August 10th, 2020

I had one of the worst days of my life. The entire day was fine. Sabrina was a month old and had already gone to bed. Austen, Zack, Dalton, and I decided to drink a little. Dalton and I had a single beer and went to bed. Austen and Zack stayed up playing video games.

At 2 AM, I woke up to my mom yelling for me. I got up and went to the kitchen where she was standing in the doorway to the porch.

"Call the Sherriff" she said

"Why what's going on?"

"I confronted Scott about stealing my debit card and taking $200 and he swears I gave it to him and now he's talking to himself." She half whispered.

"Okay I'll go call."

I called the sheriff but I don't remember what all I said.

I woke Dalton up so we could meet the sheriff out front and I told her what my mom said. She said she was going to walk around back and talk to them.

Dalton sat in the recliner and I sat on the couch with Zack; Austen on the loveseat. Maybe 2-3 minutes went by and suddenly the back metal screen door slammed and Scott ran for the front door. When he looked out the window and seen the sheriff cruiser, his whole demeanor changed.

His body tensed up and he started getting in everyone's face, His tone said it all. "Did you call the law on me?" Person by person he got inches from their face he asked. Getting angrier and angrier the more he asked.

He got to me and I was so scared. All I could do was shout, "we just woke up to a knock on the door we don't know who did it".

He started pacing the living room making sure no one could get up and open the door that the sheriff had starting knocking at.

The more he paced the more scared I got. I was crying and hyperventilating. My hands started to go numb from lack of oxygen, my chest hurt, my head hurt. We were going to die.

"Scott stop you're scaring her!" My mom screamed realizing the level of my distress. He stopped pacing to stare at me as if in a trance.

Dalton realized he was distracted and ran for the gun we kept hidden by the front door. With his left hand he grabbed the shot gun and pumped it and with his right hand he threw the door open. He went to turn to Scott who was already gone; Out the back door and into the woods.

The sheriff standing outside; knocking for 20-25 minutes; was startled and Dalton let her in. I ran past her, heading straight to our room for Sabrina who had slept through the entire thing. While I was checking on Sabrina the sheriff had called for the lieutenant. I went back to the Livingroom clutching Sabrina to my chest, desperate to protect her.

Not long after I sat down another sheriff (the lieutenant) came in.

"What happened Izzy?" The lieutenant pointed a flashlight at me. I quickly realized we knew each other.

I don't remember what I told him. I just remember feeling a temporary wave of safety wash over me.

They checked the yard and cars for us and left. Leaving us, taking the feeling of safety with them. We didn't sleep that night. We waited until daylight before we could consider even closing our eyes.

August 10, 2020 2:45AM.

Minutes. That's all it took for my family to be traumatized. It's been over a year now, I still cry. I still doubt everyone who cares for my child. To trust someone, for them to shatter you. It's a lot.