JEREMY
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Episode 3
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At this precise moment, every rational voice in my head was shouting, “Run O!” But I was too firmly planted to take another step.
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This path to my house was lonely, dim, and, on a good day, frightening. But with Jeremy there, it was doubly terrifying because of the situation. The other apparent safety measure I could take was to start yelling as loud as my lungs would allow.
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“Your legs will reanimate when you begin to scream and plead for assistance, launching you out of this place as quickly as is necessary.” A voice in my head advised me.
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“Do you genuinely think you could outrun Jeremy? You don’t want to exasperate this man any more than you already have, I can assure you of that.” Yet another whispered:
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In those few seconds, my mind was racing with introspective thoughts.
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“How did we even get here?” I found myself pondering.
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With Jeremy, things weren’t always this way.
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It was obvious that it couldn’t have been. In actuality, it used to be the exact opposite.
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I first met Jeremy over the counter at the bank where I worked.
Like every other customer that day, Jeremy entered the bank to make a transaction. During this transaction, Jeremy tried to start chit-chat. In addition to the “forced smile” we were constantly required to greet our customers whenever they entered the bank and during the course of their transactions with us, Jeremy was able to push the appropriate buttons to make me “truly” smile.
The young man was hilarious. He had a terrific sense of humor, too, in my opinion.
That day, Jeremy managed to convince me to give him my phone number. I have never done anything like this before. And believe me when I say that I get a ton of requests for my phone number every day.
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I’ve always taken great care to avoid caving in to anyone, but Jeremy had a wonderful way with words. He had a talent for putting a woman at ease. You get so at ease that you overlook the fact that the man in front of you is still a stranger.
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I learned a lot about Jeremy as I got to know him better, and many of those things made me fall in love with him without even realizing it.
Jeremy was selfless. He was good with strangers and great with both his friends and mine.
Jeremy’s image of a family was similar to my conception of the “perfect” family.
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At the time, I had just experienced a really difficult split, and Jeremy looked to have everything I had been missing in my prior relationship.
Jeremy had an infectious smile. He was the “dream man” I had always wanted—until he wasn’t.
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Jeremy all of a sudden became too clingy for me. He suddenly became unduly dependent. He went into overprotective mode. He’ll always want to know who and about what I was speaking. He would never allow me to hang out with my friends or participate in his hangout with his own buddies.
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Nothing I said to Jeremy any longer seemed plausible. He always goes to absurd lengths to confirm what I tell him.
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“Oh, right! I guess this was how we got here.”
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I remained motionless the entire time, rooted to the spot, waiting to turn around and look at the person whose voice I already recognized.
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This tremendous thumping in my chest got worse with each step Jeremy took toward me. I felt as though it was “judgment day,” and I was still unsure of my entry into heaven.
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I was aware that Jeremy was being unduly cautious. I was aware that, as a result of this, he had grown fixated on anything and everything involving me over time. He eventually became very volatile as a result of this, especially when one of my actions didn’t agree with his logic.
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I wasn’t sure what to anticipate.
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With Jeremy lately, you can never be too certain.
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I waited for Jeremy to approach me for what felt like an endless amount of time.
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He finally did.
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Jeremy spun me around by my shoulders, so I was now facing him.
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“Who was that person that dropped you off?” Jeremy asked in the most composed manner he was able to.
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I started seeing stars before I even had the vocabulary to tell a falsehood about who that was. I was so sure these were shooting stars because of how much I could see.
To be continued…
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Moshood Avidiime
