I got off work last night at 10 PM and went to a gas station to put some gas in my car. When I pulled up to the pump, the tire light came on.
Which makes sense because it’s just begun to be cold outside here (Saint Louis area). After I pumped my gas, I walked around the gas station to find their air pump. When I found it toward the back of the building, I heard some whimpering.
At first I thought a dog or cat was hurt or stuck or something, so I walked further to the back but there is saw a guy with his hand over a woman’s mouth, and he was just repeatedly hitting her in the stomach.
The thing that really grabbed my attention and made me angry was what she was wearing. She had on one of those cut-off shirts and a skirt and no shoes on her feet. Their car was a little off behind them. It made me angry because it must have been close to 30° F outside last night and very windy. She must have been freezing.
For some reason that made me angrier than him hitting her. It just made the whole scene that much more cruel.
Against all logic, I started to walk toward them. Knowing this area, this was stupid. He could have a knife a gun a friend of his could have been watching. So then I thought to call the police. I’m fumbling with my phone walking towards this scene and before I know it they’ve both noticed me and the guy start telling me to mind my own business.
I’m the most nonconfrontational person on Earth, and I’m definitely not a fighter by any stretch so I didn’t really know what I was going to do but I was hoping that she’d be able to slip away while he was focused on me.
So after he told me to mind my own business, I was scared. All the possibility of him having a weapon were in my mind. But then I just had this dominating thought in my head that said to walk her to the front of the building where there were more cameras and people getting gas. They could all help, and there’s strength in numbers. So I walked up and held out my hand to her, she grabbed it, and we walked to the front of the store. And nothing happened. We got to the front, then we walked into the building because of how cold it was, and the attendant called the police. When they got there the guy had left.
It sucked because she had nothing else to wear and it was cold out there, and her purse with ID and money and her phone were all with him. But the attendant handed her a hoody they sold which was nice, and the police said they’d take her to her mom’s house, which wasn’t far away.
I’d never seen anything like that before outside of a movie or on TV. It was such an unreal thing. I couldn’t believe someone could be so much of a bully. It still makes me sick that he was just making her be cold like that. I don’t know why that upsets me more than the hitting.
I don’t even know why I’m posting this, to be honest, but it was such a crazy thing to see happening. I can’t help but wonder how often does something like that happen? It’s nuts.
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