Tag Archives: relationships

Healthy vs Unhealthy Relationships with Dacia M. Arnold

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As the holidays are upon us, the stresses of meeting expectations and being around family are very real. I’ve asked friend and fellow writer Dacia M. Arnold to join us today and share an important message about healthy domestic relationships, a message that resounds in her newly released book, Apparent Power.

tour logoDacia’s Message:

Modeling healthy domestic relationships in my novel, Apparent Power, was extremely important to me. I lost my best friend to domestic violence when I was deployed to Iraq the second time. She was killed in her home at 4am on Christmas morning 2010. The phone call home that day is both vivid and a blur of emotions in my memory.

In Apparent Power, readers will recognize the very distinct difference between a healthy romantic relationship and an unhealthy relationship.

The main character, Valerie Russell, is hell bent on making sure her son is safe. Her next priority is to find her husband and, with his help, figure out the next steps. As a wife, I make no major decisions without my husband. Though he respects when I am extremely passionate about something like saving the world, my husband is my sounding board and voice a reason. There is no doubt he would fight with me to the ends of the earth, or run as far away as we could because the decision would be made together. This healthy relationship drives the train through the story. From page one yes, a mom is trying to save her son, but her teammate, partner, and best friend is her husband.

Later in the story, the reader encounters a narcissistic character who is in such a place of power, there seems to be nothing left for Valerie to do but concede to her situation for the sake of the lives around her. I even went so far as to have the main character recognize the abuse and narcissism but feel so inferior to do anything about it. Many people are in the cycle of abuse knowing it should not be that way but feel trapped by money or other circumstances. In the end Valerie finally reaches out a hand to find strength existing within her the whole time. I will leave the rest for the audience to find out.

Love should not hurt physically OR emotionally. Sometimes relationships are hard, but this should not be the majority of the time. There are resources to not only identify domestic abuse, but find resources in your area to remove yourself from the situation. Psychological abuse is just as damaging as being hit, pushed, or raped. Crisistextline.org is free. Text CONNECT to 741741 in the United States. If your texting is monitored you can call the Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. If you are unsure if you are experiencing abuse you can CLICK THIS LINK to find out what domestic violence is.

5Dacia M Arnold is an award-winning American novelist, freelance writer, mother, medical professional and a ten-year Army Veteran. She is the author of Apparent Power, Reactance and Shifting Power, plus short fiction in the international anthology COLP: The Passage of Time. As a freelance writer, Dacia contributes monthly to the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer’s blog where she shares her relatively short experience in the literary world.

Dacia spent fifteen months working in Baghdad Emergency room with the 86th Combat Support Hospital. During her second deployment, then Sergeant Arnold managed the busiest outpatient clinic in southern Iraq.

Now, as a mother of two, Dacia incorporates her experiences in all aspects of her life into her writing.  

Apparent Power correctedJust in time for Christmas, the perfect gift for the book loving person in your life (maybe that’s yourself). Apparent Power has been critically linked to Hollywood blockbusters like Divergent and Annihilation by Kirkus Reviews and is available for sale December 11th through all major book retailers including Amazon. 

Connect with Dacia:

Apparent Power on sale December 11th through all major book retailers including Amazon, Tattered Cover, and Barnes & Noble

The Man in the Cupboard, pt. 21

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We last left Mike feeling depressed and rejected on the swaying tree top platform after a series of personal interviews with the women from Willow keep. He has almost given up on his quest when Maybelle appears at the top of the stairs.

To read the revious installment, click here!

To start from the beginning, click here!

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Mike wiped the sweat from his palms.  Here she was, that wonderful mind, those enticing hands; standing before him and wanting to get to know more about him.  From their earlier meeting he had not been sure if she had any wish to see him again or not. The uncertainty had kept his stomach in knots ever since.

She crossed the platform and settled into a low chair, exposing a slender ankle. “Will you come join me?”

Mike worked the moisture back into his mouth and placed his chair next to hers. “Beautiful evening, isn’t it?”

Maybelle took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “I haven’t been up here in years, I’d forgotten how nice it is. You should see it in spring when the flowers are in bloom and the breeze is warm and soft.”

“I imagine it’s quite a sight.”

“It is,” she said as she turned to face him. “What’s your home like?”

“Nothing like this, that’s for sure. Right now the fall roses lining the front walk are in bloom. It’s an old house, that’s for sure, sturdy and built with care. I’ve made a cozy place for myself there up in the attic. There’s everything a talented tinker like you could ever want to create any number of wonderful things.  The family that lives there has some of the old blood in it as well, the woman and youngest child can see us and I’ve made friends with her.”

“Just how good of friends do you mean?” Maybelle asked, her tone darkening.

“It’s purely professional, I assure you.  I help her keep the house in working order and she allows me to take things from the pantry as payment. In fact she’s the reason that I decided to find a woman to court.”

“How’s that?”

“It wasn’t until meeting her that I realized just how lonely I was for someone special in my life. I imagine in a place with so many other tinkers around that it’s hard to be lonely.”

She leaned forward and rested her arms on her knees. “It would seem that way, but it’s not true. The curse hurt everyone here more than you could imagine.  Everyone here lost people special to them.  The younger ones lost fathers and brothers. The older of us lost husbands and sons. Ever since then we’ve tried our best to keep moving forward. It hasn’t been easy.”

Mike swallowed down the lump that had formed in his throat. Maybelle had lowered her head. Tears threatened to spill down her face.

“Who did you lose?” he asked, his voice now quiet.

“My husband, Stephen, was one of the first. I watched on as he changed from kind and gentle to a terror.  No one knew what was happening. One night he attacked me, I barely escaped.  I was lucky, there were several who didn’t. They tried confining him in a cell but by then he was more animal than man. He attacked anyone who came close.” She sniffed and dabbed at her eyes with the edge of her sleeve. “I’m sorry, after all these years it’s still upsetting.”

“Don’t apologize, you’ve done nothing wrong. You don’t need to go on if you don’t want to. This must be very hard.” He placed a hand on her knee and she rested hers over it.

“No, I want you to know. In the end they were forced to kill Stephen along with the other men.  It wasn’t long until the younger men and even the boys started showing signs of the curse as well, including my son. He was only seven.” She squeezed his hand and he could feel how it trembled.

“I can’t begin to imagine what that was like. You loved them very much. I’ll understand if you would like me to leave you in peace.”

“No, don’t leave me. As much as I miss them, I miss the feeling of being held by a pair of strong arms more.  I miss having someone to come home to at the end of the day. It’s been so long that I’m afraid I no longer know what it even feels like to be loved.”

Mike brushed a strand of her hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “I can’t replace them, we both know that. But I can be that pair of strong arms. Would you allow me to hold you?”

Maybelle wiped her eyes and nodded.  “Yes, I would like that very much.”

She entered his embrace, timid at first, but as he wrapped his arms around her she softened, tucking her head into the curve of his neck. The emptiness that had haunted him for the last few years disappeared as he took in the smell of her hair, the feel of her broken life against his chest. Her tears of pain and loneliness soaked into his shirt.

From that moment he yearned to make her whole again and protect her from ever being hurt again.

To be continued…

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To read the next episode, click here.