Straight in The Eye

I saw him again.

I see him around a lot.

I usually dodge him.

But this time I looked him straight in the eye.

I first did a double take, pausing for a moment to make the direct connection to a not so distant memory.

Of course, it was him.

He was standing right outside the building where it all happened.  Where he worked so hard taking all my money to get my abuser's case dropped.

I held my held high as I looked him straight in the eye.  I may have even given him a half smile.

He looked back at me twice.  And I wondered if he actually thought he knew me from somewhere.

I wonder if he does remember the domestic violence victims of the abusers he represents.

A criminal defense lawyer so slick to get so many cases dropped.  Yes, there he stood looking straight back at me.  A Valentine's Day encounter on the corner of Ocean and Water Streets.

I usually see him when he jaywalks across the street from his law office to the county courthouse.  I have had many flashbacks seeing him darting across traffic to help another abuser go free.

I mostly remember how he took my money so freely.  The money my abuser made me pay him to get the case dropped.  I remember how my abuser would have meetings with him at the Santa Cruz Diner instead of the lawyer's office, strategizing on what I could do to help them get the case dropped.

And so the case was dropped.  So many years ago erupting back up to the surface in that single fleeting moment of looking him straight in the eye.  My eyes telling him that I survived.

Uncensored