Janae had spent the entire day cleaning and cooking dinner, preparing for her husband to come home. She had prepared his favorite dinner: chopped steak with gravy, greens, mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. She’d even made some homemade biscuits. But, when she set the plate on the table in front of him, Samual knocked the plate to the floor, jumped up and grabbed Janae by her throat. Then pushed her into the wall.

Janae tried to catch her breath and asked “What was that for?”

He answered “I’m sick and tired of you always messing up my food.”

Janae said “Samual, what are talking about?”

Samual replied “You heard me. You always messing something up; you could at least fix dinner right.”

Janae answered “You’ve never complained before.”
That’s when Samual hit her so hard; she hit the table, and then fell on the floor. “Don’t question me. I ask the questions around here.” Then he kicked her in her side and started to punch her in her stomach until she blacked out.

That’s the day everything first started to go wrong in the Miller’s house. It hadn’t always been like this. Janae, a stay-at-home mom, had been married for four years. The former high school sweethearts got married and had one little boy, Samual Jr. But before the baby was born, they seemed to have the perfect lives, going on vacation several times a year, going out to eat at least three times a week and just spending lots of time doing things together. Samual asked Janae to marry him right after college. When she told him “YES” she didn’t know what she was getting herself into.

In the beginning Samual had been nice and sweet. After the marriage, he became manipulative and outrageous. Samual started beating her and slapping her around. Janae, out of fear of his beatings, would just do everything he told her to do. Samual also called her all kinds of names and told her things to make her feel like nobody else would want her. He would say things like. “I’m the only one that wants you” and “You couldn’t get anybody else if you tried.” Part of her had started to believe his cruel statements, but another part of her wondered why she was putting up with his mistreatment.
The longer she dealt with his cruelty, she did begin to wonder though, “What man would want me?” So, she convinced herself to just stay with him. Besides, she was afraid to leave him in the first place.

They’d been married for two years when they had their first child, Samual J. Miller Jr. on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2001 at 11:55p.m. Janae thought things would get better after the baby was born, but she was wrong. Things got worst. Every time he came home from work he would hit Janae just because of any little thing like if dinner wasn’t ready or if the baby wouldn’t stop crying. Janae dropped Sammy off at daycare one day, so she could clean the lady’s house. When she dropped him off, a lady stopped her before she left.

The lady said “If you don’t mind me asking. What happened to your eye?”

The night before Samual hit her and gave her a black eye because his bath water was cold. Janae tried to act like she didn’t hear her.

The lady asked again then Janae asked “Why do you want to know so badly?”

The lady said “Well it looks like you’re going through something and it looks like something I’ve been through. My name is Cassy.”

Janae replied “How would you know what I’m going through?”

Cassy said “Would you like to go into the backroom, for a minute and talk? So I can tell you how.”

Janae almost said “NO,” but she went ahead and said “Yeah, why not?”

The lady told her about her story and how her ex. husband use to beat on her.

Janae started to cry and say “That’s exactly what I’m going through and I’m ready to get out, but I’m scared.”

Cassy told her “Don’t be scared to leave him. You need to get out as quickly as you can.” After their conversation, they exchanged numbers and talked later that day. After she came back from cleaning the house and picking Sammy up, she called Cassy. While they were on the phone, Janae told he about Samual beat on her and called her names. Also, how she was tried.

Cassy told her “Don’t believe what he tells you. You are beautiful and he shouldn’t be hitting you like that. If you are ready to leave, my house is open to you and your son.”

Janae and Cassy talked on the phone till Samual came home from work. After, they got off the phone; Janae started thinking about what she and Cassy were talking about. She was still deciding if she should leave or stay. After three more days of hurt and pain, she made a plan to leave. That morning after she cooked and got Samual ready for work, she packed Sammy and her things in the truck. When she started to get something out of the bathroom, she looked into the mirror. All she could do was look at her bruises on her face. Then she started to cry. Janae didn’t look in mirrors that much because she would always cry every time she looked at her face. When she was finally done packing Sammy and her things, she called Cassy again.

Cassy answered “Janae hi, are you okay? I haven’t heard from you in days.”

She said “Hey, yes I’m okay. I packed my and my son’s things. Now, what do I do?”

Cassy was silent for a second then said “Well, like I told you three days ago. You can live with me. I know you don’t know me that well, but I know you really need a place to go and I would love to help you with your problem. My address is 6985 Crossing Dr. I’ll be waiting for you outside.”

Janae said “Thank you for everything; I wouldn’t know what I would do without somebody like you.”

Cassy told her “You’re welcome and I’ll be here waiting.”

