Domestic Violence Quotes

“Michelle, I want you to go with Rex and Peter. You be a good little girl, and I will see you later. Janie is gonna take good care of you.” “Mommy, I’m scared.” “Baby, Daddy is not gonna hurt you ever again.” “I’m not scared for me, I’m scared that something bad is going to happen to you.” “No, baby. Mommy doesn’t have to ever go near Daddy again. Trust me. I love you and I’ll see you later. Now give me a big kiss.” “She’ll be alright, Sara,” Rex said. “You take care. See you later.” As they drove off down the street, I strapped Michael Jr. into his car seat and we headed toward Edna’s house. I couldn’t believe all of this was happening. I thought about leaving a note for Mike. Regardless of everything, I still somehow had feelings for this man. But I had to let it go in order to set some kind of example for my children. It would break my heart to know that Michelle was in a relationship where domestic violence was taking place.”
― Annette Reid, Domestic Violence: The Sara Farraday Story

“You have to set an example for your daughter. Do you want Michelle growing up thinking it’s alright for a boy or a man to just beat on her whenever he feels like it? Do you want her having sex with some guy who could be out there having sex with God knows how many different women? Do you remember Sharon Howser, how Mike beat her up just because she asked him to help her get an abortion? What if that was Michelle? Do you know that there are a lot of teenage girls in relationships right now who are being beaten up by their boyfriends? Not just adults, Sara, children as young as thirteen and fourteen years old. Domestic violence is a sickness. It has no age limit and if you’re not careful, it can turn into a fatality. No matter what I say, no matter what anyone says, you are the only person that carries the cure to your domestic violence disease.”
― Annette Reid, Domestic Violence: The Sara Farraday Story

“Time flew by fast. My hardest job wasn’t working late hours; it was attempting to avoid Mike and praying that he wouldn’t make any late-night rendezvous for the next few weeks. I really didn’t want to leave Mike, but I couldn’t turn him into the man that I wanted him to be. All I ever wanted was an unconditional love in my life. Some days he can be the sweetest person in the world, but other days he acts as if he could beat my brains out. How could I love someone who treated me so badly? For the sake of my children, I had to get them out of the mess that I created. I hated even the idea of something happening to one of my kids because I was too stupid to get out of a bad relationship. All my dreams and fantasies—that’s all they ever were—floated around in my imagination.”
― Annette Reid, Domestic Violence: The Sara Farraday Story

“Preparing for the
Trip Back to Loxley The days were long and the nights were short. I was tired, but I had to do what I had to do. Every payday I sent Janie some money. I had her open a checking account in Loxley for me in her name. Until I decided just what I wanted to do, I couldn’t take any chances on Mike suspecting anything, or I may have to kill him myself. I had worked ten-hour shifts that whole week. At least nine of them had to have been spent on my feet each day. I wanted to rest this weekend, but I had promised the kids I’d take them to the church bazaar. Mike came home that Sunday morning. The children and I were just about to go and meet Edna and Joe at the church. He tried his best to start an argument, but I wasn’t about to fall for his game.”
― Annette Reid, Domestic Violence: The Sara Farraday Story

“still couldn’t get Tina’s face out of my mind. Although she was in pain, she still wore a vengeful smile on her red lips. It was as if she had already tasted the future and it was sweet. The bruises and the raccoon eye reminded me so much of my own war that I had been facing for the past eight years. Even though she had been beaten, I could still tell that she was a beautiful woman. Her hair was long and filled with curls that had the look of silk. I tried to sleep in my bed. While I tossed and turned, the conversation we had just kept playing over and over again like a broken record. I could still hear her voice as if she were in the room. What did she mean by Chris being Mike’s boy toy? Sometimes I wish that I would have been raised in the city instead of on a farm. I just didn’t understand so many things. Was she going to get her husband to kill Mike when he got out of jail? What about my kids?”
― Annette Reid, Domestic Violence: The Sara Farraday Story

“At that point, I decided to save my paychecks and buy only what the kids and I needed. As soon as Michelle finished this school year, we were out of here. We would move back to Loxley. That’s where I should have stayed in the beginning. I just needed to hang in here eight more months. By then, Michelle would be in the fourth grade and Michael Jr. would be four years old. I hated to leave my home and my new friends, but I had to think about my children’s happiness for the first time in my life. I needed to do what was best for them. Every day I could feel myself disliking Mike more and more and more. I wasn’t going to tell anyone my plans, not even my own mama. I didn’t want Mike to ever suspect that I was leaving and taking the kids. Who knows, he might be happy as can be, but then again he might make a big deal out of it and try to beat me just for the hell of it. I just didn’t want to go there with him until I had to. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: I Know What I Have to Do The next few weeks went by fast. Everything was pretty peaceful. Lisa and I finally started talking to each other again at work. That made me happy.”
― Annette Reid, Domestic Violence: The Sara Farraday Story

“That gave me time to go back outside and throw that definitely not repairable tricycle into the Dumpster down the street. “I hate Mike Farraday.” Oh my goodness, did I say that out loud? Michael Jr. scared him to death. If it had not been for my little boy today, there’s no telling how bad Mike would have beaten me. All of the AA meetings and counseling is not helping him at all. What was the deal with him and Chris? He spent more time with him than his own family. It didn’t matter anymore. I was tired of all the different changes. I wanted my kids to grow up in a stable, happy, loving environment, and it just wasn’t going to happen at that house. Mike just wasn’t getting any better. It had been eight years. I wasn’t even thirty and I felt like I was eighty.”
― Annette Reid, Domestic Violence: The Sara Farraday Story

