Jennifer was running late. She had left work much later than her usual 5:30. She knew it would practically impossible to be home before Jack, her husband, got home. Even if she were to get there before him, dinner wouldn't be ready and waiting on the table for him.

She was starting to panic as she pictured how mad he would be. Jack got very violent with her when she didn't do exactly as he said. He was always accusing her of sleeping around and stealing from him. He called her every name he could think of and beat on her whenever he was drunk.

After what seemed like an eternity, Jennifer pulled into her driveway only to find Jack's pickup in the garage. She parked the car as she tried to think of an excuse that would be good enough to assuage some of Jack's anger or, at least, get his mind off of it.

Before she had a chance to get out of the car, Jack's huge 6'5", 250 lbs frame appeared in the door.

"Where the hell have you been? I have been waiting here for more than an hour for you!"

"I'm so sorry Jack, I just had so much business to take care of. I had a lot of paper work that just couldn't wait"

Jack fist went through the glass window of the door before Jennifer even realized he moved. She shook in terror as he glared at her from inside the doorway. She knew it would be hard to avoid a fight tonight.

"Get the hell in this house. NOW!"

Jennifer left her briefcase and laptop in the car as she ran into the house before Jack repeated himself. He stood in the doorway and grabbed her arm as she tried to fly past him. He held on tight so that it would hurt her. He threw her on the couch and slammed the door so hard that the rest of the shards of glass fell out of the door and scattered all over the floor.

"Jack, please. I said I was sorry. I didn't mean to stay out this late. I swear."

"I don't care what you meant to do, you stayed out late. What the hell were you doing? Out messing around with some of those jerks you work with?"

"They aren't jerks, Jack"

Even before the words were out of her mouth, Jennifer realized that those were the stupidest words she could have ever come up with. Jack's palm came across her face so hard that she fell to the floor with blood dribbling out the side of her mouth.

"Not jerks, huh? I'll show you what a jerk I can be!"

"Jack please. I didn't mean to-"

Jack's foot in her stomach cut off her sentence. His fists pounded her in the head over and over again. She was starting to lose conscienceness and she was crying hysterically between her screams.

"This is it," she thought, "I'm gonna die right here on my living room floor."

The fact that Jennifer thought she was going die wasn't what bothered her, it was the fact that she was so cavalier about it that worried her. She realized in that instant that she wanted to die. She realized that she longed for death. She had been with Jack for 4 years and he had been treating her like crap ever since day one.

One day in particular, about a year ago, stood out in Jennifer's mind. She had been having a great day and was in very high spirits when she got home. She had gone to see her physisist because she had been having some really bad stomach problems. At first she thought it was the flu but when the vomitting continued for more than a week, she made an appointment with the doctor.

The doctor told her that she was three and a half months pregnant. Jennifer couldn't have been any happier and she just couldn't wait to greet Jack with the wonderful news. They had been trying to have a baby for the past two years but it hadn't happened until then. Jack wanted the baby because he said it would be nice to have a "little Jack running around the house." Jennifer wanted a baby becuase she thought that the fighting, drinking, cursing, and beatings would stop.

Jennifer went home and cooked a huge dinner, cleaned up the house, and then waited for Jack to get home from work. Before he even stepped completely through the door, it was apparant to Jennifer that Jack was drunk. He threw his construction equipment down by the door and then slammed the door behind him.

"This house is a mess! What the hell have you been doing all day? Sitting on your lazy butt?!" Jack yelled as he staggered around the house, wiping imaginary dust and dirt from all the furniture.

"The house isnt dirty, it can't be. I just cleaned, Jack."

"So you're calling me a liar now too? You lazy, stupid, ungrateful slut!"

Jack's fist crashed into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Jennifer fell to the floor gasping for air. The pain was so intense that for a few minutes she could only see red. She didn't feel the rest of the blows, she was still reeling from the first one. She didn't know when she had lost conscienceness. She didn't know when she was taken to the hospital. She did know that she had lost her baby. She knew it even before the doctors in the hospital confirmed it.

As Jennifer remembered this, she began to feel herself get some kind of strength from deep within. She realized that she had to be strong for her family. She had to be strong for the baby Jack had killed while it was still growing inside of her. Most of all, she had to be strong for herself; she couldn't let Jack defeat her.

As he usually did, Jack got tired of beating her and dragged her limp body down the hall to the bedroom, threw her on the bed and stripped her naked. He then used her body as violently as he could; making every movement hurt her more and more.

Jennifer knew that this was the last straw. She wouldn't let him hurt her again. She pulled her aching body off the bed and into the bathroom, atempting to clean the mess Jack had made of her face. She then went back to the bedroom and packed a suitcase of clothes. She waited a very short while until she heard Jack's snoring from the living room and then snuck through the back door.

As Jennifer took one last look at her beautiful house, she began to smile because she knew even though she was leaving so much behind, her life would - in a way - just be beginning.