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CRM was supposed to improve customer relationships. Instead, it's shorthand for can't resolve much, which means you may have sunk a fortune into software that just bounces customer issues around, but never actually solves them. On the ServiceNow AI platform, CRM stands for something better. With AI built into one platform, customers aren't mired in endless loops of automated indifference. They get what they need when they need it bad. CRM was then this is ServiceNow. I'm a 25 year old female from South Africa and this is my story of my abusive ex and his even more abusive family. All these events happened over a span of six years, with me being between the ages of 17 and 23. And the thing is, not a lot of people know my story and you'll soon find out why. I know this is all in the past, but it really still gets to me quite a lot. And it changed me so much. Six years of my life have been wasted and ruined and my story is pretty lengthy. So please bear with me for my story. I'll be using fake names for everyone and I won't mention my own real name either. I won't bore you with the first part. So to put it short, When I was 16, my mom and I used to live with my aunt, who's my mom's sister, and her husband. One day out of the blue, when I came back from school and stepped into the yard, my mom had told me that me and her are moving. For some reason, my aunt's husband had kicked the two of us out. Until now, I still have no idea why. So in that year, at the end of November, we moved out and we ended up living with my mom's brother. I'll call him Uncle Jim. So the next year in January, my uncle had started searching in the surrounding areas for a school for me to go to. According to my Uncle Jim, all the schools near us had been fully booked and the other schools were too far to go to. But I personally think that wasn't the case. I just think he didn't want to put me in a school because he knew he'd have to pay for all my school supplies and more. And at the time he was fostering another girl. She's about six or seven years younger than me and wasn't even related by blood. She's my uncle's ex, wife's ex, boyfriend's child. But when he met this girl, who I'll call Alison, he really grew fond of her and he took her in because her family couldn't help with schoolwork. So she was doing really bad in school. And it really breaks my heart to say that my uncle loved her even more than he loved me or his own family. He treated her like a goddess. She got everything she wanted and was extremely spoiled. And with him already taking care of the thing, who he treated as a princess, I don't think he was willing to do the same for me. So he told me that I had to go out and find a job. So there I went. I was 16, turning 17 in October of that year, and I had to go and find a job. Luckily, my mom's other sister also lived with us by my uncle at the time, and she was a manager at a local grocery store and the two bosses were crazy about her. So she had managed to get me a job there as a cleaner. And if I thought my life went downhill, then, boy was I wrong. I started working on the 5th of February and life just basically went on, working long terrible hours for basically a peanut salary, clashing with co workers who kinda bullied me and more. So I'd been working there for the entire year and everything was okay. That next year I had started seeing a guy coming into the shop basically every day to get groceries. Some days he was alone, other days he was with another guy who I later found out was his cousin and he was a special needs kid. He was older than the first guy though. So me and this guy, let's call him Mark, and his special needs cousin David. So Mark and I had started glancing at each other more and more whenever we came into the shop. Eventually we started greeting each other, then it went to talking to giving hugs when we'd greet, and then lastly exchanging contacts and talking over the phone. Now without adding more boring details, we became besties, then started dating. We had started dating in the end of the same year, so to be precise, December 26, 2015. Basically a little over a year since we moved. So right in the beginning of the very last week Of December of 2015, I had went over to Mark's house. At the time he lived with his mother, Wendy, and his special needs cousin that I had talked about earlier, David. They lived in a small complex consisting out of six units per complex. So the initial idea was to stay the week, spend new years there, and then go back home. But when the week ended, we were both pretty sad about the idea of being away from each other. So he had begged my mom for me to stay another week and she said yes. It went on like that and eventually I ended up just moving in with them. So by then, basically a month had passed and I hadn't been back home since the previous year, which was 2015. So I had basically been there since a week before 2016. And then straight through. Ms. Wendy, my ex's mom, had a disease that basically eats all of your muscles and everything throughout the years, basically leaving you disabled. When I first started living with them, it didn't affect her that badly, yet she was still able to get around with crutches. At first, she was crazy about me, took me to work every morning and we'd constantly chat about everything. But nearing the middle of the year, she had started treating me badly. Not too much, but enough for me to know that she's kind of developing a grudge against me. And before that, in between the months that I met Mark's older sister, Jackie, and her wife Melanie, they were also nice towards me. About two more months passed and Ms. Wendy just started hating me more and more for some reason, and would even go as far as to confront my ex, Mark, about some of the things I do to upset her to which I don't even know about to this day. I'd just hear Mark and his mother screaming at each other with my name. In between her words, I would just sit there, not knowing what the fuck I did wrong. And she'd even go as far as to call Jackie over the phone and then rant to her about us, upsetting her and calling us things like garbage and piece of shit. Words that really cut deeply. But I don't think that Mark is an angel, because even though he defended me against his mom's absurd accusations, there were also plenty of times that me and him would argue and fight. And when that happened, he would sometimes physically abuse me, pushing me around or picking me up by my throat and throwing me. Or sometimes he would get all up in my face, clutch his teeth while aggressively yelling at me and at the same time have this vicious look in his eyes. This started happening about three months or so after I moved in with them. And if I'm being honest, we fought a lot. And I mean, almost constantly. And every time he would abuse me, I would remember my mom's words. When a guy lifts his hands on you for the first time, get away from him ASAP because he'll just keep doing it. But stupidly, I never wanted to leave because I loved him and I always thought that he wouldn't do it again. And every time I was wrong. I never wanted to tell my mom because I know that she would have forcefully taken me out of that situation. And I still want to kick myself for not leaving sooner. So another month or so passed, and we were still basically halfway into 2016 when Jackie and her wife came to visit, where she then told her mom that her job was to transfer her to kzn, basically another name for Durbin. We had lived in Johannesburg at the time. So for the rest of the remaining 2016, the family had made plans and stuff to go to kzn, and we'd spend time sorting out the house and packing and all that. And obviously I was going with them, so I had to quit my job. But I think I quit too early because there was still an entire four, six months left of the year. I might not be super accurate on this, but it's what I can remember, because I also remember that my mom spent Christmas with us at Mark's house that year, and she went home the next day. Then the new year rolled around. That was the very first time that Jackie had started doing the same to me as her mother did. And that evening, she was drunk and mad about the things that her mom had said about me over the year, and ended up yelling at me, literally getting all up in my face and screaming at me, saying things like, I hate you. I hate you over and over again. She even physically attacked Mark and her crazy wife Melanie, was also in the mix, screaming at us and attacking. All of that happened on the very last day of December 2016, only a few hours before 2017. After I quit my job in 2016, I had started cleaning Ms. Wendy's house for a salary. And I had also helped Mark look after his mother, you know, since her disease was getting worse and worse and she was kind of too heavy for him to pick up her alone, as well as put her in a wheelchair and from there pick her up again and then putting her on the toilet, bed, or wherever else she wanted to be. So all that is going on, and my life is just getting harder and harder. Eventually, 2016 passed. The fighting and everything I talked about earlier passed, and 2017 came around a few months after the new year started. We eventually moved to kzn, and I'm actually getting tears in my eyes right now. I guess that's how I felt when I had to leave my mom behind. I wasn't happy, but I had to choose, and I made an awful decision. So I'll make this part kind of short as well. We all moved to kzn, all seven of us, because it was me, Mark, Jackie, and her wife, Melanie. Ms. Wendy Mark and Jackie's cousin and an older lady who I think was Ms. Wendy's aunt or some other messed up shit like that. Anyway, we moved and life just got worse. Mark never really stopped physically abusing me. When we would fight or argue, sometimes I would go as far as to hurt myself out of aggression. When we fought one day I hit my head so hard against the wall that for the brief second that my head hit the wall, my eyesight flashed white, if that makes any sense. And sometimes Jackie and Mark would fight, or Jackie and their cousin, or Mark and their cousin. It was just really messed up. And when I say fight, I mean screaming at each other like ballistic animals. And I'm extremely sensitive to fighting and yelling. My heart can't handle it. Their fighting scared me so much that even if someone talks too loud to me or anyone else, I feel like I'd get a panic attack and start crying. That's one of the things I meant when I said earlier that because of them, I really changed a lot. One of the other things that also changed me was when I talked to Jackie and the tone of my voice was too loud, according to her, she'd yell at me and tell me I should drop my cheeky attitude towards her and stuff like that. And it was when I didn't even have an attitude whatsoever. I just wanted her to hear me because sometimes she didn't hear me talking and said I should speak up. But whenever I did, that was her reaction towards me. And since we moved to kzm, Jackie also started yelling and screaming at me. She would swear at me and call me all sorts of ugly names. She literally abused me almost every day. And one day she told me that because I'm not working, my mother has to pay rent for me living there every month or so, otherwise I have to leave. She basically forced us to do it. And at the same time, they had forced me to work as a maid in the house all alone. So actually they had to pay me for being their housemaid, not me paying them. My mom had told me that she couldn't give them more than 1000 rand a month because it's all she had. Which for anyone wondering, that's $50 USD. They didn't like that, but accepted it. And later on that also became a problem. Jackie also yelled and fought with me how my mom is so useless that she can't even give more than 1000 rand a month. And monthly groceries is much more expensive than that. That's excluding rent, electricity and everything else. But they never understood that that was just all my mom could give. She didn't work and she only received a pension and had her own necessities to buy as well. And according to South Africa law, no one is allowed to take a pensioner's money. From what I heard, even the bank isn't allowed to do so. You can actually take someone to court for doing that. And every little bit of money my mom sent me, Jackie and them took from me. They never bought me shampoo or body spray or anything. And even when my mom sent my money to buy it myself, they took it. I even had to wash my hair with dish soap at times because I didn't have shampoo and I had to use toilet paper as padding when I was on my period. They constantly took my money, forced me to clean the house and fight with me over small things. Sometimes they'd tell me to do something and then halfway through, they'd call me to do something else, which would take quite some time. And then when I'm done, I would go back to doing the first thing and they would fight and complain with me. Why the first chore isn't finished yet. But they kept me so busy with the other chore that I wasn't able to finish the first one. After we moved to kzn, we had stayed in that house for a month. Then we moved again, still in the same city, just another suburb or town or whatever it was, because the first house had too many stairs for Mark's mother as she couldn't walk, because at that point she was now fully in a wheelchair. The disease had taken its toll on her, and sometimes when it came to me, she would stir up some shit again, things that I didn't even know of. And then Jackie would take the fight from there, yelling, cussing and swearing at me. Again, the mental abuse. The second house we moved to was where shit really went down. That's where Jackie lost her stupid head more than she already had. This is where she became more violent. She would yell and fight with us more and more, the mental abuse only getting worse. And that is where physical abuse also came in. Great. Now I wasn't just getting physically abused by Mark when we fought, but now even by Jackie at times, whenever she was drunk and a fight broke out. One evening, she had grabbed me by my hair and yanked me so hard that somehow my head started bleeding. Both Jackie and her mother hated the crap out of me. They even talked really bad shit about my mother when all she ever did for them was send money every month. And if they needed to borrow extra, she sent them that as well. She even sometimes bought things like candy and stuff and sent it down to us so we could all have a little luxury. She bought candy and stuff for the whole family. They'd chow it down like pigs and then the next day talk bad about her like she's some sort of garbage. And I couldn't say a word to defender or myself or they'd physically attack me. And almost every time, Jackie and her wife Melanie would fight and get physically abusive toward each other. And I'd witness it every time. There were times that Melody wanted to commit suicide, then she'd either overdose on all of her mental pills or she would drink cleaning chemicals and go on a rampage, destroying literally everything in the house, throwing microwaves and other big and small objects on the floor, and then end up laying and throwing up on the floor, refusing for anyone to take her to the hospital. And when they finally got there, I'm left to clean the mess she made her vomit. Broken glasses and cups, blenders and, like I said, microwaves that she flung off the counters and stuff. I had to witness it all. And as I said earlier, with me not being able to handle fights and yelling and screaming, I would end up getting panic attacks. And everyone would tell me to just stop pretending that I'm just doing it for attention. Well, thanks to them, I can handle fighting and screaming even less now than I could then. Since I had lived with them, I now truly know what complete and utter depression really feels like. And they had caused my very first, very real panic attack and a lot more. One time, I even had to grab a kitchen knife out of Mark's cousin's hand because she was basically slicing her arm because she and her boyfriend, who also lived with us at the time, had a fight. And then Jackie would get involved and would become, as always, a massive feud between everyone. And the cousin is just as crazy as the rest of the family. The night I grabbed the knife, she could have stabbed me with it. That's how crazy she and the entire family was. We stayed in the second house for a year, and in the next year, a few months in, Jackie's wife Melanie decided she wanted a monkey. By this time, I've lost count of which year it was. The monkey she wanted was one of those small capuchin monkeys. She promised high and low she would quit alcohol and stop smoking weed if she could get one. And yeah, I didn't mention this, but both Jackie and Melanie were alcoholics and weed addicts. Those two things were their obsession. Every day they drank alcohol and smoked weed. And not just one bottle. Their minimum was at least three, four bottles a day. When they talked to Ms. Wendy about it, she refused. But they secretly went and done it. And they only told her once. The monkey was in our house, in his cage. Ms. Wendy was furious, but eventually accepted it. I, on the other hand, didn't want anything to do with it. Melanie looked after it as she promised, but not fully. She didn't quit her alcohol or weed as she promised. And some days they threw parties with friends and alcohol. And I was forced to look after that bloody animal. I didn't say no. And then it started becoming a regular thing for me to look after him. At first, I had to help change his nappy, then was occasionally called out of my room or wherever I was to do it. Then I had to start making food for the monkey and his bottle of milk as he drank only baby milk. Then I had to clean