Chapter 7 - Flashbacks
That evening emotions overflow which only grow more intense over the next several months.
Louie’s blank stare out the car window spoke a loud silence as Willow is filled with rage, sadness and a physical sickness. Just then she pulls the car over on a busy street on the short journey home. She begins to hurl and toss her cookies in the most projectile way. As Louie had the utmost sympathy for his mother, passerby cars demonstrate quite a different opinion, violently honking at her.
She wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her coat and returned to the driver’s seat when Louie reaches out his cold, shaking hand for hers.
“Are you okay, Mom?”
“How long has he been beating you?”
He hangs his head and remains silent as the flashback memory becomes too much of an overloud for his young adolescent brain.
Willow begins to cry and quickly channels her pain to anger. Her thoughts go back to months prior when Britney told her that Louie has something to tell her, stressing to Louie that if he didn’t tell their mother within two days, she would.
Willow learned that the truth told to her at that time was only a partial truth and now she understands why the whole truth was not told…
It was back in the summer when Louie tried out for the high school football team. Britney picked her brother up from football practice.
“How was practice?”
Britney instantly noticed his big brown eyes fill up with tears. Every time he blinked, the tears fell on his grass-stained jersey.
“Louie, what’s the matter?”
Instantly he broke down and cried.
“Talk to me. What happened?”
He tried to catch his breath as he stared down at the floorboard of her Jeep.
“Coach threw passes to my right side and then to my left. I caught every pass to my right side but when he threw to my left, I couldn’t see and I kept dropping the football. Coach started yelling at me.”
“So you couldn’t see with your left eye but your right eye was fine?”
“Yeah.”
“How long have you had trouble with your left eye?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? What happened to your left eye, Louie?”
“It was taekwondo. I got kicked in the head during sparring.”
Britney is beyond concerned at this point as she leans down to ask him…
“Did you tell Mom?”
“No and please don’t tell her.”
“Why not?”
There is no response from Louie – just a blank stare.
“Well, if you don’t tell her within a couple days, I will.”
Willow recalls that afternoon when Britney shared that Louie had something to tell her. She was angry and upset as to why her brother would not tell their mother of his vision loss. Was there possibly a more sinister reason as to why Louie lost peripheral vision is his left eye?
You bet there was.
The pieces to the puzzle were now making sense to Willow.
The details were excruciating and painful beyond belief. It took almost one year before she could watch any television that wasn’t either Animal Planet or a cooking show. The slightest amount of violence was a trigger for her. The nightmares were vividly intense for years and have lessened throughout the years but still remain.
Finally being able to recall the intense reality, she remembers what Louie and his counselor shared with her, which changed their lives forever…
The details were shared that life-changing evening. Mr. Crandall did not hold back on the harsh facts that Louie shared with him. He tried his best to set a proper example of how to communicate without losing your temper – something Louie’s father was not able to do.
The wise therapist shared that No child should be forced to endure such monumental secrets and be threatened with a horrid outcome; should they reveal the truths of brutal incidents occurring under his father’s watch.
Willow knew the importance for a child, or anyone for that matter, to express their fears. She thought an impartial professional would be a positive direction for Louie. God knew she sought therapy at times of tragedy and abuse more than she would like to admit. One of the best expressions of self-love there is.
She told Louie the counseling sessions with Mr. Crandall would be confidential. It never occurred to her that felony child abuse and supreme manipulation was part of the missing link.
But she should have known that any master of manipulation would not hesitate to save their own skin and precious ego.
Flashback to that day…
Willow turned to Louie with such sadness that he felt her pain without her uttering a word.
She asked, “Why didn’t you tell me Louie?”
With the loud silence came a need for the professional in the room to break the awkward silence with a sense of wisdom.
“I have a Code of Ethics I must adhere to or I will lose my license. Under the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, I am ordered to disclose confidential information without the consent of my patient- which is mandated by law. One of those mandated rules is when a patient must be protected from harm. Louie suffered severe child abuse.”
Louie seemed to clearly understand the outcome and what needed to happen.
Willow tried to push the details without being obtrusive and remained understanding to the difficulty for Louie to not relive his trauma.
Louie began… The first time it happened was when I came home and Mitch dropped me off. I threw up in the sink and you thought I had the flu.
Willow instantly picked up on the fact that he no longer referred to Mitch as his father but rather by his first name.
What do you mean the first time? There were more beatings?
Louie continued, “I told him I wanted to spend more time with you and that made him angry.”
She smiled and yet felt the rage filling up inside her again.
“He made sure we were alone, locked the doors of the dojo and closed the blinds. He ordered me to get on the mat and he began to beat me with kicks to my head and all over my body. He only stopped kicking me when I threw up.”
Mr. Crandall was hard to read as he looked straight ahead, shaking his head at times, “You had a concussion, Louie.”
Willow began to cry and was unable to speak for a short while. She reminded the therapist that Mitch is a fourth degree black belt.
“His black belt status just elevated these child abuse charges to a felony. I will support you in court, if you need me.”
Louise explained, “By the time I got home, I was still throwing up. I knew it was not the flu but I was afraid to tell you because Mitch said he would hurt you and me. I really wanted to go to the movies with Charlie that night.”
Willow continued to put the pieces of this manic puzzle together when Mr. Crandall suggested she get Louie to the doctor for x-rays of his head.
More severe beatings by Mitch to Louie’s head were detailed, x-rays done and more court days, which created a battle of ages between Willow and Mitch.
She recalled the days of her and the kids trying to get Mitch into anger management classes but he was afraid he would have to give up his precious guns. God knows guns were more important to this control freak than his own family.
The specialist at the hospital stated the x-rays showed severe damage to the left side of Louie’s head, near the side of the left eye. He was diagnosed with a severe brain injury and PTSD.
Louie’s eye doctor was the next specialist they needed to visit. After an eye exam, the expert diagnosis was that he had lost the peripheral vision in his left eye.
She asked the doctor, “What would cause the damage?”
“A severe blow to the head.”
She melted a little bit more with every devastating diagnosis and secret that Louie was threatened to keep. The evidence began to rear its ugly head and unravel and she knew it was time to fight the good fight.
After numerous long hours in court, the judge ordered there would be no communication between Mitch and Louie. Louie was quite relieved as he expressed he did not want to see or live with his father.
Both Louie and Willow knew they would not have peace. Mitch would not be happy until he had his way.