*** I want to warn people,  there might be triggers in this post for rape and/or sexual assault.****

This post came about after I read Aussa’s post the other day on creepy feelings of being watched. Her post brought this memory back on when I was freshly married and young. It’s a true story and something I don’t usually think about.  I’m not going to tell you to enjoy, because it’s not enjoyable. But please read! Has anything like this happened to you? If so how did you handle it?

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I had just seen L* off to work. He was going to be gone a week and I was looking forward to some time to myself. I was newly married, less than six months into what would be a 13 year nightmare. But at this time I was young, naïve and in love. Even then the marriage was showing small rips in the contentment fabric.

My husband worked in the Texas oil field. A booming (at the time) era full of opportunities. We moved from North Texas to South Texas looking for our golden dream. We found a small apartment in a new rambling complex in Victoria, Texas. We had all our belongings in a small UHaul, plus our ‘babies’, two German Shepherds. A boy named Max and his daughter Angel.

L*  was a born salesman. When we rented the apartment, it had a policy of small pets only. Now Max was 160 lbs of pure muscle and attitude, Angel was smaller, only tipping the scales at 100 lbs. She was devoted to her daddy. They were our pride and joy, so L* talked the manager into letting us keep the dogs.

The first couple of months were pleasant, I took the dogs running in a large field behind the apartment a couple times a day. They were quiet in the apartment and we had no complaints. Things were going rather well with L* working one week and then being off the next week. I was looking for work, but was ok with staying home too. L* was making good money working on the off shore rigs. We were young and the world was open to us, or so I thought at the time.

About 2 months into our living there the phone calls started. I remember the first one, it’s still so clear in my mind, even after all these years. L* had just left for another week off shore. I was cleaning the kitchen, the dogs laying in the living room. This was a time before cell phones and caller ID. The phone rang and I didn’t think anything of it. I picked it up and said ‘hello?’.  A very pleasant male voice answered, ‘Hi! I’m looking for Mrs. Jones.’

‘I’m sorry, you must have the wrong number.’

‘Can I ask you another question?’ Said the same pleasant voice.

‘Sure!’

‘Do you shave your pussy?’ He asked without changing his tone one bit. Like he was asking about the weather!

I was shocked into silence. I had never had an obscene phone call before. Once my heart started beating again, I hung up the phone amid his laughter.

I was a bit shaken, but not scared…….. Yet. That was the beginning of a couple of months of hell for me.

When L* called me that night, I told him about the phone call. He told me it was nothing, probably someone just dialing random numbers till a woman answered. So I pushed it out of my mind and went about my life.

All was quiet for about 2 weeks. L* had come home for his week off, then the first day he went back to work it started. L* wasn’t gone ten minutes when the phone rang. I answered.

‘Hello?’

‘I love the blue blouse you have on today. (I did indeed have a blue blouse on) How about I come over now that your old man is gone and take it off you?’

Then, before I could hang up, he started describing all the things he would do to me. Disgusting! I was shaken, but again, not really scared, as I figured it would just be that one phone call again and then nothing. I did recognize the voice as the same one as before, but was more shaken that he knew what I was wearing and that L had gone to work.

I made sure the door was locked. But living with 2 large dogs that were very protective, I wasn’t afraid. So when the phone rang again about half an hour later, I answered.

The same smiling voice was on the other end.

‘I want to f*** you till you beg for mercy.’ He started out with this time. I hung up. That’s when the phone would start ringing and not quit! After about the 30th ring I finally turned the ringer off. Silence never sounded so good! It had shaken me, I checked to make sure all the blinds were closed and curtains pulled close. I went to bed that night, but didn’t sleep well.

The next morning I turned the ringer back on and jumped as it immediately rang! Cautiously, I answered and was relieved when L’s voice came through instead of that pleasant chilling voice of last night. But my relief only lasted moments as L chewed my ass out for not answering the phone earlier. It was my first taste of his controlling ways. He would call me every night and every morning that he was at work and grill me about my day. But that’s a story for another time.

I told L about the phone calls, but he said I was over re-acting and to leave the ringer on in case he called again. He didn’t want NOT to be able to contact me. So I left the ringer on. Big mistake.

After L hung up I took the dogs for their morning run. It was a sunny day and I felt safe with my two dogs, but I was aware of my surroundings like I had never been before. I didn’t notice anything unusual, so I played with the dogs for a while, then went back to the apartment. I wasn’t in the door 2 minutes before the phone rang. I answered.

What came through the phone was a long litany of things the caller wanted to do to me. I hung up, my breathing ragged with fear. The dogs felt it and stood by my side. I went to sit down and the phone rang again. I let it ring, and ring, and ring. It wouldn’t stop! Then I thought, what if it was L again? So I answered.

The same pleasant-sounding voice was there, telling me how he was going to f*** me and then how he was  going to enjoy doing all the nasty things he started to describe in detail to me. I think what was so chilling, the timbre of his voice never changed throughout the whole 2 months of him describing abusive sex acts and then toward the end, how he was gong to kill me after raping me. It was always that pleasant, cheerful voice.

He never called while L was home. But 10 minutes after L would leave for his week at work the phone would ring. I knew it had to be someone at the apartment complex. But who?

It got so bad I wouldn’t leave without one of the dogs with me.  I’d always leave one dog in the apartment so no one could break in and wait for me. The caller knew I had the dogs as he would tell me how he was going to poison  them to get to me.

L finally believed me when I lost a lot of weight, was constantly on edge. I had changed the number twice, but that only gave me a days respite before it would start again.

We moved, after we talked to the police and there was nothing they could do unless I actually got raped. Nice, eh? When the police came to the apartment to talk to me, I was sitting with both dogs in front of me and a.38 special on the table next to me. The cop looked at the gun, looked at me and asked me if I knew how to shoot it. I said yes I did. All he said afterwards was, when you shoot him, make sure he’s in the apartment and shoot to kill, that way it’s deemed self-defense.

The calls stopped when we moved, after I changed the number once again. It was something I would not wish any woman to go through. Creepy is a mild way to describe it.