its cage every day, take out the blankets and teddy bears and put fresh clean ones in there. I even had to start looking after him when those two whose monkey it belonged to went out to go clubbing, drink, and party. He became my full responsibility. And I hated it because it wasn't my animal. I didn't want to be part of it. And I didn't ask to look after him and do everything for him. I didn't ask for it, and I didn't dare care about it. I know it probably sounds brutal, but I'm just not a monkey person. I don't like them. Over time, though, he became more and more my responsibility. When Jackie was at work, her wife Melanie, would sleep her entire day away. And I was left by myself to clean the entire house and do all the washing, as well as fully look after the brat monkey. Give him milk, water, food, and attention and everything. And his actual owner would just sleep the whole damn day. Even when Jackie came home from work, she would give their monkey attention, but still ordered me to bring him food, water, chips, and more. She would barely lift a finger to do all those things, even cleaning the house. She thought that because she had a job, she was too good to clean the house and bring food and snacks for her monkey to eat. Or even do anything for that matter. And no matter if I was sick, tired, or depressed, I still had to do everything. They'd just tell me to get over it. A few months after they got the monkey, Ms. Wendy ended up in the hospital because her disease made it hard for her to swallow. Over a few Weeks, maybe even a month or two, she would be in and out of the hospital and eventually she went in and never came out. They said that she died and they resuscitated her, but that after that she was just never the same. She ended up being in a vegetative state. Only the machines kept her breathing. Eventually they had to turn it off and before they did, each of us stood by her side and talked to her. She could hear you, but she could never move. Even after how badly she treated me and disrespected me, I still stood next to her and showed her that I cared. Not that I think she worried much, but yeah. So yeah, everyone was really depressed and cried and eventually we all went home. Life went on, but nothing changed really. The only thing that changed was everyone who used to live with us started moving away one by one until it was just the four of us. Myself, Mark, his sister Jackie and her wife Melody, and obviously the stupid monkey and the dogs and cats. I will admit that Jackie did calm down after her mother passed away. She was less aggressive, but there were still fights between her and Mark and her and her wife. She became more bossy over me, ordering me around way more, telling me what to do, etc. After some time they had actually got a second monkey, a girl. I then had double the responsibility, which made me even more depressed. My anxiety was extremely high. And then depression truly came along and it had started really overpowering me. I can't even remember how much longer we lived in that house before moving yet again. We stayed in the new house with everything being the same. Them still mentally abusing me and Mark physically abusing me. Nothing new there. The abuse was a little less, but still there Depression became stronger because of the abuse and also them still treating me as a maid and servant. Then right after Christmas, we moved again. This time we stayed in a huge house. Marg also then got a job and I ended up looking after the monkeys completely all by myself. At this point I think it was 2021, because when Covid struck, we were still in the third house, the one that I mentioned right before this. Every single day I just wish that I could just be free. I ended up telling my mom about everything except for Mark abusing me. I only told her afterwards when I left that abusive lifestyle, she couldn't believe it and she had started feeling sad because of the circumstances I was in, but she still supported me. I remember that I constantly bugged and bothered Mark for us to get our own place just because we couldn't before. Because of us having to look after his mother, but that after she passed, nothing held us there anymore. And since then, I've been begging him about us getting our own place. But every time he dismissed the thought or told me that we had no money, to which I then told him, we can go live with my mom and uncle and work from there. Even my Uncle Jim suggested it, but Mark just wouldn't budge. That's when I knew that he was still clinging way too much onto his sister and it would never happen. That just added on to my depression, and Jackie and Melanie's constant fights were also working on my nerves. One day, in the big house we all lived in, the two of them were drunk again, and Mark was at work, and they were arguing over a small sip of beer. Jackie had promised Melanie she'd buy her a whole bottle if she could just have a little sip. Melanie refused, and then both of them grabbed the glass and yanked it back and forth when suddenly Melanie yanked the glass out from Jackie's hand and then hit her in the face with it. The glass shattered upon hitting Jackie's face, and it cut her on multiple places. There was beer and a pool of blood everywhere. Only when Melanie saw the amount of damage inflicted on Jackie's face, she had suddenly started to worry. Other days they would attack each other, wrestling on the floor, pulling out each other's hair. It was crazy. And with my intense anxiety, I had to watch it all. And as if things couldn't get worse in that same big house we lived in, the monkeys started attacking me when I'd go near them. The first time, they grabbed me by my ankle as I had walked away, and they bit me. The cut was so deep, my entire shoe was dredged in blood. And it was extremely hard for me to walk because it was so painful. Then they only attacked me occasionally. But when we moved to our last house after that Christmas, the attacks got worse. The monkeys would cry for water, and whenever I gave it to them, they had scratched my arms up or even bit me if I was close enough. I just had to do damage control on my body, cleaning up the blood and stuff. And usually when they did that, I'd just leave them without water because of the abuse. They don't drink. They just attack me instead. And it started happening every single day. I just couldn't do anything for them anymore. But I was still instructed to look after them whilst Mark and Jackie were at work. And Melanie was always sleeping her ass away. All of them knew the monkeys attacked me, and all they ever said was I'm sorry. And every morning when Jackie and Mark stood up at 6am to get ready for work, I had to get both of their work clothes for them and I had to make lunch for the two of them all whilst Melanie was either asleep or standing around with Jackie smoking a cigarette. She couldn't even get her own wife's clothes. I had to run up and down every single morning for them. After they left, Melanie would go straight to bed and sleep again and I'd again be stuck alone, cleaning, looking after the pest monkeys, doing more washing and more. It was that last year that my depression really took a toll and I just didn't want to live anymore. I just wanted to die. It was so bad that I actually lost so much weight. I went from a size 32 jeans to a size 28. I don't know if the sizes are the same in the US, but over here a size 28 is super small. Not that I minded the weight loss because I finally felt beautiful enough to wear my crop tops. I'm not fat, I'm just not really comfortable with my body. I feel fat, but I'm not really. But anyway, yeah, that's how badly I had depression at the time. I didn't even really love Mark anymore, not the way I used to, at least at that point I just wanted to get rid of the pain, no matter how. Nearing the end of the year, my mom had to go get a cataract removed from her eye and she needed my help because she was blind in one eye and the one that needed surgery was the working eye. The reason she needed my help was because she was cleaning my Uncle Jim's house, making dinner and looking after. Wouldn't you know it, her sister, whose husband had chased us away in the first place. Both my aunt and her husband live there now as well. And my mom's other sister, who is the manager of the grocery store which I worked at, also moved away to KZN to live with her boyfriend who is now her husband. And I forgot to mention that my mom's other sister and her husband also lived there when I was there. But when my aunt moved to kzn, my other aunt and her husband moved into the flat that she was staying in at the time. Now I never liked that aunt's husband because he's a pervert and he also cornered me and touched me inappropriately one time, but I just never told anyone. So when my aunt and her pervert husband moved into the flat that was now open, there was one More bedroom open in the house and that's the bedroom that my aunt and her husband who chased us live in now. So my mom and I discussed the mehole helping her out situation until I told her that I didn't want to go back once I'm in Johannesburg again. That's when we planned my escape. If Jackie knew that I wasn't coming back, she wouldn't have let me go. So we told them that I was just going to help her out until her eyes bet her. When we told Jackie about it, she immediately told me that she knows my mother isn't going to bring me back and I just lied and said I'll come back. I had to pack some of my things in black garbage bags and then hide them outside in the garden. And then when my mom and Uncle Jim arrived, I snuck out and then we quickly carried the bags to the car. I then snuck back in through the back door and went out the front like normal. My mom and uncle came inside, greeted everyone and then we carried my remaining two or three bags out to the car. I then said my goodbyes and we left. It's a six hour drive from Johannesburg to kzn, so my uncle didn't really want to waste time. And that's also the reason that I didn't take my Xbox with me because both Mark and I had our own consoles. But I never got mine back and I was utterly stupid for leaving it behind. It actually got stolen by one of Mark's friends and Mark refused to replace it. I got a new one second hand and it worked for quite some time but then just stopped. It powers on but it doesn't display any picture on the TV at all and I'm really depressed about that because I don't have the finances to get myself a new one. The job I'm working doesn't pay that much and it'll take years to save for a new one. But aside from that, to make a long story short, I moved back to my mom and uncle and I had to leave more than half of my stuff behind. I lost so much to that family. Not only my things, but myself as well. It was in December of 2022 that I had moved back. When we got home, I had waited a few days. Then I broke up with Mark. He was still obsessed with me for almost the entire year after that, then left me alone. During that year I went to visit my best friend who I hadn't seen in 10 years at the time. And whilst there I had met a new guy who also Lived in the same area as her. We exchanged numbers and started talking. We became really close and I told him straight up after some time of talking that I liked him and that I wanted to be with him. He felt the same and in October we had started dating. I told him about my life and he literally wanted to kill my ex. We visited each other constantly and my family got to know him and loves him. My life was perfect then. As recently as last year. In August 2023, my mom passed away. It really devastated me and broke me. I never cried so hard in my life. Even my new boyfriend, who I'll call John, was in disbelief. My uncle then wanted me to take over my mom's duties such as cleaning the house, making dinner and looking after my disabled aunt and her lazy ass husband. I told John about it and he said there's no way in hell. He told me to come live with him and that's exactly what I did. Uncle Jim said it was fine, but I can sense that he's not happy with it. But John doesn't care because he said that I'll just be wasting my life away instead of being here building a future with him. Which is actually true. So I left in September. I also couldn't stand living in the same house that I was so used to having my mom around. I then got a little job at an auction. I only work two days a week. The pay is in thousands, but it's still enough for me to buy the things I need. Except for my Xbox though. Like I said. But I'm telling you, I haven't been this happy in years. John is an amazing man. He's perfect in every way and he makes me feel like a true princess. And he treats me like one too. He's never treated me badly in any way and he gave me more in a year than my ex did in two months. His family is so amazing and they're so calm even when they're mad. I guess I can say my mom can rest peacefully knowing that I finally found my Prince Charming and knowing that his family are all angels. We live with his parents still, but he's working to build a future for us. And so am I. We've been together for a year and four months now and we're still going strong. And I've never been happier. I'm still so in love with him like I was when we first met. I'm sorry that my story turned out to be so long. I just had so much to share and there's still so much depression lingering inside me the tears I shed whilst typing. All this is crazy, but I do feel better knowing that my story is out there. I just needed people to know if you still stuck around to the end. Thank you all so much. I promise if I send another story, it won't be this long. And if you're also out there struggling with an abusive boyfriend or girlfriend in their family, please leave the situation. I promise there really is someone better out there for you. I'm a girl in my late 20s. In 2021, I attended a New Year's party for a new friend I had made. As a result, I had met her friends. I met a guy who we'll call M. We had lots of similar interests and we clicked. We had started dating in early of September 22nd. Not long after though, red flags started to pop up. He said I love you after just two days. I told him I wasn't ready for that yet, that it's too early. He then began showing up at my apartment after work without asking. One time he brought me fast food. I was grateful at first. However, after I finished eating, he'd question why I ate it, saying that it was sugars, fats and carbs. He then went on a tangent about how it should be intermittent fasting because it's how he cured his gout. He also said if people with cancer did it, they would cure themselves too. I was really angry about this. He knew that my dad had passed away from cancer in 2016 prior to dating. I told him that was not okay. He seemed to admit he was wrong and then apologized. I stupidly gave him another chance. After that situation, things just kept going downhill. He refused to meet my friends and would aggressively introduce me to his he told me that he'd rather be at the gym than hang out with my friends. His mother refused to meet me because I have tattoos because people with tattoos steal from her house. So yeah, I wasn't allowed over at his place ever. It was because he lived with her at the time. Ironically, he stole my nicotine pouches from me. He wanted me to quit on his terms, yet he was smoking and vaping constantly himself. He asked me what I wanted as a gift from a vacation that he went on. I said that I really love postcards and he said that it was lame. My final straw was when I sat him down and discussed everything with him, how I was uncomfortable with his actions and we didn't yell or argue. It was an adult conversation, or at least on my end it was instead of listening to what I had to say. He just said, just hit me in the face. It'll make it better. I then broke up with him right then and there. I told him that I just wanted to be friends because we were in a friend group together. The relationship lasted two months. That began a vicious cycle of love bombing. He'd bring me gifts of things he liked, not based on my own interests. He started taking my friends individually to dinner and asked about me. Once we caught on to what he was doing, I had enough and my friends told him not to and to give me some space. I blocked him on all social media. So I thought. In March of 2022, right on my birthday, I realized that I had forgot to block him on Snapchat because I hardly use it. I got a notification that M is typing. I didn't even give him a second to press send. I blocked him right then and there. Things finally went quiet on his end. For about a year, I saw him at events and parties hosted by friends in the group. We didn't talk though. I began to move on. I got back on dating apps. Dating around casually. Things were good. That is until June of 2023. A friend of mine passed away suddenly. Because of my grief, I decided to reconnect with others to mend broken friendships. This included M while drunk at an event. I had started crying about the loss of my friend. M put his arm around me and said that he understood what I was going through. He went to her wake. She did not like him. She was also very popular. I'm also going to mention that M has a huge fear of missing out problem. Also called fomo. This upset me that he went. However. I was way too drunk and sad to argue about it. He was being a really needy friend. Constantly asking me about things that I was posting on my social media. Getting upset that I didn't give him a personal goodbye. After the gathering. I regret my decision to make amends with him rather quickly. He'd act out and then apologize over and over. A few weeks later, Emmett sent me a message saying that he really loves my therapist and I was just really confused. I never even told him who my therapist was. He said that he saw his business card that I kept