and I ran past him and back down the stairs. It really felt like I was flying down the stairs more than running, like in a dream.

I somehow ended up losing him (it's a really big house) and I went outside and hid around the side of the garage. I could still hear him shouting at the top of his lungs inside the house, saying he was going to kill me and calling me horrible names. I knew it was just a matter of time before he found me and killed me. I don't know why I didn't just keep running. I should have. I probably would have except that something happened then.

Kelley, my brother's girlfriend/future wife, somehow knew I was outside. She had gotten into my brother's car and was telling me to come with her. So I jumped in and she started the car. Just then Dean came running out of the house, mad as a bull, heading straight towards the car. Kelley started backing up to get away from him but the car was a stick shift and she was so nervous and frantic and she pulled the clutch out too fast and the car died. We had a really steep driveway and she was going backwards up a hill in a stick shift. Not a good scenario when you're in a panic! He started running towards the car! She tried again to get it moving. It was like a horrible nightmare where you can't run from your attacker because your legs feel like they're stuck in molasses. Except this is real and you can tell by Dean's face that he's in a blind rage and he wants nothing more than to KILL ME.

Kelley finally got the car moving again. We were backing up. I'm thinking, "This is it! We're out of here, home free!" But Dean continues running toward us and then JUMPS up on the hood of the car. He lay there on his stomach on the hood of the car, face to face with me with the windshield between us. He started pounding on the windshield while continuing to scream threats and obscenities at me. He was beating the windshield right in front of my face, trying to break it so he could get to me. The windshield didn't budge, thank Goddess. But then, out of fear and panic, I punched the windshield from the inside. I didn't even have much strength in my punch at all but it cracked the windshield! I found out later that they make windshields that way on purpose so you can bust it out from the inside if you need to in case you're trapped in your car. The windshield never did break, thank goodness, and I can't remember if he continued pounding on it after I broke it or whether he stopped then. He stayed on the hood of the car and continued screaming and threatening me and trying to get me to come out of the car. Kelley drove around the block (big block!) twice very slowly, not knowing what to do with this homicidal maniac on the hood of her car. He was still shouting at me and telling me to get out of the car, causing quite a scene.

Finally we drove by a house where two men were outside in the yard. They saw the problem and came over and told Dean to get off the car or they would call the police. So he complied. Kelley and I drove away and I stayed the night with a friend that night.

I didn't see Dean after that until a few weeks later. He came to the Public Library where I was working and I spoke to him outside. He told me that the crack dealers were threatening to kill him and rape me because Dean had asked them to front some crack to him with the promise that he would pay them back. Then he ran out of money and wasn't able to pay them back. So he was going to leave town and go back to his hometown in Maryland to get away. He hugged me. I was sad because I realized this could be the last time I would ever see him again. It was a short visit since I was at work.

The next story in the drama of Dean - The Murder Story