My husband controlled and ab:us:ed me every day. One day, I fainted. He rushed me to the hospital, putting on a perfect act: “She fell down the stairs.” But he didn’t expect the doctor to notice signs that only a trained eye could catch. He didn’t ask me anything — he looked straight at him and called security: “Lock the door. Call the police.”

shelter for women escaping domestic abuse. It wasn’t something she had planned to do, but as she walked through the shelter one day, she overheard a conversation between a counselor and a woman who had just arrived, scared and unsure of what to do next. The fear in the woman’s eyes hit her like a punch to the gut, and something inside her snapped into continue reading …