“Mike walked out the front door and slammed it behind him. A drink? He told me that he had been attending AA meetings and he wasn’t drinking anymore. That liar. How could he have made all those promises to me? They were all just a pack of lies. You did it again, Sara, falling again for his crap.” CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: The Real Mike Is Back Two years went by. Everything was pretty much the same. Mike did his thing and I did mine. We barely even saw each other. At least the beatings had stopped. He’d come home from work while I was on my way out the door to work. Most of the time, he’d be gone in the afternoons when I got back to the house. The kids didn’t miss him. Michael Jr. never really got a chance to know him as a father anyway, and Michelle had more respect for Rex and Tom than she had for her own father. The kids and I spent a lot of time at the neighbors’ house.”
― Annette Reid, Domestic Violence: The Sara Farraday Story

“Everything seemed to be going along well for the next few months, but after that, I felt things were slowly going back to the way they were. Although Mike wasn’t hitting me, we still never got a chance to spend much time together. He stopped giving me money for the bills or the kids. Mike still worked all night, coming home in the mornings. Some mornings he didn’t even bother to come home. He’d be gone for days at a time. He stayed home on Sundays and took the children to the park.”
― Annette Reid, Domestic Violence: The Sara Farraday Story

“The day of trial finally came. I took Michelle to school and then I went to the courthouse. I sat there for an hour before Mike’s case finally came up. He looked so handsome sitting there with his suit on. I was nervous, but I knew what I had to do. They called me to the stand, and the lawyer immediately asked me what happened that night when I went to the hospital. I did exactly what Mike asked me to do. When the lawyer asked if this was the first time that Mike had ever hit me, I told him that Mike didn’t hit me, he slapped me. That’s when I accidentally fell down to the floor. It was the first time that he ever slapped me, I said.”
― Annette Reid, Domestic Violence: The Sara Farraday Story

“She’s getting better. At least she’s not having any more nightmares about what happened. The doctor said hopefully in a few months she should be back to her normal self. I don’t think she will ever be normal again. Rachel will forever carry around those scars in her heart. That’s why Sara makes me sick. She has a chance to get out. My sister tried to get out and couldn’t. What is wrong with woman like her? They are sick.”
― Annette Reid, Domestic Violence: The Sara Farraday Story

“Randy had been keeping her locked in the basement for two years,” Lisa said. “He had been beating on her, making her lie to her family and friends. One day she tried to escape when he went to work. But one of his buddies who worked with him at the auto body shop called and told him that they saw Rachel running down the street. He caught her before she could get anywhere and took her back to that house. He kept her locked up so she couldn’t get away from him. They put his ass in prison, but he screwed up Rachel’s mind real bad. She stayed in that mental institution for a year.”
― Annette Reid, Domestic Violence: The Sara Farraday Story

“The tears came rolling down my face. He was trying to get some help to save our marriage. What should I do? If I testifed against him, then he would go to prison. But could I lie and say that he had only hit me once since we’d been married? What if the judge found out that I was lying and tried to take my kids from me? Mike, why are you putting me in this situation? I just didn’t know what to do. I tore up the letter so no one would ever see it. I just couldn’t think about this right now. I decided to do some cleaning like I planned and maybe in a few days, I would decide what to do.”
― Annette Reid, Domestic Violence: The Sara Farraday Story

“Dear Sara, First I want to apologize for everything that I have done. I am so sorry for hurting you. I was just so angry with Tom; I had no right to take it out on you. I thought it would be best if I moved out of the house for a while. I started attending AA meetings on Monday nights. I have also been talking to a counselor. He has helped me to face a lot of the problems that I couldn’t deal with on my own. A lot of the drinking and the violence was from the fact that I miss my mother. I never got a chance to see her or even get to hear her voice. My dad hated me for all these years because he blamed me for her death. Sara, I had no one. No one to talk to. No one to hug me. No one to tuck me in at night. I never had a father/son talk. I envied you. You grew up on a farm with people that loved you. I think a part of me was jealous. For once in my life, I have someone to love and I don’t know how to handle it. The problem is not you, Sara. It never was. The problem is me. I need to learn how to love, so that I can be a husband for you and a father for my children. I don’t know how long it’s gonna take and if you want to divorce me, then I’ll understand. The court hearing is in two weeks. I know that you have to testify. When I turned myself in, I told the police that I hit you and you fell on the floor, causing your cuts and bruises. I know that I lied to them, but I really need some help, Sara. If I’m locked up in prison, I can’t get the help that I need. The prison system doesn’t help those guys. They come out of prison doing the same things that they got locked up for. I want to change and be a better man. The only way I can do that is if you testify that I only hit you once since we’ve been married. I hate to put you in this position, and if you want to tell the truth, then I understand. You do what you feel that you have to do. I just feel positive about our future. With the counselor and the AA meetings, I know that we can finally be that perfect couple that you always wanted us to be. I love you and our beautiful children. Give them a big kiss for me, baby. I want to hold you in my arms so bad, but I know I can’t, not until I get the help I need. Love, Mike”
― Annette Reid, Domestic Violence: The Sara Farraday Story

“All I could do was lay there and cry. It was true. The only reason I put up with Mike was because I kept holding onto the thought that maybe one day he would be the man of my dreams. I turned my face toward the wall, ashamed to talk to my own family. Afraid of what they would think of a woman whose husband hit her for no apparent reason. It was my fault. I should never have gone into the house after the police left. He had already been provoked by Tom. I should have left well enough alone. Why did I do these things?”
― Annette Reid, Domestic Violence: The Sara Farraday Story