At the Shelter

[Peg Herring]

You can't imagine what it's been like. When we first started dating he was so complimentary. He seemed like the perfect man. Then gradually he changed. He started saying he didn't want to go out in public because he saw envy in other men's eyes. He thought other guys pretended to be his friend just so they could get to me and take me away from him.

Things got weirder and weirder. He became obsessed with the idea that I might leave him, and he insisted that he couldn't live without me. He'd scream at me about how other men wouldn't love me like he did, would want to control me. He said they couldn't control themselves, they were all animals.

Tonight when I told him I was leaving, he said again that he couldn't live without me, but then he added something that freaked me out. He said he wouldn't leave me alone in the world without him because all those other men would take advantage of me. He said we both had to die if I wouldn't stay with him.

I told him I had to pee and then went out the bathroom window. He can end it all if he wants to, but Bernadette has a lot more living to do!