backgroundfile-65634

The
Unseen
by Zakisha Brown
10
Frustrated. Confused. Angry. Aloof. She
could not believe what had just happened to her.
She would never fathom she would meet the devil
reincarnated in the flesh. Just like that. He took
her soul. Her beautiful essence and life force…
vanished. She has contemplated her physical body
vanishing alongside her soul. Seven letters. Suicide.
“I mean what else am I good for?” She would
ask herself on a daily basis. Sitting there pathetically
waiting for help but no one was coming. In this
neighborhood you were trained to look the other
way and only speak when spoken to. You hear
blood curdling screams, bangs, gun shots, cries
for help… but you keep it moving. Don’t even
think twice about helping anyone unless you think
you’re some type of foolish superhero. There is
no love on this side of the city. Shoreham was the
name of the living purgatory she was in, located in
Toronto. “The side where the sun doesn’t dare to
shine its light,” she would often say. Pondering if
there really was a heaven and if she killed herself
would that be cheating death or was that how the
course of her life was supposed to go? All these
questions. No Answers. She lay there looking
around her torn and messy apartment looking
for any sharp item that would end her excruciating
mental, spiritual, and physical pain. Until she
heard her two year old son. He just woke up. The
irony, just as she was about to put herself to sleep.
Permanently.
Melissa Wisdom is the name of a family friend who
has been a victim of mental and physical abuse
from her partner of 3 years. They had a son together.
The day she decided she had enough of being
his punching bag was the day she thought her life
had hope for a fresh start with her son. It was quite
the opposite, her life literally flashed in front of her
eyes when she told him over the phone, which she
thought she would be safe from his reaction. Later
that night he came banging on her apartment door
in the middle of the night around 11pm, yelling
at her to open the door. She woke up, looked into
the peep hole and kept the top latch on the door
while opening the bottom lock and opening the
door halfway. He was furious as he kicked down
the door until it broke off and began to choke her
as she struggled away from him and tried yelling
for help. Of course in this at risk neighborhood no
one even bothered to open their door. He grabbed
Melissa and began tying her arms and legs with the
rope he brought and lifted her inside of the shower
and turned the water temperature on extreme
heat and left her in there. As she was fighting and
screaming for her life, he brought a pot of boiling
hot water that was on the oven and dumped it on
top of her body. Their son was now startled by the
noise and began crying. He ignored the tears of his
son and began taking Melissa out of the shower
onto the bathroom floor and began punching and
kicking her until she was bleeding helplessly while
still screaming for her life. Finally someone came
outside of their apartment and asking what was
happening, as a woman and a man came inside
Melissa’s torn up apartment he showed his 9mm
gun and they ran to seek help. A few minutes of
almost making her unconscious with his vicious
attacks, just when you thought it couldn’t get
worse… it did. He lifted her up and brought her
to the balcony of the apartment building and hung
her body dangling over threatening to drop her.
She lived on the 22nd floor. If you know what it is
like to fight for your life knowing there is nothing
else left to lose, the only thing you can do is fight
or die. She fought knowing her life depended on
it. Kicking, Screaming, Punching, she was able to
at least distract this 5 foot 7 man that had her life
on his shoulder. She was no longer intimidated
by him. Her son was all she thought about. The
reason to live was that fact that her son Jahsun was
standing behind them in their apartment building
watching everything. Crying loud enough that
every neighbor on that floor came outside of their
homes. The same people who had seen this earlier
called the police and they were seen coming when
Melissa and her ex were on the balcony. He ran.
He left Melissa laying there crying, bleeding, exhausted
and angry. Shocked that she was still alive
she grabbed Jahsun and rocked back in forth until
the police came.
Months later, her ex boyfriend was caught. The