on my fridge. This therapist is five minutes away from my apartment. Em would have had to drive 45 minutes there and back to see him. Instead of going and seeing one closer to him, I told him that that made me really uncomfortable and muted his messages. A few days later, my roomie was deleting footage off her security camera's memory card. We have a camera pointing into our apartment parking lot due to catalytic converter thefts Multiple times between June 2022 and October 2022, Emmett sat in my apartment parking lot. I messaged him with the evidence I had. He came clean that he had been sitting in my parking lot for the memories. He also went to my therapist to feel closer to me, went to my tattoo artist to act buddy buddy with them and wanted to see me at my friend's funeral service. He also admitted to joining group chats and discord channels because I was in them. That he also went to concerts and shows based on my own music tastes because he missed me even though he said my music taste was garbage that he hadn't gotten over me. I told him that we had only dated for two months and that this was his final warning that I would contact the police and get a restraining order. I then blocked him on everything yet again. I began getting to know someone new while this was all going on. He was also in the friend group. We'll call him A. One night when A and I were out together, M decided to drive out to A's place and set out the place he was living for two hours. It was caught on our ring camera. A told me this was serious and we all told our friends everything. I was really vague about em up until this point, just saying I needed space and didn't want to be around him. I just still wanted to keep the friend group whole which was stupid of me. As a result M was kicked from the friend group chats and was told to stay the fuck away. That he was being a creep. He acted confused and he had questioned why we were canceling him instead of talking things over with him. He told everyone he's a nice guy and nothing he did was malicious. That he's neurodivergent and doesn't know any better, which they all promptly told him that just because it wasn't malicious doesn't mean that it was beyond creepy. How it was putting himself in spaces where I should feel safe that he won't be there. He hasn't tried anything in a few months. I began the process to file a restraining order just in case I needed to. I'm also moving in a few months and I'm keeping my new address on lockdown. So hopefully I don't see M for the rest of my life to realize the future America needs. We understand what's needed from us to face each threat head on. We've earned our place in the fight for our nation's future. We are marines. We were made for this. I met my ex in high school. Lets call him Justin. I was a sophomore and he was a junior at the time. We went to school in a small town so we practically grew up together. I developed a big crush on him when I was in middle school. I came from a toxic family and I was sexually abused at a very young age. I think I chased boys starting in middle school as a way to escape my shitty home life. I was the typical wannabe emo kid who liked the bad boys. I grew up with intense anxiety so I think masculine guys just made me feel safe. Justin made me feel safe. We were practically opposites. I was meek and shy and fragile whereas he was social, more popular and not afraid to take the lead. He always picked on me and would piss me off, but I liked that he would always notice me when I felt invisible towards everyone else. I developed a huge crush on him until we had started to see each other when we were in high school. I needed a ride home after school and he said he would take me. After that we had started spending a lot of time together and it all went downhill from there. He was not a good boyfriend at first. He basically never gave me any attention and almost avoided me which made me want his attention even more. I was so scared to be alone that I just put up with it. After a year I was about to break up with him and he confessed that he loved me. That was all it took to reel me back in. He went off to college six hours away and I waited for him. When I graduated high school, I had followed him to the same college. That is when he started to isolate me. From day one of my freshman year of college, I He made me sleep with him at his townhouse that his parents paid for off campus. He convinced me to stop talking to friends, my dorm mates and even my own family. He convinced me that he was the only one I could trust. He convinced me that I was the only one who truly understood him as a person and he threatened to kill himself anytime we had a fight and I tried to leave him. He took me back with him to a college that is closer to our hometown and I let him. He continued to isolate me, threatening to kill himself if I left him. Anytime one of my loved ones tried to convince me he was toxic, he would just blame me and turn the argument to make it seem like I was at fault. One time he actually tied a rope to his neck in an attempt to end his life because he felt like he Couldn't live without me, and he convinced me to keep it a secret. I lost so many friends and missed out on my first year of college. I stopped spending time with family because I was convinced he was the only one who understood me. This is where the fucked up stuff happens. Two years go by. It's 2015 and my house is raided by the cops. Well, my dad gets arrested and he's charged with taking pictures and uploading them to the Dark Web. My whole town discovers that he's a pedophile and he commits suicide. My family was already toxic, and yet my whole world was turned upside down even more. Out of grief, I practically lived with Justin and his family for a couple of weeks. And then a month after my dad passed, I impulsively decided to get my apartment with Justin. We only had the lease together for two weeks. That is all it took for me to hit my breaking point. After my dad committed suicide, I just knew that I couldn't live like this anymore. I decided to break up with Justin and I told his parents and reached out to his friends through Facebook to tell them. His parents met with us and essentially blamed Justin's suicidal tendencies on our relationship. They decided to not take action. The very night after we got back from dinner with his parents. I told him I was leaving him and he went insane. He went into the bathroom and started crying and having a conversation with himself. Then he started pacing in the hallway of our apartment, mumbling to himself. It was the first time I've seen him do that. He started pushing me against the wall and took away my phone. When I went to the closet to grab my clothes, he blocked the door and then locked me in the closet. Justin and his family are also very pro gun and he had about four or five firearms in our apartment alone. He grabbed a Glock and continued to block me in the closet, begging me not to leave him. What happened after this is spotty. There's still a lot that I can't remember to this day. But we somehow ended up in the living room and he's now hovering over me in the corner of the living room. He shows me that the magazine for the gun is fully loaded by taking it out and then putting it back in. And then he went out of his way to show me that the safety was off. He cocked the gun back and then pushed the gun to his head with the finger on the trigger. He was looking into my eyes at that very moment, and I was begging him to let me go. Sobbing. He told me if the neighbors heard me Cry, he would kill the both of us. I just rocked back and forth with my hands covering my ears, mentally preparing for the sound of the gun and preparing to have parts of his brain or blood on me. I was preparing myself for the possibility that this might be my last moments alive. Then out of desperation, I told him I would stay. Luckily, he believed me. I convinced him that I needed to use the bathroom and I asked if I could have my phone back. He gave it back, but he stayed outside the bathroom door and then warned me not to contact anyone. I just laughed and said, no, I'll never do that. I'm yours forever. And when I got in the bathroom, I texted the first person I saw to call the cops. When I got out of the bathroom. I then convinced them that I really needed to go out and get cigarettes. When we stepped outside of our apartment, the cops were surrounding the property and we were both so calm that they started marching past us until I then started shouting, it's him. It's him. Pointing at him. They ended up putting him on suicide watch and then committing him to a mental institution for a week. I only met with them once. The caseworker left his file open at one point and I saw that they had diagnosed him with psychosis. I lied to him again and I told him I would stay, knowing damn well I wouldn't. After all this, Justin's parents and friends actually blamed me for the incident. To this day, I will never understand how I could be the bad guy in this situation. I was only 20 years old and my father just committed suicide at the time. Calling the cops was the right situation. Once I realized his family and friends weren't going to take action. I was just a kid having to advocate for myself and going through grief. After all of this. He actually convinced his family and friends that I was the abusive one and that I was the manipulative one with anger issues. I moved in with my sister. After this, the police confiscated all of Justin's guns and his gun license. They also informed me that he would be kicked out of the military for this. I found out through a friend that Justin's grandfather picked up all of his guns at the police station and then gave them back to him. He would show up to me and my sister's apartment multiple times, sometimes in the middle of the night. One time, he showed up looking for a promise ring he gave me, even though he already told me to keep it. He told me that he needed to sell it for drug money because I got him addicted to drugs from the mental facility. He threatened to have me arrested for stealing his property. He would show up to my friends houses and one time tried to fight one of my friends and yelled racial slurs at him. I also started receiving death threats from anonymous numbers telling me that I should be dead like my father. I went to the cops and I managed to get him banned from myself and my sister's apartment complex. The cops told me that there wasn't really much else they could do just to document anything that could be evidence against him. There was a time in my life where I felt very powerless. I had no resources or family. My sister grew to resent me for putting her in danger with my ex. We ended up drifting apart and I would just continue to hang out with the wrong crowd and had a very bad string of relationships. I somehow actually stayed in college at that time and I came very close to flunking out. He would drive past my house for years. He would show up to my work at times until I had him banned. I would receive death threats from anonymous numbers and to this day, I'm not even sure if it was him. But I have my suspicions. I would actively reach out to hotlines for domestic abuse for advice. I moved into my own apartment in a different part of town and I basically never left my house unless it was for class or for groceries or to go out of town. The pandemic was almost a blessing for me because it meant my safety. After graduating college, I got a job and moved away. I developed intense PTSD after the whole experience. To this day, I still get nightmares where I'm screaming until my roommates have to wake me up. I was diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression. The after effects of all this, plus the trauma from my family, have really been hard. But I'm doing everything I can to being as close to okay as I can be. I cleaned up my shit and I got help. I also let go of a lot of toxic people and I met a lot of great people who were showering me with love and support. The only thing I would like to thank Justin for is that whole experience forced me to come out of my shell and to advocate for myself. If it wasn't for this experience and all the other experiences in my life, I wouldn't be who I am now. I now have a loving boyfriend. I'm not afraid of being alone and I'm the bravest that I've ever been in my life. I'm now 26 years old and I know that this will affect me for the rest of my life. But for anyone out there who's listening, who's in a similar situation, it is possible to make it out of this and still live a full, happy life. You are worth it to Justin. I'm not scared of you anymore. I will never be scared of you again. You could kill me tomorrow and you will still never be able to take away the amazing things that I've done with my life or the love that I've developed for myself. I will never be silent. If you ever try to take me down, I will drag you down with me. About 10 years ago, when I was 14 and had just started to realize I was a lesbian, a beautiful girl that I barely knew had asked me out. I was just thrilled to be noticed and have someone want me. So I ignored the fact that I didn't really know her that well. So I ignored the fact that I didn't really know her that well and that she kind of gave off a cold, distant, creepy vibe that was in direct conflict with my own spunky and warm attitude. I figured there was no way she would ever hurt me, especially since she was a woman and. And I had never heard of a woman abusing another woman. I know I was ridiculously naive, and I know that now. A few weeks into the relationship, she started beating me when she didn't get what she wanted. Even sometimes doing so right in front of people. No one did anything to stop it. They just politely looked away. She started demanding I have sex with her, even physically forcing me to do so and threatening to kill me if I didn't comply. It took a few months, but my fear of her was finally overridden by a desire to not be the girlfriend of some psychopath. And I dumped her and told my mother, her parents, the police, and everyone who had been around us what she had done. My ex swore she would kill me. Those were the last words she said to me. My parents believed me. Her parents believed me. The police believed me. But I wound up not pressing any charges after realizing how unlikely it was that she would serve any tie. However she got, all of our friends, they all sided with her. And I wound up having to change schools over this. Soon after, we moved to a different city. I got the help I needed and I felt like a changed person. I moved back to the same city where I met my ex when I started college. It's a huge state university with more than 50,000 students. But I figured I'd probably never see her. And knowing her, that it was very unlikely she even went there. She was an actress and a singer and I figured that she probably had gone to a school known for those kind of things. My college was known for science and infamous for having a very underfunded art program. Well, on the very first day though I saw her, I felt a cold stare on the back of my neck and turned around and There she was, 100ft away from me, staring me down with a blank expression on her face. I glared at her and sneered, trying to show her that I wasn't afraid of her and she just kept the same cold expression. I turned and walked away at a relaxed pace and tried not to let it ruin my day. But then it started. Everywhere I went she was 100ft away. Sometimes she was with some of her friends and they would all just stare at me with the same blank expression. I never engaged them, I never spoke to any of them. Eventually they had even started following me when I wasn't on campus. It's gotten to the point where I can't even enjoy a day at the mall, a day with my girlfriend, a trip to the zoo, or even buy groceries without a dead eyed girl who beat the crap out of me when I was 14. Along with her weird crew staring at me. They literally look like freaky looking zombies. It's creepy. I even catch other people giving them freaked out looks when they see them. It's been about six years since she started following me around. I've thought about moving or changing schools, but I know that I can't let her run my life anymore. It's starting to get creepier and creepier though. Sometimes someone knocks loudly on my door and when I go to answer it, there's no one there. But I have this sinking feeling that it's her. Sometimes random numbers in my area code leave messages of silence for about 30 seconds on my phone. Or I get sent text messages from random numbers asking who is this? I never respond to the texts or voicemails and immediately just block the numbers of the senders. I don't know what to do. I know I'm not cracking up. If I'm ever out with other people when I think I see her, I ask if they do too and they always say yes. I want to call the cops. I want to fight back. I want to do something to prove that I'm not some pushover. But really, I just wanted to put this all behind me. That's all I've ever wanted. Just a few things that I forgot to mention before I actually end this story. I'm in a graduate school now. I graduated college in four years. I go to a different university now in an online IT program. I only still live in the same city because my family's here. I've taken self defense classes and I carry pepper spray around with me. Also, changing where I shopped helped and I haven't seen her in a while, but the messages still happen sometimes. If I ever see her again, I'm going to get a restraining order against her at the very least. One more update. I haven't seen this girl since I posted this and I heard from someone else that she moved to New York City recently. I have no idea if this is true, but it feels nice not to have to stay in my house for weeks. I developed agoraphobia