Page 32 of Beautiful Terror

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Okay. First things first, are you okay?

It’s a question I don’t really know the answer to.

I fill her in, typing furiously. The words spill out like a confession.

I tell her everything—Timmy’s drinking, the noogie-that-wasn’t, the argument, the security guard.

Alice:

So drunk Timmy decides to grab someone's throat? That's super healthy.

Me:

Yes, in a noogie without the noogie part.

Alice:

His parents. They weren't like...alarmed?

Me:

Oh I’m sure they were.

He was like, ‘She isn’t coming to Montana.’

Alice:

It doesn’t sound like a good idea.

Me:

And they were like, ‘You’re so drunk Timmy.’

God knows what they actually thought of my live tweets of the past 3 hours or so. I kept them updated while their son acted insane.

Security said she was going to call the cops and I asked her not to.

She said she wouldn’t but I’m listening to my headphones really loud and hopefully she doesn’t bc I think he’s going to sleep.

He really just lost his shit. Kept saying ‘Oh I love you, I’d never hurt you’.

And I said, ‘It’s not the intention bro’, and that my throat still feels funny hours later.

And then I mentioned the domestic violence stats around strangulation, and the likelihood he would really harm me one day.

Alice:

It’s true. Especially strangulation—it's no joke.

It’s a massive predictor of future violence.

Her bluntness cuts through the fog of rationalizations I’ve been clinging to, and for a moment, I feel seen.Understood.

Me:

I told him that too. That it’s not just me—it’s statistics. That men who strangle their partners often escalate. And he didn’t like that info.

Alice’s reply comes swiftly: