When she wakes from her coma, Melanie puts the puzzle pieces together. She had worked so hard to make her relationship with Tracy work despite his lies and abuse. Now, when she reflects on their past, she realizes he’s been trying to kill her all along.
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LearningTranscript
00:00it's hard at times to tell my story living with my scars is hard because with some of my scars
00:18and there's only certain amount of things that I can do with my hands they could save some of
00:23my fingers but not all of them and that's okay because I'm lucky to have fingers
00:28I'm lucky to have the skin that I have my face was so scarred worse way worse than it is now
00:38people look at my hands and they want to think you know what happened to her
00:44to love somebody as much as I did love him it's horrific because you wouldn't want to think
00:52somebody that you considered your best friend could do something like that
00:58I can't no I can't do it I can't look at that
01:18that one is
01:22it's horrible it just brings out some of the the ways he looked when he would get angry with me
01:34he brought me down so bad during our time that we were together
01:40there was a time that I didn't care if I lived or died
01:45there was a time that I could do it I can't do it all now
01:49I could have burned my help but with any other thing the time that I made a difference
01:52but there's still people have said I had to do it all day
01:54it's hard to do it all day
01:56it's hard to do it all day
01:57you know for that to do it all year
02:01it's hard okay
02:02it's hard to do it all day
02:04it's hard to remember
02:05you know for just being able to improve
02:07using the speed of speed
02:09it's hard to do it all day
02:11everything you did
02:13This is a picture of me getting ready for graduation, my senior pictures, and it wasn't
02:38long after the graduation. A few months that I had started seeing Tracy. I was 18 going
02:49on 19. It seems like a lifetime ago. And looking back at it now, I wish that I could be this
03:00person again. I had plans. I wanted to be a paralegal, and that was my goal. But I didn't
03:10make it that far. Instead, I met Tracy. So he definitely changed my life. It was almost
03:23the end of my life.
03:33When I first met Tracy, it was all new. Everything was just giddy. And, you know, when you first
03:40get with somebody, it's like a brand new thing. We could not have been more different. I mean,
03:50the bad guy persona, and then the church-going girl. That's what we were.
03:58Normally, I wouldn't have gone for someone like Tracy. But there was something that drew
04:04me to him. It's just like he didn't care what anybody else thought.
04:16Tracy's attitude should have turned me off. But for some reason in my mind, I guess I
04:25thought I could change this guy. You know, he'll change. But the more I did that, the worse
04:34I thought, I mean, it was just, it was bad. He was a tornado ready to happen.
04:41When Tracy and I first started dating, we would go to different places, to the movies, whatever. But
04:46then on the weekends, he would always have some excuse.
04:53Can I see you this weekend?
05:00When Tracy and I first started dating, we would go to different places, to the movies,
05:10whatever.
05:11But then on the weekends, he would always have some excuse.
05:15Can I see you this weekend?
05:20I can't go out on the weekends.
05:22And I'm thinking, what's up with the weekends?
05:26Why not on the weekends?
05:28And he would always say, well, I got to do something for my mom or something.
05:32My mom needs help again, but I can't.
05:36And so I realized he wasn't doing things for his mom because I seen his mom.
05:42So when I caught him in a lie, that's when he finally had to confess.
05:47Why can't you tell me the truth?
05:51He told me that he was in jail over the weekend.
05:55I've been doing time down at the station by the library.
05:58He had broken into newspaper stands, stolen the money out of that, supposedly to pay his rent.
06:08His sentence was 30 weekends that he had to do and report in on Fridays and stay till Monday morning.
06:18Was I upset that he did all this?
06:21Yes.
06:22Was I upset that he lied to me even more?
06:25Was I disappointed that I chose someone like that?
06:31In myself, yeah.
06:34But a heart wants what it wants.
06:36When I first introduced Tracy to my parents, that was an experience because I told my mom and dad, I said, if you just meet him, you might like him, thinking Tracy would behave.
07:01But instead, he didn't care.
07:06Every time my dad would bring up something, Tracy would argue with him, try to have the last word.
07:14And Tracy would swear up and down my dad was wrong about it.
07:18Just to say he was right, my dad was wrong.
07:23It was painful to watch, but then it angered me because I'm thinking, Tracy, shut up.
07:31This is not the way it's supposed to go.
07:34Respect my dad.
07:36No, you're wrong.
07:39And after a while, my dad forbid me to see Tracy.
07:43I want you out of here.
07:45Now!
07:46And I was like, no.
07:52I'm 18 years old.
07:53You're not going to forbid me to see him.
07:59I'm out of there, you know.
08:01And that's what I did.
08:02I left.
08:04Changed my life forever.
08:08Today, when I think back, it hurts that I chose Tracy over my parents.
08:17Because now my dad's gone, and if I could have taken that back,
08:22I would have done it a different way.
08:26It was the fact that I guess they couldn't see that he could change,
08:33and they were right.
08:35He didn't change.
08:45I got angry at him, very angry.
08:49I go out to get my car out in the parking lot.
08:52He comes out there to meet me.
08:54Melanie!
08:55No!
08:55Get away from me!
08:57My mindset was, I want to go out of here.
09:01Get out of this parking lot.
09:03Just get away from him.
09:05Just, you know, I can't deal with it anymore right now.
09:10So he stands in front of my car.
09:12And I told him, I said, move.
09:14Move now.
09:15Get out of my way.
09:18And then that's when he came over to the driver's side,
09:22opened the door, and slammed that door.
09:25The glass went everywhere.
09:29It was in my car.
09:31It was on the parking lot.
09:33It was everywhere.
09:34It was with such force, it sent a chill down my spine.
09:43I thought, what am I doing?
09:45If he can break a car window just by shutting the door,
09:53open your eyes.
09:54If he's going to break my windows, what else is he going to do?
09:59Well, this picture's hard to look at.
10:15When I look at this picture of Tracy, I don't see what the person years ago I fell in love with.
10:33I see, uh-huh, evil.
10:37I just see evil.
10:39It's really hard to look at.
10:43Because all I could think of was why.
10:47Why did I choose him?
10:50I married Tracy thinking I could have the relationship my parents have.
10:56And I thought that I could have that with Tracy, believe it or not,
10:59with the rocky road we already had.
11:03But that's the reason I married him, thinking we could have that too.
11:09I still felt like I could change it.
11:12But the more I tried, the more it just got worse and worse and worse.
11:33He was always getting, you know, out of jail somehow for everything he did, everything.
11:43Getting a slap on the wrist.
11:47I thought, OK, things will change.
11:50We'll have a baby.
11:52That'll really change Tracy.
11:59He knew he was going back to jail.
12:02So he told me he had packed up the car.
12:06And we were fleeing the state.
12:10So he wouldn't have to go to court.
12:15Which meant I was going to have to leave my family,
12:20just after I had my daughter.
12:21I think this is the first time I almost wanted to hate him.
12:35Well, my mom is frantic.
12:47She gets the police to put an APB out for us.
12:50She doesn't know what's happened.
12:52She, you know, I didn't get a chance to tell anybody.
12:56And, you know, I was scared for my daughter.
13:00I was scared for me because I didn't know what was going to happen next.
13:06And I'm thinking, does he not want to change it all?
13:12Or does he not care that now he's a father?
13:16Is there anything that will change this man?
13:20Well, after eight days, I told him, I said,
13:25either you bring me back to Kentucky or I'm going by myself.
13:30So he agreed to come back.
13:38When we came back, my daughter was probably 10 days old.
13:43Tracy was located.
13:46And it wasn't long after he had gotten arrested,
13:50he got bonded out.
13:54He promised us before he would change.
13:56And I wanted to make the relationship work so bad,
14:01I couldn't see the danger ahead.
14:16One day we were arguing because he had just lost his job.
14:20They had it out for me.
14:21I didn't do anything wrong.
14:22Clearly you did.
14:24I was getting ready to go to work.
14:26And he wasn't through arguing.
14:28And I was done.
14:29I didn't want to argue no more.
14:31And he was still arguing with me.
14:32And I didn't want to hear it.
14:33What did you just say?
14:34What did you want me to do about this?
14:35And I was grabbing for the door to go out.
14:39That's when he shoved me.
14:40My arm turned and it broke.
14:52It hurt really bad.
14:54You know, I heard my bones snap.
14:57And I thought, you know, what has he just done?
15:01What has he just done?
15:04And I was like, get away from me.
15:07You know, I think you broke my arm, I heard something snap.
15:11He probably thought if I went to the hospital,
15:14that he would get in trouble.
15:16And I'm like, Tracy, I'm hurt.
15:20Let me go to the hospital.
15:22Well, if you go to the hospital, tell him you failed.
15:26Just stick to the story.
15:31So by the time I got to the hospital,
15:33after I triaged, I ended up telling them
15:36that I fell down the stairs.
15:40I protected Tracy.
15:43Now he's hit me.
15:44Now it's getting abusive.
15:47And in this stage of our relationship,
15:49I started getting scared.
15:51I was too scared to leave.
15:55I felt a prisoner again.
15:58A prisoner to the relationship.
16:03I felt like Tracy thought if he could put the fear of being
16:07scared of him into me, that I would stay with him.
16:12And he succeeded.
16:14So when I started working this job,
16:23this guy kept coming to work.
16:25I knew his name because he was a brother of an employee.
16:30And he started crushing on me.
16:33He would show up, time to close, and just linger around.
16:37Melanie.
16:38And he gave me the creeps, really.
16:44Things started getting pretty dicey.
16:47I started feeling on edge with this guy
16:49that I was showing up at work.
16:52Things started to escalate from there.
16:55What I mean by that is he would ask me out.
17:00I'd tell him no.
17:01He'd ask me out.
17:01I'd tell him no.
17:03This was just a daily thing all the time.
17:06And I'm thinking, I do not need this.
17:09And you know, I'm trying to raise my daughter.
17:12I'm trying to get through what's left of my marriage.
17:16I'm trying to, you know, just have a normal day at work
17:21without this guy hanging around all the time.
17:28After trying to carry this burden by myself,
17:31I decided that I was going to discuss the stocking with Tracy.
17:36Let's go.
17:36Car's running.
17:38Wait.
17:39He just shrugged his shoulders.
17:41Shrugged, like, no big deal.
17:44It didn't seem to bother Tracy about the stocking at all.
17:49It did bother me a lot, because I wanted him
17:53to have some kind of feeling towards me of protection.
17:58He had no, no emotion.
18:01Like, it was like, oh, well.
18:06Deal with it.
18:08Was I disappointed?
18:09Yes.
18:11Was I hurt?
18:12Yes.
18:13Was I surprised?
18:14No.
18:16I always felt like I was being followed everywhere.
18:19Basically, I would go home, you know, the next day.
18:22It would start all over again.
18:24So finally, I had to have him thrown out of store,
18:29because he would not leave.
18:30At the time that all this was going on, I was on edge a lot.
18:48It was just, like, jumpy all the time, jumpy, you know?
18:53And with good calls.
18:56And little did I know, things were just
18:59going to start to get worse.
19:01One night, we came home from a cookout from his mom's house.
19:06And then that's when we discovered the screens had been cut.
19:14When we got a closer look after discovering
19:16the screens had been cut, we also discovered
19:20that the window had been cocked shut.
19:24When we saw the screens, Tracy is nonchalant.
19:31Like, we have a daughter in this house.
19:34You know, what are they going to do next?
19:37And nothing, nothing was coming from him.
19:42And I couldn't understand that at all.
19:50He never offered to scrape the caulking off,
19:57get a new screen for the window, nothing.
20:03We thought that somebody had done it from the outside,
20:06because that's the way it appeared.
20:07And, you know, for somebody to come and do that
20:14to your property is scary.
20:16I'm thinking the stalker had to have done this
20:20just to get back at me for having the cops called on him.
20:26So we go in the house, and I'm just feeling kind of jittery
20:28by this time.
20:29And then I happened to look up,
20:34and there was no lights on the smoke detector.
20:42And I'm like, OK, the screens are cut,
20:45windows have been cocked shut.
20:47Now the smoke detector's not working.
20:50So I look at it, only to discover
20:54the smoke detector wires have been cut.
20:59After someone had cut my smoke detector wires,
21:04my mind went directly to the stalker.
21:07He had been in my house.
21:10It took me to my core, knowing somebody was in my home
21:14doing things, like cutting smoke detector wires.
21:26I decided I have to do something for my protection
21:29and my daughter's.
21:32When I had decided to take the stalker to court,
21:36I had gotten up the day of court.
21:40I went out to my car, and there was a note on my car.
21:48I was afraid to read it, to be honest with you.
21:54Well, when I finally got the gumption of to read it,
21:59it said, don't go to court tomorrow, or you will burn.
22:06At this time, I was terrified, because I
22:09didn't know what to or what not to expect.
22:15You know, I mean, none of this in my life was normal now.
22:21I thought he's trying to scare me into not going to court.
22:24The fact that I had a stalker played right into Tracy's hands.
22:28I mean, it all fell perfectly in place.
22:39In the midst of all this, I just had to talk to my mom.
22:43It was like I felt like something was going to happen,
22:47but I didn't know what.
22:48I could just feel it.
22:51I called her three times that day.
22:53Of course, my friends call me Angel.
22:56She said, Angel, what's wrong?
22:59And I was like, nothing, Mom.
23:00I just want you to know that I love you.
23:04And I did that three times.
23:06By the third time, she said, Angel, what is wrong?
23:09And I wasn't about to tell her everything
23:13that I had gone through.
23:15And I told her, I said, nothing, Mom.
23:16I'm OK.
23:17I just want you to know that I love you.
23:20But she could tell by my voice something really wrong.
23:24I was feeling anxious that night.
23:37So Tracy gave me some what he called relaxation pills
23:41to help me sleep.
23:44We normally did go to bed together.
23:46That night, he did not, which I thought was strange.
23:51But when I went to bed, I went straight to sleep.
23:54That's just how potent these things were.
23:59The next thing I remember was a big sound.
24:07I opened my eyes, and there was fire
24:10all over the room, everywhere.
24:12I knew that the door was the only exit
24:14to get out of that room.
24:16And all I could think about was getting to the door.
24:19I didn't care that there was flames everywhere.
24:22My number one thought that night was, I got to get out of here
24:25and save my daughter.
24:30I jumped out of the bed into the flames.
24:33By this time, the flames were up to my waist.
24:36But I didn't care.
24:39When I got to the door, I went to open it up, and I went to open the door,
24:48and it was like a rubber band.
24:50It went open so far, it slammed shut.
24:54And I couldn't understand why it did that.
24:56I tried many, many times.
25:02I could hear it staring the skin on my hands, and I would keep trying,
25:14because I knew that I had to get out that way.
25:16Tracy!
25:19Tracy!
25:20When I called out his name begging help, begging Tracy to help me, the only thing
25:27that I ever remember him saying clearly was, get out the same way you got in there.
25:34Well, when I realized Tracy wasn't going to help me, I went over to the phone.
25:45Tracy's on the phone, calling 911, covering his tracks.
25:50He sounded like a staged phone call, if that makes sense.
25:55He was saying, hurry up, my wife's on fire.