because of this and I never leave my house if I don't have to. I even make people call or text me if they feel like coming over and tell me when they're close by. Luckily, my neighbors seem aware of my situation somehow and they look out for me too. In addition, I think it's worth noting that recently my girlfriend and I had a jar of pee thrown at us when we were exiting a store. No joke, the car drove away so quickly that we weren't able to catch the license plate. I'm not sure if it's related or not, but it could have been someone who knows her. It was a white guy in a red and black van. That's all we know. So when I was 17, I didn't really hang out with very great kids. I'll admit I never got into many bad situations and I turned out pretty well in the end, I think. But this one relationship I had was definitely a creepy one. My friend Cory and I decided that one day we would go to his friend J's house. Let me just say that Jay's house was actually a crappy, lonesome quadplex off the side of a highway. The inside of it was disgusting and every wall had at least two or three punch holes in them. Doors were off hinges and propped up against door frames. What little furniture they had was obviously very used. I'm not much of a judger. This doesn't bother me really. We eventually smoke and then leave. We went back to Jay's the next day. Jay is now showing obvious interest in me and in a moment alone in the kitchen, he had asked me to be his girlfriend. I'm an idiot, so I say yes. After about two days of knowing this guy, I say yes. We stay a while. A group of people leave to go get food and J and I are alone. He starts showing obvious signs that he wants to have sex. And though it's a bit fast for me, I reluctantly go along. I'm his girlfriend, right? He's got a pot belly. I never notice this because he hides it. Now this isn't bad by any means, but everybody has a type and I personally prefer very skinny, lanky guys. He hid this with oversized clothing and a thick scruff. I'm a nice person though, and I don't let this bother me. Surely he has other nice qualities, right? Wrong. He's the one that punches all the holes in the wall. He doesn't go to school, spends all of his money on weed and food, as does his mom. And a month later, he's homeless. His druggie mom literally just abandoned him and his brother and goes off on her own. I know I've made a mistake, but I'm a cowardly and helpful woman. My parents agree that he can sleep in the basement but no sex. Perfectly fine by me. But every night for two weeks, he would appear at my door to come to his bed while he would whisper things about my mom and dad hearing until he would finally give up. We've been dating for like a month and a half. At this point, he moves to his ex stepdad's 40 minutes away. Every time I visit, his stepdad makes lewd comments about me and about me and Jay having sex. There's a six and eight year old there. They like to brag to me about how much weed they could smoke. I know that I probably should have called cps, but forgive me. Like I said, I was a real idiot at the time. I still kind of am. On my last visit to Jay's new home, we went to Subway to eat. His stepdad asks me what I want and I just say I'm not hungry. He then says out loud right in front of the subway guy and the whole rest of the family, yeah, she's probably too full from all that dick she's been eating. Both the subway guy and I just shared a look. An uncomfortable look. I break up with J through texts and am immediately flooded with texts. They range from baby, I love you, please don't do this to I swear I'm gonna kill you. He sends me pictures of bongs that he bought for me with money that he gets from selling stolen items. And when I don't respond to the gifts, he starts threatening to kill me again. I stopped responding to them because of my dad's advice. He's now filled in on the situation and he just says to ignore it. I'm literally receiving 300 texts a day and around 100 phone calls. This eventually stops after about a week because he starts texting my dad multiple times. My dad flips out on him and suddenly the stepdad's involved. The stepdad is claiming that I owe money for food and gas and stuff. My dad basically tells him to just eat shit. Texts and phone calls continue for around three months afterwards. Not in such large amounts, but maybe like one or two a day. He still tries to add me on Facebook to this day, about every four months. And it's been like four years. That relationship was only three months long. I don't know why he was so obsessed with me. When I was 13 and starting eighth grade, I met a guy who I'll call X. We had four out of six classes together and similar interests, so we became really close friends even though he never seemed to give off any vibe and he was sort of anti social. X was a tall, scrawny Mexican American kid with acne scars who wore a lot of alt and edgy clothing, the type that you would buy at Hot Topic or Spencer's. One of his main outfits was a black trench coat with ripped black jeans, a gray graphic tee, and combat boots. Remember this because it'll come into play a little later. We live on the outskirts of a military base in a rural area that was just being developed. There were three types of kids in middle high the normal suburban kids, the military kids, and the lesser off kids who lived in the old trailer parks and mobile homes. Now I was a normal suburban kid and X was a military kid. X and I were really close, but we weren't dating. Halfway through the year, when X and I had both turned 14, I had actually started dating a guy who I'll call Y who played football. Soon after we started dating, a few rumors about him appeared and an Instagram page dedicated to school drama posted screenshots of him saying slurs and other horrible stuff. Y claimed that the screenshots were totally fake and that he would never say that stuff, but X manipulated me into breaking up with him. Later on, I learned he got pressured by school officials to leave the football team. This cycle repeated with other guys and girls that I dated. For context, I'm bisexual. Even if I hadn't dated them and just had a crush on them, they would turn out to be horrible people and would be shunned by the rest of the school. It still angers me today how stupid I was to not realize that the only person who I told my crushes to was X. I was in a really dark spot and while looking back, I know it might sound pathetic to be so emotional about middle school relationships, but you have to understand that to a 14 year old me, this was basically life or death. Halfway through the last semester. I hadn't officially started dating X just yet, but considering how close I was with him, we were effectively dating at the time. With all of my failed relationships through X's manipulation and low self confidence, I basically had put the fault onto me. So when my relationship with X went well I was extremely happy and had lots of trust with him. I now realized that X had tore up my self confidence and then manipulated me into trusting him. All he had ever done to show affection was just small gifts and favors such as when he drew one of my favorite characters from a TV show I loved or how he would let me have a school lunch. Keep in mind, school lunch was free at the time and he had already brought his own lunch from home, which basically meant that he had my love, trust and care all for very little effort. He had almost full control of me, all for the price of having to go in the lunch line and sketching some TV show characters for me. It makes me so damn mad how blindly I trusted him. Thankfully I never did anything sexual with him, but he had so much influence and I trusted him so much that I would often change in front of him and he convinced me to lie to my parents so I could sleep over at his place, which was almost always empty due to divorce and military deployments. I remember one incident where I was at his house and he offered me a beer. My mother was an alcoholic, so I'd been strictly raised not to drink alcohol, so I put my foot down and refused. He looked at me blankly for a brief second before then saying, bummer. Well, if you won't have one, then I won't either. After this, I started to see more red flags, such as how he would laugh at offensive jokes that he normally wouldn't find funny in front of me, or how a lot of the candy, gum and small gifts he would give me looked to be shoplifted. Instead of waking up to the reality that he was a horrible and manipulative person, I simply wrote them off as small cons that were outweighed by the pros. I can't explain how mad I am at myself for not distancing myself from him, and instead of that, I stupidly stayed with him. By the time the final exams were coming up and school was ending he actually started distancing himself from me. It was small things at first, like standing in different places in the lunch line or just hanging out less, but since he had so much control over me when X started to drift away, I had no clue how to do anything to help myself. By the time I realized I would go days without him even making eye contact with me. This affected me so much that I nearly failed my final exams. You might think that this sounds stupid, but Exon manipulated me so much to the point that my world revolved all around him so much that when he stopped talking to me, I couldn't even look at myself because I had automatically placed the blame on myself. Eventually, before school ended, I had found myself a girlfriend who I'll call Z. Z was another military kid who had transferred schools halfway through the year. Keep in mind, I was pretty short and slightly out of shape. Z was taller, really skinny, so this kind of ruined my self confidence. From my few interactions with her, she seemed really fatigued and borderline antisocial. Although with X they would talk to each other a mile a minute, gossiping about other people and making horrible and offensive jokes. I was so depressed at this point that I didn't even bother to show up for the last few days of school, and I spent so much of my summer in my room feeling both angry and sad at the same time. He had manipulated me so much that I didn't know who to be angry at. Thankfully, due to my amazing older brother and some friends of mine who didn't like X or Z, I was able to regain my confidence and get my mental health in a way better place. From what I heard over the summer about X and Z, Z actually had a drug problem and took pills often. This was made worse when X started selling vapes to middle schoolers to fund to buy more drugs. Even worse for her, through her sheer stupidity, X managed to piss off some shady online hacker guys who leaked Z's nudes. Z's parents apparently had no idea of any of this, but they had moved shortly after the summer ended due to Z's nearly overdosing. Luckily, in freshman year I had zero classes with him, but due to the school being relatively small, I would still see X from time to time in the hallways. The only creepy encounter that I had with X in high school was when he was in with some mutual friends who still somehow liked him and X waved at me creepily while smiling and laughing around halfway through the school year when we were both about 15. At this point I actually heard X was moving away. A lot of my mutual friends were actually somehow sad and they even threw a mini party for X during lunch on his last day. I was also in a good mood that day since I would never have to see him again. This is the part of the story that still gives me chills to this day. After school ended and our mutual friends all said goodbye to X and I was at home doing some studying for a test I had. My parents were out for dinner and it was just me and my older brother and his friend. I was upstairs in my room studying with my window that faces the backyard opened up for some fresh air while my older brother who was 16 was downstairs in the living room with his friend playing video games. We live in the corner of the suburb and had no backyard fence so our yard just ended into a kudzu filled forest. As I was studying it got really windy so I decided to close the window. As I was closing it though, I saw a figure in our backyard. My stomach dropped and I tried not to scream as I walked downstairs and told my brother and his friend what I just saw. They both got up and my brother then told me, alex, go to your room and lock the door before they then went outside. The following is what my brother told me when I asked what happened later on since I started to cry when I got into my room and I was way too scared to look outside, my brother and his friend both ran outside as fast as possible and the figure froze for a brief second. With a clearer view they could then see what he was wearing, a black trench coat and combat boots. My brother didn't recognize him as ex since they had never actually met, but they were so determined to catch the possible intruder they chased him through the forest into a field where they were forced to give up because they were wearing sandals and the limb was so tilled they could sprain an ankle. When my brother and his friend returned home, I had stopped crying but I was so scared I was hiding in my closet. They eventually calmed me down enough to explain to me what had happened and although they wanted to call the cops, I had begged them not to since I was really afraid of the consequences. It's been several years since that all happened and I'm starting my freshman year of college. I still wonder what he was planning to do or if he was just watching me. To X, who made my life hell, manipulated me and abused me. I hope you burn in hell, you sick bastard. I now have a loving girlfriend and I got into a really great college. So please if Anyone is in a toxic relationship out there. Do not be afraid to stand up for yourself. And please don't let yourself be defined just as a victim for the rest of your life. You deserve better than that. I've always liked that I had a special magnet that attracted weird people and situations. So here's yet another story. To this day, I haven't fully figured it out. My husband dated a girl named Emily in high school for a few years. Upon graduation, she decided to go to college out of state and they eventually broke up. Nothing dramatic, just parted ways. He and I met a few years later and we ended up getting married. Obviously I knew of Emily through friends as we lived in a very small town and everyone thought she was really wonderful, but I had never met her face to face or anything. About six months after we were married, I got a phone call on my cell phone in the middle of the night and when I answered it was a woman crying hysterically and ranting about how I ruined her future, how she and my husband were supposed to get married in October and he didn't really love me, etc. I then said, um, who is this? And she then screamed that it was Emily, then hung up. I woke my husband up and we were both completely puzzled as he hadn't talked to her in years at this point. Over the next couple of months, both of us would get random phone calls at random times of this crying woman accusing us of ruining her life. We eventually stopped answering any calls except from known numbers. Around this time, my husband ran into Emily's brother Jason, who was married and lived fairly close to us. They struck up a friendship and we would often go to barbecues, etc. We were friendly acquaintances versus close friends, so we never really brought up the calls from Emily. Jason would occasionally mention things about her graduating from college, starting starting a physician's assistant program, and getting married, but not going into too much detail. I think he was just respecting our marriage, etc. Every time he mentioned her, my skin would crawl. Then Facebook became popular and I started getting messages from Emily. Her full maiden name, a profile picture of her grinning and squinting into the sun. The messages were basically what she was saying on the phone. My husband hated me and I ruined her life and stole her family, etc. When I clicked on the profile, it would have no friends, no posts, just that one picture. So I blocked her. Then she made another one, sent messages, same picture and same type of profile. I must have blocked about 20 accounts. It was so frequent that I wouldn't even mention it to my husband. After a while it was just a given. Her harassment by no means was a focal point in her life, but it was always there. Fast forward a few years, the Facebook messages coming in more infrequent. We've now had a child and are expecting another one and Jason mentions Yay. Emily is moving back with her family. She has a husband and kid and she's accepted a PA position in our town's major pediatric clinic. Our mutual friends were excited and were going to switch to her for their health care but. But I refused. She'd probably murder my kids. I heard she was back. Mutual friends mentioned seeing her and that she's doing really great, blah blah blah. Then we were at another mutual friend's daughter's birthday party and they casually mentioned that Emily would be coming by. Literally everyone knew that my husband and her had dated in high school, so I felt I couldn't get away from her in hearing about her the success story from our tiny town Gag. I was such a bundle of anxiety waiting for Emily to show up. My heart was pounding, I was shaky, I felt like I needed to vomit and then diarrhea. It was terrible. Then walks in this completely normal everyday woman. She walked in with her husband who also looked normal as well as their daughter. She greeted my husband and I very casually, said it was nice to meet me, and continued to circulate. What the hell? This is the person who's been terrorizing us. It did not add up. The messages on Facebook continued for another six months or so. Then they stopped. To this day, I