Janae and Cassy hung up. Janae got Sammy and put him in the car. She went back inside and got a couple more things. Janae was still crying because she started thinking about the pain she’d been though. When she finally got done, Janae looked back one final time wiped the tears from her eyes and walk to the car with her head held high and did not look back. After she found the house, Janae and Cassy unpacked the truck. A couple days went by and Janae started looking for a job and getting her life back on track. Everything was going good for Janae, but Samual was looking for her. Janae thought everything was going to be fine, but it wasn’t. Two days later Samual found Janae. While she was dropping off Sammy at daycare, Samual was waiting for her at the door. At first, she didn’t know who it was at the door, but by the time she realized it was him at the door it was too late to run back to the truck. Samual looked at her with a mug on his face and told her to take Sammy inside. After she dropped him off, he grabbed her by her hair

Then told her “What’s wrong with you? You think you can just up and leave me like that?”

Janae just cried. Samual told her to get in the car. Then took her back to the house and locked her inside, so she couldn’t leave. It was Cassy’s day off and she was waiting for Janae to come back. After two hours, she knew something had to be going wrong. Cassy went up to the daycare and saw Janae‘s truck. Then she went inside and saw Sammy, but Janae was nowhere to be found.

That’s when Cassy asked a lady that worked there, “Did you see Sammy’s mother this morning? She’s about 5’5, with black hair and dark skin.”

The lady told her “I think I did. She got into a car with a man.”

Cassy then asked for Janae’s information.

The lady asked “Why?”

She said “I don’t have time for questions; I just need it!”

The lady said “Okay,” then gave her Janae’s address, home number, and cell. Cassy already tried calling her cell and it went straight to voicemail. So, she called her house and it was disconnected. She then called the police, on her way to the miller’s house.

Cassy said “Hello, this is Cassy, and my friend is being abused by her husband; and I think he is keeping her locked up somewhere or tied up or something! I don’t know, but I know something’s going wrong.”

The policeman asked “Do you think you know where she is?”

Cassy replied “She might be at the house.” She gave him the address and some other information he asked for. By the time she got off the phone, she made it to the house. Cassy jumped out the car and ran to the door. Janae was in the bedroom because Samual didn’t only lock her inside the house, he locked her in the bedroom. Even though she was locked in, Cassy was beating on the door and windows so hard, Janae heard her at the door. Janae started screaming as loud as she could. When Cassy heard her screaming, she knew she was inside. Cassy instantly went to her car and looked for anything to use to break a window. She couldn’t find anything, and the police were taking too long. So, she picked up a brick and busted a window. When she got in she started looking for Janae and yelling her name. Janae yelled back, and then Cassy followed her voice and saw that she was in the bedroom. Then finally the police busted through the door. Cassy told them she was locked inside the room. They told her t wait outside and Janae was screaming “HELP” even louder.

The policeman said “Calm down, you will be out in a minute.”

They told her to step away from the door and knocked it down. They ran in and asked if everything was okay. Janae just cried. They took Janae and Cassy to the police station and asked them questions about what was going on. After they finished, they started looking for Samual. The police made up a plan. Later that day, they knew that Samual was going to have to pick Sammy up from daycare, since he locked Janae in the house. Little did he know that Janae already picked up Sammy from daycare and took him back to cassy’s house. Also, that the police were waiting for him inside the daycare. AS, the police waited in the back, Samual walked in and told the lady he was there to pick his son Samual Jr. up. The lady told him to wait for a minute to go get him from the backroom. Once, she left the room; the police ran into the room and wrestled him to the ground. Then handcuffed him ,took him to the police car and took him to jail. Janae had to go back to the police station to identify him, Samual happened to see her. Samual was still handcuffed and had two policemen holding him, while they were taking to a room.

Before they took him to the room, he told Janae, “When I get out I’m going to hunt you down and kill you!”

Janae’s heart was beating fast and all she could do was look at him because words couldn’t come out her mouth.

Then she looked at the policeman and said “That was him. Do you know how long he will be in jail?”

The policeman told her “Five to seven years if his attorney doesn’t get him off.”

Then she signed some paper work, and went back to Cassy’s house. After a year, Janae got back on her feet and found her own place to stay. She found a full- time job and got a new boyfriend. Her new boyfriend treats her with respect and love.

At first, it was hard for her to get in a new relationship, but he helped her through everything. When Janae was able to divorce Samual, her new boyfriend asked her to marry him. It took her awhile to realize that he wasn’t like Samual, and that she could trust again despite Samual. She doesn’t worry about Samual anymore. She doesn’t have to. She has a man who protects her instead of beating her. He builds her up, instead of tearing her down. And, now, she’s finally happy with herself and her life.