Interview 2 - Markus [the ex-boyfriend]

[TW - the following fictional interview excerpt contains mention of emotional abuse]

“Let’s start with how you met Georgiana?”

We met at my High School formal in November twenty-eleven. I went to an all-boy private school, and she went to an all-girl private school. Gin — Sorry, I called her Ginny. Ginny went with a mate of mine, Oliver “Ollie” Harper, who was a closeted gay at the time and figured taking Ginny would stop the teasing. I went stag as I broke up with my cheating ex shortly before the event.

By the time I showed up, they were already there. I remembered her gorgeous smile, the sound of her laugh, it was like music, oh and how she’d lean back slightly with her hand covering her mouth. Ginny looked drop-dead gorgeous, I kid you not.

I still remember that long sheer black dress with a shiny red fabric romper underneath. I was head over heels, but it was when she started talking to me —

[Long pause]

We talked the entire time, and Ollie practically forced us into a slow dance. To this day, I swear he asked her just to set us up together.

She was incredibly intelligent, and we got into a debate on some of the most mundane bull you could possibly think of. There were times throughout the early stages of our relationship that I thought we would break up due to us being far too similar.

The girl could debate.

“Did you observe any controlling behaviours from Josephine?”

June twenty-thirteen. That was when I met Josephine for the first and last time, and I saw the controlling behaviour all the time, Colin. All the fu— Can I swear? All the fucking time.

I had an idea of Josephine before we even met. Ollie’s ma, Taylah, was Josephine’s best friend, so whenever I went over to his place, Josephine was all I ever heard from her.

“Ollie, Markus, you’ll never believe what Josephine told a client,” she would say to us.

Josephine had two ideations. One being “Your grades determined your success. Distinctions or you’re worthless”, and two “More money, high status, that’s what matters in this house”. But even with these ideations, Josephine constantly moved the goalposts when it suited her.

Grades don’t matter in the real world, but to Josephine, that’s how she hired her staff. If they had their GPA on their resume and it was a six-point-zero or higher, they’d be taken for the next round. Didn’t matter if you had worked for a big-name law firm, had impressive contacts, or went to a prestigious law school. Your grades determined your success, which to me was the biggest bullshit I’ve ever heard

I witnessed Georgiana break because of it. She was a good student, just shy of a near-perfect seven-point-zero grade point average. If she scored an overall pass, she’d be upset, but as long as it was a distinction or high distinction, she was fabulous.

Those three consecutive fails, despite everything, killed her.

I lost my girlfriend before I even knew it.

“Did Georgiana show signs that she was emotionally abused?”

At the time, I didn’t think twice. Upon reflection, however, yes.

Ginny loved corporate law; she was doing the subjects and had become quite the expert. She loved giving me advice on my company and how to protect myself, especially when it took off in early twenty-fourteen.

Josephine didn’t like that and forced her to swap her specialisation from corporate to legal practice, and then picked her electives to relate to family law. As I later found out, it was because that despite more money equalling more status and success, Ginny was not allowed to have more money than her aunt and Corporate Law is pretty high earning.

Ginny hid the red flags from me quite easily. I was very observant, but she knew how to choose her words. It was only when she started to break down during her second-to-last semester that the cracks started to show.

The contradictions and the need to please everyone, including me. Georgiana was going way over the top, even in the bedroom; it was non-stop. I had to start turning down sex. [Laughter]. It was far too much to bear sometimes.

Having met the witch, I had to protect Ginny as best I could. I tried endlessly reassuring her, taking away her phone, and I even went to the university to see if they could be of help. This was very early on in the second semester of twenty-fourteen, by the way. It was so hard to watch.

“Why did she go back?”

She went back due to a deal. If she had any fails and she was to head back to Wellington Point. Josephine knew her niece had failed before Ginny knew herself. I wanted to stop it. I asked her to move in with me. It was the only way that I could protect her, but Ginny? Ginny was like a zombie. That incredible brain of hers was no longer working. It was poor decision after poor decision. Here’s the thing, Colin, all those bloody papers and blog articles keep saying I left her, but Ginny broke up with me a week later.