cannot match the person on the phone and Facebook to that woman at the birthday party. Being the same person, I'm completely baffled. My father had been dating this woman for a while and things were going great. She met us a few times and got along really great with my sister and I. Eventually my father had asked her to move in with us. She drove seven hours to move in and brought her two cats. Things were going really great for the first two months until she couldn't find a job. They had agreed that she was to apply for jobs and have one secured for an interview before she moved in. She moved in on July 2. She didn't have a job until late January. I, being fresh out of high school with no experience in a job setting, was able to get a job before her. This caused my father to have to cover her car payments and insurance. This set us back financially, but we were okay. Then October came with the discovery of a full year's worth of text messages between her and a friend of hers named Jared. All taking place after my father and her were dating, all while she was still living in her hometown. These text messages were laced with him coming over and giving her nighttime lovings and inappropriate pictures as well. My father confronted her about it and she totally denied it, saying we just didn't understand her friendships. My father lets it go as they hadn't messaged each other in weeks. Small arguments pop up and she starts sneaking money out of my dad's wallet at night to go buy cigarettes. This may only sound like a small amount, but it was a nightly occurrence. This set us back financially as well. These arguments mainly consist of her lying about something and her not admitting it, or her doing something stupid and not apologizing. Things got even worse as Christmas came. My father expressed that he didn't love her anymore, he didn't have any feelings towards her and that she needed to work to fix the relationship if she wanted to continue. This meant really trying to get a job and not lying about stupid crap. She agreed that she would. I advised him against giving her the option. I was really tired of her crap and I wanted her out. She started lying more and more, causing even more problems. We believed that she had started taking some sort of drug as she would come back from a drive all shaky and spazzing out, spouting nonsense. She came after myself and a friend of mine during one of their arguments, to which my father responded, okay, that's it. Pack your shit and get the hell out. How dare you go after my kids. Telling her to get out and leave was a regular occurrence in their fights, but she never took the hint. She was abusive emotionally to literally everyone in the household, especially my father, reducing him to tears when he found out that she had been receiving $1,000 a month from her mother, which would have had us staying up to date on RENP payments. We have no idea what she was doing with the money. No matter the situation, she would always try and twist it so that she would be the victim, even calling my father asking second opinions the party of persecuting Martha. Nothing is ever her fault and it's always a misunderstanding. Then she started smoking in the garage. The door from the garage into the house is right across from my bedroom door, which is always open because our cats like sleeping on my bed with me. I have asthma. I woke up coughing and smelling cigarettes multiple times in one night because of her. She also drove recklessly with my little sister and I in the car before and I told my father what happened when my father confronted her about it. She said that I was over exaggerating, that driving in the dark freaks her out. Then my sister and I were just stressing her out even though we were just chilling and listening to music. A minor thing. But she endangered my sisters and my own cats. We have two strictly indoor cats and her two outdoor cats too. Until they moved here. Her cats have taught mine how to sneak out of the house when the door isn't latched. She leaves the front door open constantly when she comes back in from smoking and lets my cats out. We live right across the street from a huge lot of desert and we hear the coyotes every night. She's let them out at night before. After she finally got a job, she didn't want to contribute her fair share of the bills. My father asked her for half of her paychecks every two weeks. She claimed that it should only be 25% because there are four people in the house. My sister and I are only there on the weekends as we go to school outside of town, which is about an hour away, and we stay with other family during that time. She also apparently wasn't paying her car payments after she got her job as she got a repossession notice which she hid from my father. Finally, after financially wrecking us, abusing my father emotionally and financially, endangering myself and my sister, doing drugs, taking money, stealing things from my room, endangering my cats, and many other things, my father gave her two weeks to move out. She moved out a couple of days ago. She originally left her cats but failed to pay my father the $350 that she owed him, so he said that he would be taking care of her cats until he got the money. She totally flipped out and burst into the house when I was there alone saying horrible things about my father and that her babies weren't safe here. When I called her out for not paying the money and everything else mentioned above, she told me that I was sipping the damn Kool Aid. I really wish I was joking about this. I finally shut the door to my bedroom and started sobbing because I just couldn't handle this. She actually came after me by banging on my bedroom door and saying how horrible I was and said that I just slammed my door in her face. I called my father on my phone on FaceTime and I opened my bedroom door and then she bolted into the garage. I followed her while my father screamed at her to give me her key to the house. She ran right past me screaming nonsense and then went back into the living room I finally had enough and with my dad on the phone, I let her have it. I was yelling and screaming and cursing at her. I was mad and there was nothing for me to lose at this point. Finally, I then told her to get the hell out of my house. She grabbed her cats by the scruff and then ran out of the house. I still worry for those cats every day. I love them dearly and they became such a huge part of our family. I hope nothing but the best, comfy, loving lives for them and the most painful existence for her. It's actually been a few years now. Well, my dad's ex girlfriend is now deceased. She died from a drug overdose. Go figure. I'm a 16 year old girl and this happened to me last year only a few weeks after I turned 15. For some background, my sister is three years older than me and so this took place when she had only just turned 18. She had been dating her boyfriend on and off again for about two years. We'll name him Stephen. Just so you know, my parents are divorced, so I lived with my mom, sister and my older brother. We had our house renovated instead of moving out when the house got cramped. As for the layout, there's a very small bedroom that my brother has, a medium sized bedroom my mom has, and then a large bedroom that me and my sister shared. Well, as we got older, we obviously wanted our own space. So my mom had a wall built between the large room to make two smaller rooms. The only problem was that you'd have to walk through one room to get to the other. At first I had the room that would have to be walked through by my sister, so she was able to get to her room. Okay, back to the story. So my sister's dating this guy who's the same age as our dad. And Steven also had a daughter the same age as my sister. This guy was a terrible influence on my sister. She stopped going to school, went to raves, and she was introduced to drugs thanks to her boyfriend. Her boyfriend was very well known in our small village as only a few years back he had a huge drug raid at his old home. He also used to get into a lot of fights, big fights. He once almost killed a guy in just a fist fight. He was also well known to furiously beat on his girlfriends, so no surprise that neither of my parents approved of him. Well, this caused my sister to move out and go live with him. And as ridiculous as it sounds, it was out in a tent in a wooded area. You see, he was living there because he became Homeless. So against my mom's better judgment, she actually invited him to live at our house just so she'd be able to know that my sister was safe. Now I'm a very reserved and shy person, especially around people I don't know. He was no different. Obviously he had to walk through my room to get to my sister's, and I had always assumed my uneasiness and uncomfortableness was due to not knowing him. Fast track a few weeks by the time my sister turned 17, she found out she was pregnant. She was thrilled about it, but Steven wasn't. My mom was so disappointed that my sister had gotten pregnant so young, but she was happy to support her. One day my mom finds my sister distraught and she tells my mom that Steven wants her to abort the baby and that he even forced her to take a pill, which would start the process. As bad as it sounds, I didn't really zone into whatever was going on at the time. I didn't realize that I was slowly sinking into depression. Fast forward a few months and my sister and the boyfriend decided to keep the baby and she had a growing belly. While my depression worsened. At one point, I decided to try and tell my mom how I felt. She ended up sobbing and blaming herself for it, which only made me feel absolutely awful. Safe to say I didn't try and tell her again. As the months go by, things start getting a little weird. I'd walk up in the night and find Steven just sort of standing in my room. As soon as he was caught, he would either rush into my sister's room or out of mind to go downstairs. As uncomfortable as it made me, I didn't bother to bring it up to my mom. We weren't on the best of terms at this point as I had stopped going to school regularly until I just wasn't going at all anymore. The majority of the time I would spend in our shower room. Other strange things were the inappropriate comments on what I'd wear. I'm a well figured girl even from a young age, so the comments were normal from boys at my school. But it was really weird coming from my sister's boyfriend, not to mention how much older he was. There was one particular item of clothing that he had a liking for. A silk nightgown that was a little above the knee and had a small plunge in the neckline. As you know, I'm a reserved person, so showing my body really makes me uncomfortable. But I really like this dress because of its softness, so I did wear it a lot. But that was before I noticed his strange attitude towards it. To start off, he simply said things like, hey, I really like that dress. I chose to just ignore him. But then he started to say, I really like the way you look in that. I like when you wear that. I was just so creeped out and just stopped wearing it altogether. As well as wearing anything revealing around him at all. I went unbothered by him for a while. Then my sister had the baby and me and her swapped rooms as mine was just slightly bigger than hers. My mom and I were constantly arguing. Well, more of her belittling me and just making me feel worse than I already did. So when my nephew was born on my birthday, I spent my birthday all alone the whole day simply just crying in my room. I absolutely hated living there and I wanted to be anywhere else. A few weeks pass and my mom's and my own anger reach a boiling point and we explode into an extremely awful shouting match. I still don't know why, but Steven decided to get involved and also began to disrespect me. At some point, my sister pulled my mom downstairs to try and calm her down and left me upstairs with Steven. He left my room and I assumed went downstairs as well. Wrong. He had actually decided to shut my sister's door, came back into my room and then shut my door. This is where things totally hit the fan. Steven completely blows up in my face. This terrifying six foot something muscular man towered over my five foot four small frame as he shouted things that genuinely left me to terrified. It gives me the chills just recalling it. He then screamed in my face, if you were my own daughter, in behaving like this, I'd lock you in a room with nothing but a mattress and I'd only give you one meal a day. He continued to go on and on about how disgusting and disrespectful I was. I was on the verge of a panic attack. I swear I blacked out for a few seconds out of fear which caused me to fall into my bed. He was so angry that he was physically holding himself back to not throw a punch at me. I could see it in his face. He wanted to hit me so badly. He would pull his arm back as if to throw a punch, but then he would stop when his fist came close to my face. I thought that he was going to beat me black and blue like he was yelling in my face that he would. But the most disturbing part of the situation, the one thing he said that I won't ever be able to forget, was when he hissed quietly in my face that I deserved to be beaten and raped. And then after that, he walked out and I sobbed against my bedroom door, absolutely terrified he would come back and keep to that promise. The next morning was a school day, and Stephen decided that I needed to wake up at 6am and then came into my room, picked me up while I was asleep, and then dropped me. I woke up terrified and in pain. He then crouched down to be face to face with me, and he said if I didn't go to school, then he'd do a lot worse than that to me. He then went back to my sister in her room, told her what he did, and then they both laughed about it while I was crying in the next room. I went to school that day, not even bothering to retrieve my lunch from my mom. Once I was at school, I went straight to my favorite teacher and proceeded to have a complete mental breakdown about everything I've been going through. I explained what had happened and how I was too afraid to go home. Social services were called, along with my mom. My mom told me the minute she found out what happened, she demanded that Steven take his stuff and get the hell out of our house. After that incident, I wasn't allowed to go out on my own because Steven had been threatening to kill me and set our house on fire. He had even attacked my older brother, who had to get stitches after having his eyebrows split open. Our house had to have a red alert on it, so if we called the police, they'd come straight away. After about a month or so, it went quiet and we didn't hear from Steven anymore. And I was so glad. But then I was informed that Steven had been arrested. The reason? He had raped an old ex of his, one that lived in the same village as us, and he was being jailed for eight years minimum. It scares me to think that when he said that I deserved to be raped, that he wasn't just saying that to scare me. What a psychotic, disgusting man. This all started my sophomore year of high school. I was 15 and at a new school, so I didn't have many friends yet. I was in that phase where I thought I needed a boyfriend to have validation. So I was actively trying to find a date for the homecoming dance. One of my classmates suggested a junior in one of our classes, whom I'll call David, to be my date, and he got him to ask me out. He seemed nice, so I said yes. A decision that would haunt me for the next two years. David and I had a lot of fun at homecoming so when he asked me to be his girlfriend, I said yes. It's important to note that he was quite the loner. He was very much into science and often spent time alone conducting experiments in his room and even at school. Sometimes I just brushed it off as him being quirky, and I figured I shouldn't get in the way of his passions. But it wasn't long before I realized there was much more to his nice guy facade. Over the next several weeks of our relationship, we would talk over the phone and David would make increasingly inappropriate comments about things he wanted to do to me. I was 15 at the time and he was 17, so not only was I incredibly uncomfortable, but he was also nearly an adult himself, making these comments to a younger girl. I kept telling him that I wasn't comfortable with the things he was saying, but he always just laughed it off as me being a prude. I was fed up after a while, and then finally I threatened to break up with him, and that finally made him stop. I really should have recognized the red flags and build at that very moment. But again, I was dumb and I felt like I wasn't worth anything unless I had a boyfriend. Although the inappropriate comments stopped for the time being, he would still become increasingly possessive and downright obsessed over what I was doing. At all hours of the day. He would intrude on conversations that I had with my friends and want to know things that frankly, weren't any of his business. One day when I was getting into the shower, he had called and my dad had told him I would call him when I was done. Well, instead of simply waiting like any rational person would do, he called a total of four times over the next 10, 15 minutes to see if I was out of the shower yet. I began to feel suffocated, but every time I asked him to back off, he would cry about how depressed he was and that he only wanted to talk to someone to feel like he was wanted. I always fell for it like the dummy I was, but now I recognize the clear manipulation that it was. One day, though, I had finally had enough. I broke up with him in person at school, and he bawled like a child. I didn't let it get to me this time, however, and firmly told him that I didn't want to be his girlfriend anymore. Although he couldn't get his way, he still somehow convinced me to stay friends with him. But things didn't end there. This was just the beginning. Over the next several months, David kept trying to get me to go back out with him. Again, even going as far as to cry in front of other people to garner sympathy. He even tried starting rumors about us having sex, which we didn't. Fortunately for me, David had earned a bad reputation throughout his school career, so no one really believed him. He would even try to trick me into a date by subtly suggesting we go see a movie just as friends, which I always got around by inviting my friends to come along, too. They knew what he was doing and never turned down the chance to help out a girl. And the last few weeks I spoke to him, he would sit on the phone for hours on end, literally begging me to take him back. And thankfully, I had held on strong and kept refusing. One night, his brother actually called me, telling me that he was crying hysterically. Eventually, it came to a point where I told him that I didn't want to hang out anymore because it was clear that he wouldn't stop until I eventually became his girlfriend again. He finally agreed to not approach me anymore, but I wouldn't be writing this story if it ended here. The very next day at school, David came up to me like nothing had happened. I once again reminded him of the conversation that we had had the night before about how we agreed not to hang out anymore, but he had acted offended that I would even suggest such a thing. Eventually, my friends and I convinced him to leave, but of course, it didn't stop there. For two weeks straight, he would follow me around school and call my house and my cell phone. This was the days before smartphones, so blocking his number wasn't that easy. I tried to get help from the school staff, but the vice principal personally told me that there was nothing I could do because he wasn't trying to hurt me. I was frustrated, but thankfully David seemed to back off when it was clear that I wasn't going to give in. That is, until I got another boyfriend. The following school year, my junior year, I had started dating a senior named Justin. Not long after we went public with our relationship, I had noticed David following me again. Now, Justin was a football player, and he was a pretty big guy with unresolved anger issues, so he didn't take kindly to this guy. He would hang out with me and my friends and David would hover around nearby, walking by every now and then and making it blatantly obvious that he was spying on me. Well, one day, Justin walked straight up to David and confronted him. He didn't lay his hands on him or threaten him in any way, but he did ask, hey, man, what are you doing? In a really Angry tone. David simply muttered some kind of excuse and just scurried away. We thought that was the end of it, but later in the day. I was then called to the principal's office. Turns out David claimed that Justin threatened him and then blocked the doorway so he couldn't move. Justin denied it, of course, and then told the principal that I could back up his claim, which I did. Thankfully, nothing came of it. But this was only the first of the long line of incidents over the school year. David and his brother, who was a year younger than me, would try to get Justin in trouble in every way that they could, even starting rumors and threatening his life. A classmate of mine overheard them talking about ambushing Justin and hurting him. But even though I brought this up to the staff, nothing was ever done about it. All the while, David kept following me when Justin wasn't around. There was even an incident in the school gym one day when a bunch of classes had to stay there for the period. He and I were both there and he made sure to sit on the bleachers nearby, even following me when I moved. I was on the verge of tears, but then I saw two guys that I knew sitting a few rows down from me. They were really cool with me, so I got their attention and after explaining what was going on, I asked them if I could sit with them to feel safer. They accepted and we ended up having a good old time talking about music and anime. In spite of this, though, things just kept getting worse with David. It finally came to a head when David's brother had wrote a letter to Justin's sister. They had been good friends before this whole mess started, and in the letter, David's brother actually threatened physical harm to both me and Justin. The sister gave the letter to Justin, who then came to me, and then we both brought it to the principal. That was when the principal called everyone involved into his office and had a nice little chat with us. The principal showed the letter to David's brother. Then I can expel you for this right now, but I'm willing to let it go on one condition. Now, you see, David and Justin were both about to graduate, so the principal gave them the ultimatum. He stated that David and his brother were to not contact me or Justin in any way, shape or form for the whole rest of the school year or he would see it that neither one of them would graduate. I was absolutely pissed because Justin did nothing wrong. But in the end, we just wanted this whole mess to be over with. From that point on, David didn't bother me again, but I'm still filled with anxiety to this day. He made me afraid for my life or to even walk the halls of my school. Justin and I ended up breaking up during the summer for unrelated reasons and the following year I didn't have to see either of them ever again. A few years later, however, David tried to send me a friend request on Facebook. Of course I had an immediate panic attack and not only deleted the request, but I blocked him as well. I even unfriended and blocked the two mutual friends we had just for good measure. Sure I was being paranoid, but it made me feel better. There was one last incident involving David not with me, but with my younger brother. When he was 14, he had took his then girlfriend to see one of the Transformers movies and David walked in upon recognizing my brother. He sat right behind him and his date and kept laughing uncontrollably at inappropriate times and even started kicking their seats. My brother tried confronting him but it did no good. They didn't even bother trying to get the manager because my brother's date was way too afraid that he would attack them if they tried to leave. Thankfully, that was the final incident that I or anyone else close to me ever had with them. I'm doing much better now. I'm 31 years old and ironically I ended up marrying one of the guys who sat with me in the gym that day. My advice to any teenagers hearing this is that you should always pay attention to red flags and absolutely get rid of toxic people that are in your life. Trust me, it's always better to end up alone than being stuck with someone who makes you feel bad and treats you like your feelings don't matter. The story took place around late 2016 to early 2017 when I was around 20 years old. I had just gotten my heart broken for the first time and found myself looking for an escape. I downloaded Tinder and aimlessly began swiping because I had no real intention of looking for a relationship, more of a distraction. Honestly. I ended up matching when his profile listed that he was around my age. He was about 6 foot 5 and from Turkey. He had just moved to Atlanta, Georgia, which is where I lived at the time. He was a basketball player and he looked like a fairly average guy. Let's call him Ali. Ali and I spontaneously decided that we should meet up the next night at a hookah bar on campus of my college. I had to get my mom to drop me off because I sadly didn't have my license yet. At 20 years old, I arrived near the hookah bar at our meeting time which was 6:30 and waited. I texted him through Tinder since his phone was still international and I hadn't heard back from him. First red flag I got a response and he stated that he was only a few minutes away. I began playing on my phone for a few and I noticed that I was draining my battery significantly so I put it away. I just sat down on a bench across from the restaurant and waited somewhat impatiently. I really should have left. After I waited embarrassingly for 45 minutes, Ali arrived from his Uber and began signaling me. He looked just like his picture and all was well. In that instant. I greeted him and we had a hug. When he had suddenly leaned in for a kiss, I jolted back and then nervously laughed and said no. He then proceeded to try it again and this time I said no in a much more firm voice. Second red flag. He shrugged his shoulders and he asked if I was ready to enter the restaurant. Apprehensively, I agreed. Upon entering the hookah lounge, the hostess greeted us and asked a way to be seated. He began to argue with her. There are plenty of seats open here, we can sit wherever we want. And then he proceeded to walk past her and go find a place to sit. She just said okay and I looked at her with a sympathetic look and apologized. To preface, I have no issue paying for my own meal on a date. That's not an issue. But I had found myself short on cash this week and I told him this beforehand. We had the date, he said it was no problem and that he'll pay. So as we sat down, our server came over and offered us menus and a hookah, which he refused. Then the waiter offered a drink menu, which he accepted. The issue here is that we're under 21 and in the United States it isn't legal to drink until you're 21. So he proceeded to order himself a Coke. Yeah, just a Coke. I ended up just getting a Gatorade and we began making awkward small talk. That conversation was so pointless I can't even remember it. I remember that he mostly was just scrolling on his phone, not really talking to me that much. One thing I do remember though is him pointing at me and then saying, you were gonna be my girlfriend. No asking or anything. I knew that I wasn't going to be going on a second date. That was something I made up in my mind for sure. The waiter comes by and he asks if we wanted to order anything else. He then begins to get up to leave the restaurant saying lets Go somewhere else. I don't want to be in here anymore. But I then asked, um, do you plan on paying the bill? To which he just said, oh yeah. He was just about to walk out without paying. I was so embarrassed and humiliated in front of the waiter. He pays the waiter and we make our way out of the restaurant. Wanting to cut the date early, I began to check for my phone, but to my horror, it died. He asked me if I wanted to go for a walk in that part and I reluctantly agreed. As we're walking, he starts to lean towards me again. He then says, so can I kiss you? Um, maybe later. I told him because at the time I was more of a people pleaser rather than flat out rejecting him. We walk across the street when he then suddenly says, I don't think I can wait any longer. He then grabs me by my waist, pulls me in a forced kiss, and then asks me if I'm a virgin. I lied and said yes because I hoped that he would lay off, but he then says, well, me too. Now we can lose it to each other. He then continues to forcefully kiss me while using teeth. It almost felt like as if he were biting me. A little about me is I'm 5, 9 and £150 at the time. While I'm not a super small girl, I was honestly small next to him as he was 6 foot 5 and maybe 250 pounds. Keep in mind, all of this is taking place at 8pm at night in a nearly empty park. I then scream at him to get off of me. I told him to just stop touching me. He eventually relents. At this point I was done and I needed an out. I turn to him and ask if I can use his phone and he lets me. This is when I discover that I can't call my mom's phone because his is still set to Turkish. I had a slight feeling of panic. I asked him to walk with me to another store or restaurant so I can try and get wifi and download one the of of those free text apps to call for a ride. He walks with me and he asks if we can hang out again. In order to not upset him, I said okay, but this is just a bad night for me and that I need to get home. He then says, I feel like after this date I'm never going to hear from you again. I lied and assured him that that was far from the case. Well, eventually we were able to find wi fi near a restaurant and I successfully contacted my mother to come and get me at the park where I was dropped off at, he asked to walk with me back there and I unfortunately relented. As we walked back to the park, he began looking around and he saw a random black guy walking by. He then tells me that he's nervous because he's afraid of black people. I looked at him confused because well, I'm a black woman. He then explains, well, you're not like that. The way that he walks just makes me uncomfortable. He looks like he would steal from me. So yeah, at this point I was way past mentally checked out of this state entirely and I didn't want to upset him in case he would try to do anything to me. He then leaned in and he gave me another tooth filled kiss that honestly hurt my face. I pulled away again and attempted to change the subject while I waited on my ride. I can't remember why, but he had pulled out his wallet and showed me his ID. Remember how he said that he was 20 years old like me? Well, it turns out his license says that he's 17. I then immediately asked him why I lied about his age. He stated that he didn't lie and that he had his birthday changed on his ID when he moved here. Even more confused, I felt super grossed out and disgusted with the fact that he seems to be a literal minor. I then looked up and saw my saving grace, my mom's car in the distance. I suddenly stood up and explained to him that that was my ride and that I had to go. He then asked me if we could hang out again sometime, which I agreed, but as soon as I got in the car, I blocked him on all of my social media and then unmatched him on Tinder. I'm 27 now and I've grown a lot in the sense that something like this would never happen again, especially over a heartbreak. I'm also happily engaged so I don't ever have to worry about running into that kind of situation again. I went on Bumble and matched with a girl who I'll call Fran. She seemed really cool and I found her very attractive at first. I'm a bisexual female and at the time of the story I was freshly 18. I had no experience with anyone, but my preferences were set to male and female matches. Friend was 20 because I had my age range set to include anyone between 18 and 25. We started talking regularly and I had told her so much about myself. Well, after a month of talking I felt like I could trust her. As we spoke every day, I told her about how inexperienced I was and she told me that she found this hot. I didn't think it was odd, but it made me embarrassed. After that, she had began asking me intimate questions like if I'd kissed anyone and what I thought my favorite sex position would be. She also started saying that we needed to meet up and that she couldn't wait to take my virginity. I felt uncomfortable, but brushed it aside. I mean, maybe this was just how dating worked. I had matched with some dudes on Bumble and a few of them sent me a dick pic as soon as I said hey. So I thought it was normal for people to be very forward on these apps. I did like Fran, but having her constantly talk about my lack of sexual experience made me feel uncomfortable and embarrassed. She would tell me constantly that she wanted to bang a virgin and now was her chance and how I was so hot, etc. I ended up telling her that she was making me uncomfortable and she apologized. A few days passed and we didn't talk. I messaged her but she ignored me. I thought that was it. Then when she had sent me a web link, I clicked on it without really reading it and it was the straw that broke the camel's back. She had sent me a link to a sex toy website advertising a very long strap on dildo. I exited out and just felt awkward and she sent me even more messages. She told me that she had ordered it for us and that when we met she couldn't wait to put it on and fuck me with it. For hours she went into graphic detail about all the sex positions that she wanted to put me in and that she wouldn't stop fucking me until I was screaming and that a girl like me needed a huge dildo. I felt so sick reading that I realized that friend was a psycho and I messaged her telling her so. She messaged me back saying that she loved feisty sluts like me and she'd make me her personal slut when she deflowered me. I deleted my entire Bumble account and never went back on it. I didn't tell anyone what happened, not even my closest friends. I know it might sound strange, but I didn't expect another female to be so creepy and unhinged. I feel like it's something society really needs to acknowledge more. Fran was definitely female since you can verify your account to prove it's you by submitting a photo to Bumble in a pose they ask you to do so it was Definitely not some 50 year old dude behind the screen. Years have passed and I still think about that interaction. At times I always hope and pray she never gets another young naive girl to meet up with her and I hope that she never got the chance to act out some sick psycho fantasy with some other poor girl. It still makes my blood run cold to think about might not sound that scary, but the way that she described wanting to basically hurt me sexually just disturbs me so much. It was really terrifying to know someone wanted to do that to me. She was obviously a very scary and dangerous person and I'm just glad I saw her true colors and that I didn't actually end up meeting her. God only knows what would have happened. I'm a 29 year old female and while I'm well traveled and have been around quite a bit, I do occasionally make some pretty rookie mistakes. My fault and I make no excuses. I try to remain diligent and alert, but