One Year Ago - Day 2

One year ago I got up early: Ok... who are we kidding here? I'm pretty sure that at this point I was not sleeping at all. What with the fact that I had a small child who was up at least once a night and the fact that I had just called the police on my husband. Nope... not much time for sleeping.

Honestly, I do not remember whether we spent the night at our house or at my Father-In-Laws house. I know during all of this I was there one night, maybe two... but they all sort of blur together. Either way at this point my main focus was on Zack. He had a doctors appointment to get his shots so I had the morning (or at least a couple hours of it) off.

I remember waiting in the doctors office thinking to myself do I ask them about a blood test? In the end I didn't. I don't know if it would have changed anything or not. After his shots I was too terrified to take him to daycare. There was some part of me that just knew if Jake found out about the police he would come and take him. (He told me later that was the furthest thing from his mind and he never would have taken him but at the time I couldn't take that chance.)

In the end, I called him in to daycare and ended up taking him back to my FIL's house for the day. I remember them telling me they would lock the doors and that he would be fine. They would call me if Jake showed up and not to worry. They would not let him take him. Yet still, I sat on the edge of my seat all day waiting for the phone to ring.

Deep breaths. In and out... just writing this makes it feel like there is a 50 lb weight on my chest. I have never in my life been so afraid. I just wanted to go to him and hold him close but I knew that I was now his sole source of income and support so I had to be at work.

Finally 5:00 came and I ran for the door. The first person I spoke to on my way home was the lawyer. I wanted to know how to protect my son. She told me the only way to do that was to get a protective order, which would be for me and Zack or I would need to call child protective services. Neither option seemed good for me at the time. The protective order, while it would protect Zack, would also keep me from speaking to Jake and if I couldn't speak to him then it would me MUCH harder to have him committed. And child protective services, well... I'm sure you can guess why I didn't want to call them.

After I got off the phone with the lawyer I talked to Jake. I don't know if he called me or I called him but I remember exactly what intersection I was sitting at Euclid and Hubbell when I told him that if he didn't check himself in before the next day that decision could be taken away from him.

He told me he was with a friend. A friend I didn't know. He told me that he would check himself in, he just needed a little time. A little more time to come down some. I told him I wasn't sure how much more time I could give him. I remember like it was yesterday telling him that it wouldn't take much to find him. If he was using his phone, no matter where he was, I could find him.

That was it. That was the last time I ever spoke to him high. I tried to call him a few more times but he turned his phone off. I ended up going home and getting clothes for Zack and then staying at my father-in-law's. Sometime in the middle of the night when neither one of us was sleeping I packed up my child and went home.

I knew that I couldn't wait any longer and that the next day I would have to make one of the hardest decisions of my life. I wanted to be home, in familiar surroundings for one last night before everything in my world turned upside down.