Lead me From the Darkness

September 7th, 2011
Wednesday
Ristuccia Arena, Wilmington, MA
11:30 A.M.

Donna stood outside trying to keep her coat around her in the cold as she pushed Henry’s hockey things into the back of their car. She gave one final big push to get the bulky bag into the car. The bag came back out and knocked her over. She groaned in defeat as she stood up off the ground. Henry had gone straight from practice to go out with a few of the younger guys. He’d left her with his things to take care of. She grabbed onto the bag’s strap again and tried to lift it into the car again.

“Need help?” She turned around to see Greg standing there.

“Ya thanks,” she said. She felt a streak of happiness as he came over and easily lifted the bag into the car and shut the door.

“I actually came out here to see if anyone was still here, I got a ride with Nathan and he had to leave early unexpectedly.”

“I could give you a drive home,” she said. “Do you live in the North End?”

“Ya,” he said. “But we can stop by your place first and drop off the hockey stuff.”

“Thanks for the help,” she said. Donna got into the drivers seat while Greg sat next to her.

“So how long have you and Henry been together?” asked Greg.

“About three years,” said Donna. “Are you with anyone?” The question had been burning in her mind since she met him.

“No,” said Greg. “I’m alone.” They pulled up to Donna’s condo and got out. “Nice place,” said Greg looking up at the brick building. He lifted the hockey bag from the back and they went inside. Donna unlocked the door and they walked into the living room.

“Where should I put this?” he asked.

“You can just put it by the door,” she said. She went into the kitchen and looked through the fridge for something for lunch. She heard Greg walk in behind her and she said “You can stay here for lunch if you want, Henry won’t be back for awhile.” She continued to rummage around in the fridge and sighed in frustration when she realized she needed to go shopping and didn’t have anything for lunch.

“What’s wrong?” asked Greg.

“I don’t have anything for lunch,”

“No problem,” he said. “We can just go out to eat. There are a lot of good places around here.”

“Really?” asked Donna, “You wanna go out to eat?”

“Sure why not?” asked Greg “I’m sure Henry won’t mind.” Donna wanted to tell him that Henry would definitely mind and it was a bad idea but wanting to spend more time with him she said

“Alright, you can pick the place.” Greg smiled and said

“I have the perfect place to take you.” They went back outside and she let Greg drive. The restaurant was only a few blocks from the condo. It didn’t look to crowded and they were seated when they walked in.

“So,” said Greg settling in his seat. “Where did Henry go?”

“Out with some of the guys,” said Donna.

“He left you with all his hockey stuff?”

“Ya,” said Donna. “I take care of a lot of things for him.” Greg wanted to say it wasn’t fair but he kept his opinion to himself and said

“You grew up in Boston?”

“Ya,” said Donna thinking back to her childhood. “In Charlestown, I know most of the places around the city, although I’m not very familiar with the North End.”

“How come?”

“I had no reason to come here, there’s not much I would have been able to afford. Our family didn’t have a lot of money.” Greg nodded not sure if he should push for me about her childhood. “So what about you? Where were you raised?”

“I was raised in Tilsonburg, Ontario.” He said. “My dad was a hockey player too, now he’s the Director of Hockey Operations for the NHL.”

“So your whole family loves hockey,” she said.

“Ya, my dad would be devastated if I never made it to the NHL.” They ordered their food and continued to talk about their childhood. Donna found herself becoming more comfortable talking to him and telling him things.

"I have five siblings," she said.

"Wow," said Greg. "I'm an only child."

"Our house was always crowded," said Donna. "There were only two bedrooms. My parents and two of my brothers took one and me and my three sisters took the other."

"Do you see them much?" asked Greg.

"I try to, most of them live further down south now. My parents moved down to Florida when my dad got sick of the lack of work he was getting in Boston. He got a better job down there and they live a bit more comfortably now, especially since me and my siblings all went to college and make a good living."

"What'd you study?" he asked.

"I want to be a nurse," she said. "But Henry won't let me work, he wants me home to cook and clean." Greg saw the joy in her face fall as she talked about it.

"You should be able to do what you want." said Greg. Donna shrugged

"Henry and I have been together for a long time now, I'm used to it."

"Used to what?"

"The way he wants me to be." she said. He wanted to tell her that she should be able to be herself no matter what but the waitress interrupted the conversation and put the food onto their table. They were silent as they ate. It wasn't a very awkward silence, Greg kept thinking about what she had said about Henry. He abused her. There was no doubt about it. He had spotted the bruises on her wrists and a small one on her neck that looked as if she'd try to cover with make up. He had to do something, the thought of a man abusing a woman made him feel sick. But what could he do? He needed to get himself involved, he wouldn't let the abuse go on while he was aware of it. When they finished up eating Greg said

"I'm glad we did this,"

"Me too," said Donna smiling.

"We should do it again some time,"

"Definitely," she said. "Need a drive home?"

"Ya thanks," said Greg. He directed her to his apartment and she pulled out front.

"I'll see you later," said Donna.

"Bye," said Greg getting out. "Call me anytime you need anything,"

"I will," said Donna wishing she could tell him all about how Henry treated her.

Greg went inside and instantly called Milan.

"Hey Greg," said Milan.

"Hey are you busy at the moment?" asked Greg.

"Just watching Luca and Willow, Raina went to pick up my parents at the airport, they're visiting for the week."

"Can I come talk to you?"

"Sure what's wrong?" asked Milan sounding concerned.

"It's about that girl Donna,"

"Alright come on over." Greg left and drove the half hour to Middleton. The door was unlocked and Greg walked in and heard Milan call out from the living room.

"I'm in here," Greg went into the living room to find Milan watching TV and both of the babies in the small crib next to the couch.

"Hey," said Milan. He shut off the TV and said "So what did you feel was so important to tell me that you drove all the way from Boston to here for." Greg rolled his eyes at Milan's sarcasm and sat down next to him.

"I went out to lunch with Donna today,"

"Are you coming to me for girlfriend stealing advice?" asked Milan.

"No," said Greg. "I found out that she's being abused."

"By who?" asked Milan.

"By Henry," said Greg.

"Did she tell you directly?"

"No, but she talked about how Henry kept her the way he wanted her and she had bruises all over her wrists and on her neck. I can't just stand by and let her get mistreated."

"Are you positive she's being abused?" said Milan.

"I'm pretty sure," said Greg. "The way he treated her at Claude's house at the party makes it obvious."

"I wouldn't do anything to fast, just talk to her more and see if you can get her to say more about it and get more comfortable with you." said Milan. "Then you can take action, when she wants to move away from him." Greg heard the front door open and Raina call out

"We're home!" Greg knew the conversation was over. Milan stood up to hug his parents when they came in the living room. His mother came into the room and pulled him into a bear hug, giving him a big kiss on the cheek. Milan blushed embarrassed.

"It's so good to see you honey!" she said still hugging her son.

"Good to see you too mom," he said. She released him from her grip and went over to the crib.

"They're so precious!!" said Snezana looking at her grandchildren. Amused with the family reunion and not wanting to bother them he said goodbye to Milan and Raina and left. Donna would be on his mind all night. No matter what he was going to help Donna get away from Henry.
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Thanks for reading :) Please comment.

I decided to keep going with this story and get through my writers block so I wrote this new chapter. Thanks to everyone, especially annahay11 for the advice. :)