I'm very capable of letting my guard down. So after being here in the US for about two months, I decided that I was bored sitting around my unit watching 90 Day Fiance so I decided to make the old dating profiles again. I made no specific intentions known about what I was interested in accomplishing as I don't really know myself. I just wanted someone to hang out with and see where it goes. Naturally. I ended up matching with this one bloke who had shared interests with me. We chatted a bit over the app and eventually I felt okay giving him my number. After talking back and forth for a couple of weeks, I agreed to meet up. We met at a pub and we had a couple of drinks. I'll admit at first I didn't recognize him because he didn't resemble his photos to the extent that I was expecting. He didn't look bad by any means, but I could tell that he used older photos and edited them enough where he seemed more appealing. I swear I'm not trying to sound superficial because he was cute, just not what I was expecting. But I also think we've hit a point in social media culture where it's safe to assume that we won't see the same thing in real life as we do online. And that's okay. We did hit it off. We discussed the usual first date stuff. Then we got into more detail. I told him about back home and work and how life was different than here in the States. At one point we were talking and holding hands and I felt comfortable enough to let him kiss me. Well, he had asked me as we were leaving if I wanted to go back to his place for a cup of coffee. I told him that I knew what coffee really meant and that I didn't want to do that on a first date. He assured me that it would be one cup of coffee and that he would give me a lift home so that I didn't have to call an Uber. I accepted his offer and we walked to his apartment, which was a few blocks away. As we were going upstairs, he had made a few questionable remarks. He mentioned how I wasn't like most girls because I accepted his invitation and alluded to the you never know, I could be a psychopath. He then motioned with his eyes down to my dress and inquired about my titty size. I told him again that I was sorry, but the night wouldn't end with him getting lucky. As we got into his unit, he dismissed himself to the toilet and left me sitting on his bed. It was a studio and he didn't have a couch. As I'm sitting there and waiting for him to finish doing whatever he was actually doing, I noticed in the corner by his bed that he had two masks. One was a cartoon looking goat mask and another was a cat or maybe a tiger. What was even more alarming was that he also had a bowie knife and a small woodcutter's ax only a short distance away from them. Upon further observation, I also noticed that there was a black jumper draped over a dresser. Then on his bedside table there were a pair of latex gloves. Okay, I don't feel like being murdered tonight. I got up and then calmly left the unit. I then made haste down the stairs and down the street where I was able to catch a lift. Now look, I may have just really hurt his feelings because he had no malicious intent, but if that's all that happened, then I'd prefer that over the possible alternative. All of these items alone wouldn't have been that bad, but all of these random items within a short walk from each other. I'd rather just not chance it. I do feel bad for leaving a person, but I don't feel bad about leaving what could have potentially been a dangerous situation. That, along with his random personality change, was more than enough for me to make the call that I made. As of recently, I noticed that he either blocked me from Tinder or just deleted the app. I'm a 23 year old female and I've been single for a while. I go out on dates very rarely, but I just recently moved to a new city. I've been struggling with loneliness from not knowing anyone and I don't have any real friends from work yet. So I took to things like Bumble and Tinder. After maybe a week of swiping, I eventually came across a guy that I matched with. He was really cute, had a good job, had similar interests as me, and was the same age. I should have known better. We talked for about a week. After a couple of days, we exchanged numbers. We talked about life, talked about jobs, and he was just really sweet. He gave me assurance and he told me that a new move could be scary, but that putting myself out there was a really good step in the right direction. He did get strange with me at one point and he asked me things like what color bra or underwear I was wearing. And I told him that I wasn't quite ready to talk like that. He agreed that it was out of line and apologized. Didn't think much else of it. After about a week, he wanted to meet up in person. He wanted to be in a public space so that I could feel safe. He told me he would take me out to dinner and if I wanted, afterwards we could go grab a beer. It sounded like a fun night to me. He wanted to meet outside of a dive shop, which I thought was a little strange. It's winter where we are, but it's one of those US States that doesn't really see cold winters. So I didn't give it a great amount of thought. The shop is also located near a public park, so there were a good amount of people there. After looking around for a bit, I'd spotted him talking to some people. I walked up to him and I gave him a hug. Not like super romantic, but more than a platonic, less than a partner kind of hug. To my disappointment, he just sort of aced his palms on my back like he was put off. But he did give me a slight smile one day. How are you? I tried making it work. I told him he looked a lot cuter in person and that I was really happy that he asked me out. I was extremely nervous. His eyes widened and he had turned to ask the group that he was previously talking to who put me up to it. With no expression of humor, they all just calmly denied anything. He then asked me who told me to do this. I was confused. I told him that we had been talking on Tinder. He told me that he didn't have a Tinder and he even went as far as showing me that he didn't have it downloaded on his phone. He apologized for the mix up and I showed him the profile and he seemed equally confused. I turned away and started walking back to my Car. I was so humiliated. Then I got a text message from the number I'd been talking to that just simply read Ha ha ha. I couldn't even fathom that. I attempted to call the number, but it had been disconnected. By the time I got home, the whole profile had been deleted. I blocked the number just in case. I had some of the photos saved that the profile sent me. I did a reverse image search on Google and found the Facebook profile of the guy that I actually met up with. His name wasn't the same and he was actually a few years older. I also figured out that he was a dive instructor at the shop. I felt so betrayed and violated. I did send the actual guy a message and I apologize for the inconvenience. I explained everything to him and why I was acting that way. I gave him as much of the story as I found necessary. To my surprise, he actually responded back and he said that he was sorry and that he was also blindsided by the encounter. He did offer to take me out for a drink to make up for the whole mess, but I simply have severe trust issues now, ever since. Before I begin with the story, I want to give a trigger warning for emotional and mental abuse as well as sexual assault and rape. This all started a week before my 18th birthday. At the time, I was in a relationship with a guy named Dan, but he was leaving for military deployment to Japan shortly after I turned 18. He told me he would be gone for eight months, which turned into 10 months thanks to Covid. He told me that since he would be gone for so long that it would be okay if I casually slept with and went on dates with other people. He said it was okay considering we had only been together for less than a month. Now onto the real story. I've never told anyone the full story, not even my therapist. After Dan left for Japan, I got back on Tinder and this is where I met Bailey. I'm using his real name because he's a dumpster fire of a human being. Bailey was 22 and I was just barely 18. When I was 18, I was very naive and I thought I was untouchable. As in thinking I could kick anyone's ass that tried to mess with me. Being a five'3 95 pound female, I soon realized that wasn't the case. Anyway, Bailey and I quickly started talking on Snapchat rather than Tinder. We had planned a day to meet and I learned he lived about 20 minutes away from my house. I asked him if he could pick me up since I Didn't have a driver's license and he said that was fine. When he came to pick me up, I lied to my mom about who I was seeing. I told her it was a friend that she already knew as they had the same kind of car. When I got in his car, it really reeked of weed smell. It wasn't a problem to me, but just something I noticed. He said hi to me right when I got in and he started driving us to his place. I as he was driving, he had hit his weed pen like a good five times in a row. He asked if I smoked as well, which I said yes, and then he asked if I wanted some. I hit his pen, but I only took a little bit so that I could still be aware of my surroundings. I went to hand it back to him and he then told me, oh, come on, don't be a pussy, have some more. To which I then replied back with, uh, no, thank you. He seemed upset, but he didn't push it further. When we got to his house, we didn't really do much. Just hung out and watched some tv. And of course he smoked more weed. After a few hours, he drove me home, high as a kite. A few days later, we hung out at his house yet again and we had a smoke sesh. I had smoked more this time because honestly, I just wanted to get high off my ass. During our smoke sesh, he leaned over and kissed me. I kissed him back because at the time I honestly thought that he was attractive. He was definitely the bad boy type. He was blasted with tattoos, full sleeves on both arms and both legs. He had a full color chest piece. His whole neck was covered. He had an eyebrow piercing, and he always had a gun nearby, if not on him. He kept one on his nightstand right by his bed, and he always had one in the trunk of his car. He was also from Florida and he proudly told me that he had spent time in jail before. I don't remember for what exactly, but it was either for assault with a firearm or armed robbery. I honestly should have ran for the hills when he told me this, but I didn't. Stupid, I know. After we kissed, we had sex and it was consensual. Anytime we had sex after the first time was really just because Bailey wanted to. He told me I didn't get a say because, and I quote, you belong to me and you should just be grateful that I'm not cheating on you. I found out later that he was in fact cheating on me, but that's besides the point. During this time in my life, I was attending a youth group for young adults at my friend's church. I wasn't very religious, but I would go so I could see my friends on a weekly basis, since this was after I graduated high school. One Sunday before the youth group, I was at Bailey's house and one of my friends was going to pick me up so we could go to the youth group together while I was at Bailey's house. He then told me that he wanted to and that we're gonna have sex whether I wanted to or not. I don't want to get into too much detail, but he gave me oral, sexual, and he got mad that I was disassociating and not giving him my full attention since I was in shock. And then after he raped me, he pulled out and then he ejaculated all over my stomach, chest and face. I know. Very graphic. I was absolutely disgusted. And he then told me to go clean myself off in a shower while he watched me. Bailey was in the middle of moving apartments and he didn't have any soap in his shower. I tried to get off his fluid with scalding hot water. I got it all off my face, but not my body. When I was done in the shower, I got dressed and my friend had texted me that they were there to pick me up. We went to the youth group, and I actually had to sit in that church with dried semen on my skin until I got home and could properly clean myself about a week later. My friends and I had planned going to Knottskiri Farm since one of my friends worked there as a scare actor. Well, when Bailey heard about this, he demanded that he come with. He told me if I bought his ticket, he would pay me back, which didn't ever happen. So I rode to the park with my friend group and Bailey drove separately. He met up with us about an hour after we arrived. While we were going through the park, Bailey and I got separated from my friend group. I don't know how, but Bailey got his weed pen through security and he told me to have some. I took a small hit and I handed it back to him. He then told me to take a real hit of it. So I took the pen back and I hit a blinker. He was satisfied and he then took it back. I don't know what the heck was in that thing, but it wasn't just weed because I've never had a high like that before. And I mean ever. After a while, everything became kinda distorted. It was almost like I was Seeing double of everything and everything became like a green and purple color. If I had to guess, it was probably laced with either acid or lsd. Anyway, Bailey wanted to go to Clown Town, and I'm terrified of clowns. I was literally begging him that we go anywhere else in the park, but he said no. And then he picked me up and dragged me there. He made me walk in front of him so I couldn't run out of the clown maze. I was hyperventilating and crying that I didn't want to be there. And he was laughing at me, acting like it was a big joke. He was definitely enjoying himself. After we got out of the maze, he asked me if there was a candy store in the park. I told him I didn't know because I just couldn't think straight. I was so high I could barely see straight. I was still having a panic attack and crying, and he told me to stop being such a baby. Then out of nowhere, he told me that we were done, since I'm too childish, and he ditched me. I called on my friend and told him what had happened and where I was, and they met up with me and consoled me. Now, you probably think that this is the end of the story, but I regret to inform you that it's not. About four months after this happened, Bailey had hit me up and apologized to me about what happened. He asked me if I wanted to hang out with him and help him set up a fish tank. He got I should have said no and blocked him, but I was a dumb kid and I agreed to hang out with him as friends. Keyword friends. He picked me up at my house, and he then drove us to his new place in Newport Beach. When I got in his car, he had handed me his pen, and he told me to have some. I just replied, no, thank you. But then he said, um, I didn't ask you if you wanted some. I said, have some now. Right. When he said this, I immediately regretted agreeing to see him. I took a few smaller hits off his pen and then told him, I'm not having any more. Thanks, though. Once we got to his place, I had sat down on the floor by his bed. He asked me to help him set up his fish tank, and I did. After we set it up, he had said he felt gross and that he was going to take a shower. I thought that was weird, but I just said okay. As he was taking a shower, I had sat at the end of his bed watching whatever was on the tv. As I was sitting there, I had Heard the shower shut off, and then Bailey walked out of the bathroom naked, dripping wet. I asked him, what the fuck, dude? He didn't say anything. He walked over to me, so I backed away further onto his bed. He then grabbed me, putting his hand over my mouth. He pushed me onto my stomach and he held me down as he pulled my pants and undies off. I bit his hand and he let me go. I had started screaming at him to stop, but he just got on top of me, and since I was laying on my stomach, I couldn't push him off me. He then told me, shut the fuck up or I'll make you shut up. I immediately stopped screaming because I knew he had a gun and I didn't want to get shot. He then grabbed the back of my neck, shoved my face into his bed, and started choking me. As he was raping me, I actually thought I was going to die. My vision started getting spotty, and I'm pretty sure I passed out because the next thing I remember was Bailey slapping my face, telling me to get up. He told me to stop crying because he knew that I wanted it. He also told me that he called me an Uber to take me home. Then he turned to me and said, I don't think we should see each other again because you're just way too childish for me. As I got on the Uber, I had told him to go fuck himself. The next day, I had went to urgent care because I was bleeding so much from my vagina and I wanted to make sure I was okay. I also got tested for STDs just in case everything came back normal, and I was given pain medication to help with the excruciating pain. After I got home from the doctor's office, Bailey had texted me, telling me I gave him an std. I told him that it wasn't possible since I'm clean, and I told him it's probably from some other girl that he raped. I then blocked him on everything after, and I haven't heard from him or seen him since, and I really hope it stays that way. I also didn't report him to the authorities because I felt so ashamed and I thought it was my fault. I know now that it wasn't my fault, and I'm still healing from this. Everyone, please acknowledge the red flags and leave as soon as you don't feel safe. There's a lot of shitty people in this world, so please keep yourself safe. And, Bailey, I hope your ass is in jail or prison so you can't hurt another soul. When I was 16, I had a boyfriend named Jordan. Not his real name, he was one year older and we were together for five months before I finally dumped him for disrespecting me. The