The Camping and Hunting Game

The Camping and Hunting Game

It was Fall now and hunting season had opened up. He and his buddy planned a hunting trip and offered to take us, their wives, with them. So we all agreed and left for a fun weekend. When we arrived in the hunting area they pulled into this lonely place deep in the woods that was not a camp ground or a hunting resort. Then they announced that they were going into the hunting town to see if other hunters were getting anything, they left us there in the dark setting up camp in the wilderness by ourselves. It was a dark cold night and I was as uneasy as one would get. They didn't come back and they didn't come back until around 11 at night. This threw me back into the terror of the honeymoon and being trapped where no one knew where I was and with no way out. Anything could have happened; especially if some crazy stranger stumbled upon two women alone in the dark with nothing or no one to protect them. Or maybe the two husbands were going to kill us themselves and make it look like we got lost in the woods. (I had to laugh to myself about my great imagination after all it was probably an exaggeration of fact.) I wasn't dumb enough now to trust them with my life, not after everything I had experienced with him. By this time I had learned my lesson. I was never going anywhere with him again, especially not without resources. I threw a giant fit and the next morning we wives took one of the cars and drove home leaving them to their little game, My girlfriend seemed unmoved by their disregard for our safety,  but I didn't know how anyone could possibly overlook the danger in that neglect. When the guys returned home after 4 days of freedom and frolic my husband was very put out by my performance. He told me that his friends did not like me. I told him that I didn't care because I didn't like them either. I think I was supposed to fall apart and try to do "better" next time but I truly didn't wish to have a next time. He was irritated that this latest threat from his play book didn't work. I think he was under the impression that if he made me look bad and feel like everyone disliked me that I would try harder to please him in the future. He would gain the advantage of complete control over me. He didn't know what I knew about him and about his friend, so now who was in the dark?

It was very peculiar to me, that after four days my husband didn't bring home anything to eat. No prize for his efforts or was there. I took note that such an important t trip brought nothing.

I knew he was not a hunter. He was a farm boy without a farm. This fascination with hunting was a substitute or a ruse. When we first met and up until the Honeymoon he told me that his family had a farm and that he someday wanted to go back and live on the farm. He described it with such brilliant detail that I believed that the farm was still in existence. Not so. When we went to see his mother, she was a bar maid and the father was working on a farm outside of the town. There was no such farm. It had disappeared in their divorce, never to return. Fooled again!

I started to question him about what he and his friend did over there if they hadn't brought home any game. He was outraged that I should dare ask him any questions about that. His friendships and his activities were his business and not mine. He was pushing me and putting his finger in my face. I had had it. He was spending my hard earned cash to fund his little foray and now it was none of my business. Not this time.

I was so sick and tired if the chaos and his menacing that I packed some things before I left for work on Monday. I left no traces of having taken my things; I just needed to be away from him. He didn't see me when I packed because he was already gone to work.

That evening when I left the office and went to my car, there he was, standing at the back of the building, lurking in the shadows waiting for me. If he really wanted to meet me after work he could have come in the front door and asked for me. But no, he had to act like the stalker he was. What could have possibly tipped him off? Nobody knew I was leaving. I hadn't told a soul. I cringed at the sight of him. He put on his poor me and said I should come home. My stomach was churning…. That was way too calculating for me. Was he spying on me or did he just have a keen sense of having pushed it a little too far last t me, far enough to get me to leave him? I didn't want to have a scene outside of my work where everyone could see so I went home. There was an odd foreboding within me that I would never be able to leave without serious consequences. He would always find me, he knew too much about me. I took back what I said about him not being a hunter, because he could certainly hunt me down.

I was angry inside.  If this was to convince me of his love for me or an act of loving concern it failed miserably. It was like being the target of a villain. It was too close, too threatening and way too obsessive. It was as if he was living inside my head. It really gave me the creeps.

Next: Hope against Hope