The Jealousy Game

By Mandy White

Is your boyfriend or husband unreasonably jealous?

Fact:
Every day 3 women die at the hands of an abusive partner in the USA.
Fact:
Physical abuse often goes hand in hand with jealousy.

Many people mistake jealousy for an endearing display of affection without realizing it can be a sign of something more sinister. How do you know when jealousy has crossed the line from simple affection to unhealthy obsession?

Can you fix it before it's too late?

You may think jealousy is a natural part of being in love, or that jealousy is a man's way of showing how much he cares. But, what about when jealousy reaches such an extreme that you find yourself constantly under attack, accused of things you haven't done?

Jealousy is a form of mental abuse.
It may even escalate into physical violence.

How can you tell if your relationship has reached the danger point? Knowing how to recognize abnormal behavior in your partner can save you from months, even years of mental anguish. It may even save your life.

The Jealousy Game follows the cycle of abuse as it develops within a woman's relationship with a jealous man, starting with subtle little displays of jealousy and culminating in a struggle between life and death.

It provides a list of common symptoms that appear when a relationship has progressed beyond what should be considered normal. If you recognize your own relationship in any of these scenarios, it is a sign that you should consider ending it before you become traumatized, injured or even killed.

This book can be an eye-opening read for young women who are new to dating and a chilling walk down memory lane for those of us who have experienced jealousy first-hand.

Dedicated to all survivors of domestic violence; and especially to the ones who did not survive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mandy White
• Release date: Feb 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9781497701502

Mandy White

Canadian horror author Mandy White currently resides on Vancouver Island. She may often be found lurking in the forest, daydreaming dark thoughts that inevitably come to life in print. Her work often features Canadian characters and locations; she delights in twisting her everyday surroundings into weird and disturbing tales. Caution: if you happen to cross her path, you may find yourself in an upcoming story. Author of six books to date, Mandy is particularly fond of short stories. She is founder of WPaD (Writers, Poets and Deviants), a group of writers known for publishing charity anthologies for Multiple Sclerosis research. WPaD has published six books to date, with a seventh on the horizon. Word has it the next anthology will have a science fiction theme. She is currently writing a sequel to The Feeder. The new novel, entitled Fed Up, promises more of the graphic scenes gore fans enjoyed in The Feeder, along with a romantic interest for protagonist Sam. In order to win Sam's cynical heart, you can be sure the new character will be equally twisted. After some delays, work is once again in progress and Fed Up is scheduled for publication in 2017. Books by Mandy White: - Phobia - The Feeder - Avenging Annabelle - The Jealousy Game - Dysfictional: Short Stories for Twisted Minds - Dysfictional 2: Shreds of Sanity - Creepies: Twisted Tales From Beneath the Bed by WPaD (contributor) - Passion's Prisms: Tales of Love & Romance by WPaD (contributor) - Dragons and Dreams: A Fantasy Anthology by WPaD (contributor) - Tinsel Tales: A Holiday Treasury by WPaD (contributor) - Goin' Extinct: Tales From the Edge of Oblivion by WPaD (contributor) - Creepies 2: Things That go Bump in the Closet by WPaD (contributor) - All of Mandy White's books are available worldwide in print and ebook editions. - To learn more about upcoming projects, visit Mandy White's website: http://mandywrite.weebly.com/ Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/authormandywhite or follow @mandywrite on Twitter

Book preview

The Jealousy Game

When Jealous Relationships Become Dangerous

Mandy White

Copyright ©2010 Mandy White

All rights reserved

––––––––

Author’s note:

The incidents described in this book are based on a combination of my own experiences and events described to me by several anonymous women who contributed to this book. It is a description of a theoretical scenario, not an account of a real series of events. Any similarity to any real person living or dead is coincidental.

~*~

Contents

~ Another Painting on the Wall

~ Introduction

~ Vulnerability: A poem by Suzanne Parlee

~ Part 1: Profile of a Jealous Man

~ Resolution and Aftermath

~ Part 2: Recognizing the Danger

~ Mosaics

~ About the Author

~*~

Dedicated to all the women out there who experienced domestic abuse and survived...

and especially to those who didn’t.

~*~

Another Painting on the Wall

People admire my large collection of paintings.

So many of them, they comment,

and such a variety.

I found many of them at garage sales

and second-hand stores.

I was always looking for just the right size frame

for the occasion.

The painting of the unicorn is my favorite

I bought it the last time he was drunk.

Sometimes I wonder if the walls,

weakened from all the holes

Will one day crumble

beneath the weight of the paintings.

It doesn’t matter if he hits the walls,

filling them with holes;

After all, they are only walls.

He has never hit me.

I just don't know where I will find

a painting large enough

To cover the hole in my heart.

© Mandy White  - 1999

Written 1 year before he began to hit.

~*~

Introduction

––––––––

Watching someone you love duplicate your own mistake is like watching a horror movie. You watch, helpless, as the character walks toward the door even though you know the monster waits in the darkened room beyond.

Stop! You yell at the screen. Don’t go in there! What are you, stupid?

The person in the movie doesn’t hear you, of course, and opens the door, coming face to face with the monster. You throw your hands up in frustration.

See? I told you! Now look at you – you’re dead! Why didn’t you listen to me?

When someone very close to me told me what she was going through with her boyfriend I felt like I had been punched in the gut. Chilling memories of my own experience flooded my mind. She had just described my own life, back when I first started dating my ex-boyfriend – the one that I came close to killing – the one that might have killed me.

~*~

Although the focus of this book is jealous men, I acknowledge that jealousy in relationships can go both ways. Women are just as capable of unreasonable behavior as men are, and this is true in any type of relationship, whether heterosexual or homosexual. I have known homosexual men and women who have had similar experiences at the hands of jealous partners, and heterosexual men who have horror stories to tell about their relationships with women. I acknowledge that the experiences of these people are every bit as valid as those of myself and the other women whose stories I combined to create the following profile of a jealous relationship.

The primary difference between a woman’s experience at the hands of a jealous man and a man’s experience with a jealous woman is the physical dynamic of the relationship. Women are naturally weaker than men, and therefore more at risk in a physical confrontation. Of course, there are always exceptions, but the