Did you know that I bought a ring? Cost me an arm and a leg, but I had my side hustle, and I was on a paid placement for the duration of my degree. That night we met, I knew she was the one. I haven’t been with anyone since. I’ve tried, but I just — Sorry, I need a minute.

[Interviewee required a five-minute break]

Sorry about that.

“You said that you met Josephine once. How would you describe her?”

Yes, that’s correct, I only met Josephine in February twenty-thirteen. So that would’ve been, what, two years of us dating? I think Ginny got sick of me asking if I could meet her. In hindsight, I wish I had never met her, but I’m also glad I did.

I thought Josephine was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, though she was more like a wolf in designer clothing. She couldn’t afford her lifestyle at all. You could tell. The house was decaying right before my very eyes. Peeling wallpaper; timbers were chipped, dented, or rotting, and the house smelled dangerously like mildew. Yet, she dressed to the nines and drove the latest Porsche, at the time, she then went to a Lambo, Mustang, then finally to the McLaren.

Josephine was creepy; she had to be able to see every space in the house at all times, and instead of cameras, she had mirrors put up in prime locations on almost every wall. So the only privacy we had was in the bathroom and Ginny’s bedroom, unless the door was open.

I remember the first night I was there, I needed water, so I headed downstairs to the kitchen. Josephine caught me when I headed back upstairs and told me that I was not allowed out of the room after 9 pm. I had to follow the same rules that Ginny had to while I was there. So I couldn’t even get up to urinate.

I won’t go into our sex life, but there was one time when I tried to initiate, when Josephine waltzed in, threw the door open and said, “The door remains open as long as he’s still here”. I just felt unwanted the entire time.

Has anyone ever told you about King Island? No? I’m not sure if you’re familiar, but King Island is a little Island that you can walk to from Wellington Point Reserve during low tide over the sandbar. It was Georgiana’s little retreat. Sometimes she’d go early in the morning, take a book, her journal, a picnic and sit out there all day waiting for the tide to go out before she headed back home. She loved her privacy.

She took me to the island, even though it was for a short time, it was nice to make out in private. No one was out there considering it was a school day, and stinking hot.

I headed back to my unit after we got back, though. Josephine was watching me like a hawk. I think she knew that I was a threat to her. Ginny was starting to see that life didn’t have to be miserable.

“Was there anything else within the home that made you uncomfortable?”

Well, aside from being watched and made to live on a schedule and having no privacy for a week, the house was just weird. As I mentioned, the house was in a state of decay. Who knows how long it had been like that?

But that grandfather clock. It stood proud in a corner that had the prime position of viewing all the mirrors. The sound would echo throughout the house, even in the dark; its chimes and ticking instilled a level of fear in me that no amount of words could begin to explain. Each time it chimed, even in her sleep, Ginny would start shaking and taking deep breaths.

Every hour, on the hour, she would start shaking and focus on her breathing. I never understood why until I heard the clock.

It was a beautiful antique, from deep within the Devine family.

I don’t know what happened to her at the chimes; I was not privy to that information. I never saw Josephine do anything either. All I knew was that she was emotionally abusive and highly narcissistic. Ginny never mattered to her, only what her status provided, but Lord help her if she did better than her aunt.

“Looking back at it, is there anything that you’d do differently?”

God no. I did all I could. If anything, I probably would’ve asked her to marry me sooner, but I wanted to wait until we both had graduated — Guess we’ll never know.

She changed my life.

While I don’t think she killed Josephine, I am sure as shit guilty by association to all those people who look at the circumstantial evidence.

I lost my side business, and no one will hire me. I’ve tried everything to clear my name, and nothing.

She ended our relationship, so how can I be guilty be association?

Is it because I’ve openly talked about Josephine’s controlling tendencies?

If it is, well, sue me, ‘cause those bastards never met Josephine. I did. I couldn’t even last a week with her, imagine Ginny for two decades! Nobody would last as long as she did without some serious psychological issues. Even at uni, she was under her Aunt’s rule and thumb.

I wish I had done something to stop her from going back. Maybe blocking her Aunt’s number and got her to move in with me? Maybe calling the police? But coercive control, emotional abuse, it wasn’t something that was easily proven. You needed more than circumstantial evidence, and I didn’t have hard evidence.