25:59And I'm screaming, help me, help me.
26:06And the dispatcher, ma'am, can you get out?
26:10All I could say was, I can't.
26:15I can't.
26:16And I couldn't make him understand.
26:22I thought, OK, I'm going to die in here.
26:25Nobody's going to get in here.
26:27I can't see now.
26:28It's black.
26:29I'm thinking, I'm not going to make it out of here.
26:37I huddle down.
26:38I prepare myself to die.
26:42I'm in a fetal position.
26:44My clothes have melted to my skin.
26:47Blood is everywhere.
26:50And I'm praying, God, get me out of here.
26:55Get me out of here or let me die.
26:58Because it hurt so bad.
27:00It hurt so bad.
27:01After a while, it became dumb.
27:02It felt like forever.
27:12But then after I finally, I told God, I was like, get me out of here.
27:15Let me die.
27:16That was when I heard my next door neighbor called out my name.
27:20Melody, Melody, you're in there.
27:25And I thought, you know, I'm getting out of here.
27:27You know, it was, I guess, a miracle, if you want to call it that.
27:35To me, it would be a miracle.
27:38So I went back to the door.
27:40And the door was open.
27:45First place I went was across the hall to save my daughter,
27:52only to find out they'd already got her.
27:56I went outside, and the fire department showed up.
27:59They looked at me and said, you're going to have to airlift her.
28:07There's nothing we can do.
28:10They loaded me up in a helicopter.
28:13All the way there, I heard, we're losing her.
28:16We're losing her.
28:17All I remember from that time on, because I was fading in and out of a coma,
28:22bright lights, and I thought, I'm OK now.
28:26I'm OK now.
28:29And then I went into a coma.
28:46You sure you're ready for this?
28:49Not really, but I'm going to do it.
28:52OK.
28:59OK.
29:00You're in the East Gate home.
29:30You're in the East Gate home.
30:00You're in the East Gate home.
30:30You're in the East Gate home.
30:32You're in the East Gate home.
30:34You're in the East Gate home.
30:36You're in the East Gate home.
30:38You're in the East Gate home.
30:40You're in the East Gate home.
30:42You're in the East Gate home.
30:44You're in the East Gate home.
30:46You're in the East Gate home.
30:48You're in the East Gate home.
30:50You're in the East Gate home.
30:52You're in the East Gate home.
30:54You're in the East Gate home.
30:56You're in the East Gate home.
30:58You're in the East Gate home.
31:00You're in the East Gate home.
31:02You're in the East Gate home.
31:04You're in the East Gate home.
31:06You're in the East Gate home.
31:08You're in the East Gate home.
31:10You're in the East Gate home.
31:12You're in the East Gate home.
31:14You're in the East Gate home.
31:15You're in the East Gate home.
31:16You're in the East Gate home.
31:17You're in the East Gate home.
31:18You're in the East Gate home.
31:19You're in the East Gate home.
31:20You're in the East Gate home.
31:21You're in the East Gate home.
31:22You're in the East Gate home.
31:23You're in the East Gate home.
31:24You're in the East Gate home.
31:25You're in the East Gate home.
31:26You're in the East Gate home.
31:27You're in the East Gate home.
31:28You're in the East Gate home.
31:29You're in the East Gate home.
31:30You're in the East Gate home.
31:31You're in the East Gate home.
31:32You're in the East Gate home.
31:33You're in the East Gate home.
31:34You're in the East Gate home.
