I was about to settle in and catch up on my favorite TV show when there was a knock at the door. I opened the door to find my twin sister, Anita standing there. I wondered for a minute how she got to my house since she lived ten miles away and didn't have a car before I noticed the Uber pulling out of my driveway. I looked back to my sister.
"Nini," I said, using her childhood nickname, "What...?"
Then I noticed she was on the verge of tears, a second later she threw herself into my arms and started crying. I ushered her inside and shut the door, guided her over to the couch and handed her some tissues as she tried to compose herself.
"Nini, what's the matter? What's going on?" I asked, concerned.
"Oh, Charlie," she said, wiping her eyes, "I don't even know where to start. It's John."
"What did that motherfucker do?" I asked, getting angry.
John was my sister's boyfriend of four months. I had only met the guy once and during that brief meeting I knew there was something about him I didn't like. I couldn't put my finger on it, but the guy just rubbed me the wrong way. After just a month together he convinced her to quit her job and move in with him, and that's when things started to change. Usually my sister and I talked once, sometimes twice a week. Even if it was just a simple "Hey, how are you?" text, but once John came into her life our talks became less and less frequent. In the last 3 months we talked less than ten times. Every time I tried to call her the calls went to voicemail and my texts sat on read. I talked to a few of her friends and they said the same thing. We couldn't even reach her on social media. When I raised my concerns to our parents my father brushed it off.
"Charlie, she's 32 years old," he said, " I know you two are close, but she's a grown woman. She's got her own life. She doesn't need you constantly looking over her shoulder."
Bullshit. Anita was my sister and even if we lived to be 100, I'd be looking out for her, because that's what brothers are supposed to do. Now seeing her show up unexpectedly on my doorstep on the verge of tears (and her breakdown a moment later) confirmed all the suspicions and general bad vibes I had about John.
"Nini, take a deep breath, calm down, and tell me what's going on." I said, gently putting my hands on her shoulders.
Anita wiped her eyes again and blew her nose before taking a deep breath and looking at me.
"Things seemed so good in the beginning," she said, "He was nice and even a little charming, but once I moved in with him, he changed. He had all these 'rules' that he wanted me to follow. It started off slow, first he wanted me to clean up. Not a big deal at first, but then he intentionally started leaving messes for me to clean up. Then he wanted me to cook all the meals, hell, even if he wanted a microwave burrito, I had to do it. Then I had to do his laundry. Again, at first it was no big deal, but he'd wait until he was down to his last pair of socks or clean underwear before berating me for not doing it sooner. Then, before I realized it, I was doing EVERYTHING around the apartment. I had to clean things to his specifications, I had to prepare his lunches for the next day the night before, and have dinner ready for him exactly at 5:00. All his wants and needs came before mine. If I didn't do something the way he wanted it done, he'd berate me and call me useless."
She broke down again and I hugged her and let her get it out. She wiped her eyes again and took another deep breath. I took a deep breath too, because I was about ready to go find John and beat him within an inch of his life. I wasn't much of a fighter, but you DO NOT fuck with my sister.
"He didn't want me leaving the apartment unless it was to go grocery shopping, take out the trash or check the mail. He also controlled who I could talk to. He checked my phone everyday, that's why I never answered your calls or texts. But it wasn't just you, I couldn't talk to my friends either. He's tracking my phone too, so even if I do go out while he's at work he knows where I am."
"I knew there was something about that asshole I didn't like," I said, "He didn't ever put his hands on you, did he?"
"No, he never hit me," Anita said, "I thought he was going to a couple of times, but he never laid a hand on me."
"Good, because I'd have to fucking kill him," I said, "But it sounds like he was emotionally abusing you. Cutting you off from family and friends, controlling everything you did. He wanted your entire focus to be on him, and him alone. He didn't want a girlfriend, he wanted a personal slave. He didn't love you, he loved manipulating you."
"Yeah, and it almost worked," she said, sniffling. "I guess I knew what was going on, but I never did anything about it because he perfectly manipulated me, making me think everything was my fault. But then yesterday I saw something on a talk show about abusive and controlling relationships and listening to those women, they were perfectly describing what I was going through. I could relate to all of them. The final straw was before he left this morning. He made his usual demand that I clean up and make dinner, and, I quote 'try not to fuck that up, for once in your useless life do something right'. That, combined with what I saw on TV yesterday, was when I'd had enough and decided to come and see you. I had made friends with the upstairs neighbor after moving in and we talked from time to time. I think she had an idea of what was going on, but she didn't want to say anything in case she was wrong. Then today, when she saw how upset I was, she knew she was right. I would have called you from her phone, but I know you don't pick up if you don't recognize the number. So she let me use her Uber account to come to see you."
Our parents lived over 500 miles away, so going to see them was not an option. By this point she had pretty much composed herself.
"You did the right thing," I said, "Matter of fact, come on. We're going back there, we're getting your shit and you're staying with me."
"But Charlie..." she said as I stood up.
"Don't 'but Charlie' me, sis," I said, heading into my bedroom to quickly change clothes. "This isn't open to debate. I'm not letting you spend another day with that asshole, and you're not wasting money on a hotel room. It's either that or I fucking kill him. Now come on."
I came out of my bedroom, grabbed my wallet, cell phone and keys off the table by the front door. We headed back to the apartment complex where John lived. I knew exactly where it was because I once worked down the street. Since John was at work, we didn't have to worry about him coming home anytime soon, but we still worked fast.
"Grab your personal stuff, I'll pack your clothes," I said as she grabbed a suitcase out of the closet.
It only took us about 20 minutes to get everything that belonged to my sister out of the apartment and into my car. As we were making a final sweep of the apartment her phone (which she had purposely left behind) chirped with a text notification. It was John of course.
"What's for dinner?"
"Nothing you piece of shit." she said. We left the text on read, and she dropped her keys on the table next to the phone.
"Hang on a second," I said, picking up the phone. "Do you have anything important on here?"
"Just my contacts and social media stuff," she said, "But I don't want to take the phone, he's tracking it."
"Delete those," I said, handing her the phone, "But leave the phone. I'll buy you a new one later."
It took Anita a few minutes to delete her entire contact list, as well as her social media apps. Once she was done she dropped the phone on the coffee table next to her keys. She wasn't concerned with locking up.
"Let's get the fuck out of here." she said, after making one last sweep of the apartment to make sure she had everything.
Once we were on the way back to my house my sister seemed to release all the tension she'd been holding in all morning. I was pretty sure John wouldn't be showing up at my door. Like I said, I had only met him once (and I honestly doubt he even remembered me), so he had no idea where I lived. Even if he did figure it out it wouldn't end well for him. My next door neighbors were both police officers and in the two years we've been neighbors we'd become good friends. I even babysat their daughter a few times.
Once we were back at my house, Anita gave me a big hug, "Thanks Charlie."
I hugged her back, "Hey, no problem. I'm just doing my job as your brother. You can stay here as long as you want. Now, what do you say we order a pizza, crack open a couple of brews and watch some TV."
"Sounds like a plan." she said, smiling.
That night, as I was getting ready for bed, Anita came into my room.
"Hey Nini," I said, "How you doing?"
She sat on the bed next to me, "Better now that I'm away from him. I feel like I can finally breathe easy."