31:35my mother from the apartment and that's when i started asking where she was
31:44and i remember he didn't grab my hand or try to consult me
31:50he just looked down at me and he said she's gone now it's just us
32:00and that was probably the last memory i've ever had of my father
32:05when i was in the coma i was paralyzed from the neck down this was the weird part it was like
32:23i had a big book above my head it was telling the story of what led up to the fire
32:31and things that he did that i should have seen the stalker had nothing to do with this tracy did
32:38this the caulking of the window and the cutting of screens from the inside tracy the smoke detector
32:46wires tracy and then there was the note that tracy wrote in his handwriting to make it look like the
32:54stalker the man that i had put so much trust in was the one that tried to kill me all along
33:04later on i found out how much he would have got
33:07had i died and it was for 375 000 life insurance policy and i thought is that what i'm worth
33:19you know is that what i'm worth to him it's like a horror movie that you see on tv like that really
33:27can't happen to me but it did and all i wanted to do was cry because i thought why did i not see that why
33:44when i was in the coma i very vaguely i remember feeling and knowing that tracy came into my room
33:54and i'm gonna try to close my eyes so i could put myself back there when i was in the coma
34:04it's like your hearing senses are more alive
34:07the way that i knew that tracy was in the room he came in whistling and i knew his whistle
34:22so i knew when he came in whistling often who he was so that was when
34:29i just froze i was just waiting to see what he was going to do
34:38he had already done what he did set me on fire what was next i mean
34:46then i became fearful for my life that i had left
34:53i'm getting chills now thinking about
34:55how i felt when i was in the coma knowing that he came in there because i knew i couldn't do anything
35:06if he tried to smother me
35:11so i just i froze i mean i panicked i froze and i just listened
35:16so then i heard him saying this is what
35:32i didn't finish what i started and i'm going to now
35:35and i thought my god i knew he's gonna kill me he's gonna finish me off
35:47so then i'm hearing him unhooking thanks
35:55and about this time i'm having a hard time breathing because i'm on life support
35:59and he's still trying to whistle through the whole thing too
36:06and i think it's somebody getting in here now because i can't breathe
36:10but i was probably breathing my hardest
36:14i heard the nurses come in frantically want to know what was going on
36:18they were mad i don't know what happened outside the room but he never came back into my room
36:34later on i found out that they knew that he was unhooking my machines so they posted a call
36:44outside my door
36:57it was after i come out of my coma after the detectives had talked to me that my daughter began to open up
37:05up to
37:11a lot that she had seen that night and it hurt me because i never wanted my child at any age not even
37:22now to have to experience seeing their biological father
37:29her do what he did to her mommy his wife
37:38because how do you explain that to a child as to why anybody would do that
37:46at four how do you explain that you really can't
37:52except that that person was steeple a bad person
38:09he had put a fire trail around my bed with sheets tied together poured gas all the way around my water
38:18vent and strapped the bedroom door shut with bungee straps to the bed to the bathroom door
38:29they felt like that it was attempted murder
38:33and when they said those words it shook me it shook me to the core
38:40there are times still today i'm still terrified
38:44i'll hear a fire truck i'll see somebody light a bonfire
38:50i'll hear a smoke detector chirp it's little things like that that brings back the night of the fire
39:02and it blowing up in my face when i was asleep and the big explosion that i heard
39:07and it makes me want to run as far as i could go
39:15but i can't run because it's not here anymore
39:21and i have to tell myself that a lot you know you're not there anymore
39:37but i'm not a victim i'm a survivor the more that the doctors would tell me
39:55i couldn't do something that stirred something in me to show them i'm going to walk i'm going to use my
40:01hands i'm going to drive i drive a car now do you believe that and to be able to after all of this
40:09still raise my daughter i thank god every day for my daughter she knows that if it had been for her
40:18i wouldn't will myself to live she's had to go through so much that she should have had to
40:28i can't turn back time now but i can go with the future and the present and um
40:38i can promise her that i'll always be there for her and tell her every day that i'm sorry that she had to
40:49undergo all that
40:53i never dreamt that i could have that life now because there was so much standing in my way
41:01for one thing who would want somebody that's scarred up like me
41:08and my new husband he never acted like i had any scars
41:14and we dated probably for about less than a year and he proposed and we've been married 25 years
41:23and we've been married 25 years
41:27my best friend