catalyst for the breakup was that I slept with him and he bragged about it to his friends. I felt betrayed and angry. I found out in school on that Monday. We had been together on the Saturday and I had stayed the night because his parents were gone. So he must have told his friends the minute I left or something. His friends were trying not to laugh when I approached Jordan and it became obvious why. They started saying stupid shit like how I was crawling back for more and making sex noises and just generally mocking me. I was so angry and Jordan actually fucking laughed at it. I'm not proud of it, but I shoved one of his friends and then stormed off. Jordan didn't try and follow me or call after me. People were staring and I stormed home because no teachers were around to stop me. My parents were at work. I went home and I felt humiliated. I had really trusted him and he even dropped the L bomb over the weekend and I believed him. I have an older sister who was 20 at the time. I phoned her and she was on her way to work, but she answered me anyway. I started crying as I told her everything and she told me that Jordan was a dickhead. I knew she was right when she went on to say that Jordan had used me, but it still hurt to hear that. He told me that he loved me after we had been intimate. But my sister said it didn't matter and he probably only said it so I'd do it with him again. I asked her why he'd go and brag and let his friends disrespect me if that was the case. And she said that he thinks he can do whatever he wants and I'll just accept it and that I shouldn't accept it. I then promised her that I wouldn't accept it. I knew right then that I was going to break up with Jordan. But I also didn't want to see him ever again after this. A while after school was finished, I had heard a knock at the door. I just knew it would be him. Part of me wanted to talk to him, but part of me didn't. I let the door be knocked and I walked on the stairs and stood in the front room. I could hear him calling my name, saying that he knew I was home and to please open the door. I decided to open the door and I let him in. It was best to talk now and I could break up with him face to face. I felt like he deserved that, that I wouldn't stoop to his level by dumping him over text. When I let him in, he had tried to hug me but I backed away. He looked hurt and I'll admit it really tugged at my heartstrings very briefly. Then I felt the anger all come back. We then sat down and I started talking before he could. I told him that I was angry and upset, then explained why. He told me he was sorry, but then he tried to turn it onto me. He said I'd probably told my friends about what happened so he didn't think it would be a big deal for him to tell his I told him that I hadn't told any of my friends and even if I had, I wouldn't have told them details and private information. I then told him that I didn't want to be with him anymore and he told me not to make such a rash decision that we could work through it and I was just pissed at him and not thinking clearly. I told him my mind was made up and that I wouldn't be that stupid girl who lets her boyfriend mistreat her all because I love him. He told me that he wasn't mistreating me and that I was just blowing everything out of proportion. We ended up arguing and I just told him to go away. He did and when he left I slammed the door and then locked it. I ended up faking being ill just to stay out of school that entire week. I had asked my friends what everyone was saying but they told me no one was talking about it. Still, I needed time away because I couldn't face going back yet. On the Tuesday, Jordan texted me but I ignored him. He then started messaging me on Facebook and I blocked him. I didn't have the heart to block his phone number though, so I read every text that he'd send me. It was always the same. He's sorry, he loves me, please talk to him. But I never responded. On the Thursday around lunchtime the door went. I didn't expect it to be him because he would be at school, but to my shock it was him. As soon as I opened the door he barged in and then fell to his knees begging me to give him another chance. I told him no and I told him if he didn't leave I'd call my dad. I think that scared him because he then stood up and he started faint crying. He scrunched up his face but there were no Tears. I told him to leave me alone and we were over. He then came at me and tried to grab me, but I just shoved and shouted at him and I told him not to touch me. He said he was sorry, but I told him I didn't care and to leave now. He did and I locked the door. I looked out the window and I didn't see him walk away for a while. This creeped me out. He was standing at the front door for like 20 minutes before he finally walked away. On that night, I had decided to block his number because he called me 40 times. He was also texting me, begging me to take him back. As you can imagine, I was very uncomfortable with all of this. And my friends told me in school that he was acting normal. That made it even creepier. On that Friday, I woke up to a ton of Facebook messages. They were from Jordan's friends accounts, but he obviously wrote them. I blocked them immediately and the messages creeped me out even more. He was begging me to talk to him and cussing me out. I was getting really uncomfortable, but I didn't know what to do about it. I went back to school on Monday and I walked there with my friend. And as we walked, Jordan appeared. He was waiting for us, waiting for me. My friend then asked what I wanted to do and I said we should just walk past him. When we walked by, he'd called after me, but I didn't turn around. He actually didn't follow us. At lunch, I always stayed in the canteen. Jordan would usually go out, but this day and every day after, he would sit in the canteen at a table where he could stare at me. He wouldn't even eat every time, just watch my every move. It was so fucking creepy. His friends would glare at me or laugh to themselves, but I ignored them. It wasn't worth making a fool of myself. They were the ones being gross. I had to change my walking round to go home because Jordan started walking, walking behind me whenever I walked home. And it really freaked me out. One time I went to my friend's house and he had followed us into her street. He never knocked on her door or tried to run inside though. But it was still very disturbing. This went on for months, so I eventually got a new boyfriend. I'll call him J. He was in my year group and Jordan got jealous. He would ball his fists and stare at me and he would shove past me in the corridors. I told Jay and he noticed it and I always begged him to never confront Jordan. But one day I was standing with him and Jordan walked past and elbowed me. Jay turned around and then shouted down the hall to Jordan, telling him to get back here. I told him to be quiet, but he ignored me and he started making his way over to Jordan. I didn't want them brawling in the corridor because it seemed so cringy and unnecessary. Jordan didn't turn back, but Jay then grabbed his backpack and then yanked him. Jordan still didn't turn around. He just tried to keep walking. Jay insulted him and Jordan ignored him. He tried to grab Jordan, but Jordan just managed to pull away. I ran over to Jay and I told him to leave it, and he did. He then started ranting about Jordan and he told me to tell one of the support teachers who deal with student well being. I told him I would and I did. A few weeks passed, but his behavior was still weird. He stopped pushing past me, but he kept staring at me. I guess he got more secretive about his behavior. One night I was home alone while my parents were out shopping for food and my door went. I was hesitant. I wasn't expecting anyone. I had unlocked the door and I heard it open. I thought it was my parents, but they'd only been gone for 40 minutes and they usually took an hour at least. I then heard footsteps and it wasn't my parents. I darted off my bed and my bedroom door opened. It was Jordan. I was frozen for a moment and then I asked what the hell he was doing. He didn't respond. He just lunged at me and tried to grab me. I darted away and then screamed at him to leave me alone and to please stop it. I ran down the stairs and right out of the house and I could hear him behind me. I then ran to my neighbors because I knew she'd be home and I literally ran into her house begging her to help me. I didn't have my phone and Jordan didn't dare follow me into her house. My neighbor called the police and she told me to calm down and that I was okay now. She had two young sons and they were both looking at me like I was crazy. When my parents got back, the police were already there. I told them everything. The police went to Jordan's house, but he wasn't there. His parents were horrified by his behavior, though. The second he got home, his parents notified the police. Turns out he'd been roaming some secluded area near where we lived. He got in a lot of trouble and the police let him off with a huge warning. His parents also contacted the school, spoke to my parents, and more. He wasn't arrested or anything, but he was given a serious warning. Things finally changed after that. He would still stare at me, but he didn't pop up everywhere anymore. When the summer break came, I finally got a break from him. He left school because he was in the year above and I ended up not having to see him anymore. I avoided the area he lived and anywhere he frequented. J wanted to fight Jordan because he turned up in my house and he was convinced that he wanted to attack me, but I begged him not to that I didn't want him to get in trouble with the police. It didn't end up lasting very long with J, but he was a really good boyfriend to me for a year and a half. Three years passed and I eventually got a friend request from Jordan on Facebook from a new account. As you'd expect, I blocked it immediately and I then changed my settings to prevent people from adding me without mutual friends. I felt safer that way because I actually unfriended a bunch of my classmates so that I only had my friends on there and I knew that none of them would add Jordan. By this time I had also moved away from the area for college. It was really creepy to think that despite everything, he had tried to add me after three years. Maybe he wanted to apologize to me, but somehow I really doubt that. Early on in my eighth grade year, I had started dating a girl that we'll call Liv for the sake of the story. We had a band class together where the teacher just kind of let us do our own thing. So we had started spending a lot of time together in that class and it grew from there. Over the course of our relationship. There were many things that my adult self would now recognize as serious issues that need to be correctly handled. But because of my age and lack of life experience, I just didn't really know what to do about them. The first of these things was every day at lunch after Liv had finished eating, she would get up and go to the bathroom. I don't remember how, but eventually I somehow figured that she was doing this to make herself throw up her food. She had an eating disorder. The next of these things was the fact that she seemed basically scared of her own parents, and particularly her dad. She never said for a fact, but I'm certain that hands were laid on her by her parents. At more than one occasion over the course of our relationship, we had a lot of late night Skype calls. Eventually, on these calls she had opened up about her depression and eventually had even cut herself on the video chat with the intention of me watching this happened many times and as a kid I just didn't really know what the correct way was to handle this situation, especially considering the deal with her parents. I would have many sleepless nights on Skype convincing her that her life was worth living and that she was loved. She would shake a bottle of pills and then mute herself for minutes at a time at school. We had to wear uniforms and I would lend her my sweater so that her forearms wouldn't be showing. We dated for about nine months after eighth grade. Liv had transferred schools. We had broken up that summer and I know this is messed up to say, but I was really relieved to be free of that constant darkness and stress. Don't get me wrong, I was worried about her, but I was really glad to be allowed to enjoy my own life again. I had heard stories about her on and off for the next two years and none of them were good things about her dating shady older guys, doing cocaine and other things. She ended up blowing up on some Instagram modeling page during that time as well. I received a few prank texts and calls from her, but I never carried the conversations on for long. Sometime around spring and the end of my sophomore year of high school, I was napping on my couch as my parents were getting ready to go on a week long out of state trip. My older sister was coming home from college to stay with me for most of this time. My mom came and woke me up very gently, eventually saying, hey, do you remember Liv? I obviously said yes. She said that my friend's mom, whose brother was still best friends with Liv's younger brother, had then called her and apparently Liv had shot herself in the mouth and was in a coma in the hospital. I didn't immediately cry over this. I think it took me being alone in my room for everything to really sink in. My school, even though she wasn't a current student, had held a group prayer as we were a private school and I was pretty frequently checked on by our principal and counselor for a while after that. Unfortunately, she died fairly quickly and the funeral was while my parents were still away. I attended the funeral with one of my best friends who was also close with her and in that band class. I eventually ended up dating one of her best friends from my school as we had really bonded talking about some of our experiences with Liv. I developed some substance abuse issues that sophomore year of high school. That got really dangerous in college and I'm still trying to kick them at age 22. I really wish that I could have helped Liv with what she was going through, I only hope that she's in a much better place now. I'm sorry if this is long. This went on for over the course of almost four years. And I'm sorry if I jump around in this story, but there's just so much that happened. So it all started with a message that I got when I was 18. I'm gonna use his real name because this man is an absolute garbage human being. But I got a message from a man named David Clark on Facebook saying hey with a smiley face. I used to have a crush on him when I was a 15 year old girl, but he had just turned 19 at the time and he quickly quit talking to me when he found out how young I was. I messaged him back innocently and in a friendly way because I had a boyfriend at the time. He was pretty persistent in trying to get me to hang out with him and drink with him, which I had always declined because I felt it would be inappropriate. Well, some time went on and I eventually broke up with my boyfriend after coming to realize he had been unfaithful. So I decided to message David Clark back. We talked for a little bit over the next two weeks or so and talking slowly turned into flirting, which turned into a relationship. Now I was living in Casper, Wyoming at the time and he had planned to come and get me and bring me back to Rock Springs, Wyoming where I had lived previously. He had planned on picking me up the next day and I was fairly excited. But after getting off the phone with him, I had this feeling of impending doom. I couldn't explain it, something was wrong, but I had just turned 19 and I was such a dumb kid. The whole drive back seemed to be going really well. We were laughing, flirting and having a good time. But when we got back to his house, things took a really weird turn. He started showing me some gory videos online. I have no idea why as I obviously don't enjoy things like that and I never insinuated that I did. He was definitely weird for that, but I figured I'd still give him a chance for some reason. I know like I said previously, I was a dumb kid. Well, the first month together it was fairly nice and we were doing pretty solid. We had gotten a place together and we were both learning on how to live with each other and getting to know each other more. And plus I only got a place with them because I didn't really have anywhere else to stay with at the time. But after some time passed, he started to become Very mean, like, random outbursts at small things that I did. But I knew the couples fought, and I figured it was normal. He also brought it up to me that he wanted to start swinging with me. I've never done it before, and I was a little hesitant because I'm very monogamous. But I do like to adventure and try new things, so I agreed. So pretty much everything, even in that aspect, seemed pretty normal for a little while. But David increasingly became more and more mean as time passed, and he started showing some pretty weird tendencies. Like, I woke up and I caught him going through my phone, and as soon as he noticed I was awake, he quickly hid it, which was really weird because he had my passcode and he knew he could go through my phone whenever he wanted. But the thing was, I was never allowed to go through his. Well, I later had realized that he had hacked into my Facebook account, my Instagram, and even my email. How I realized this is because I saw out of the corner of my eye him scrolling through these pictures, and he scrolled past a bunch of pictures that I hadn't sent him. I asked how I got those, and he just said, oh, remember that time you used my phone to log into your email? Yeah, but I logged out of my email. But I later realized what he really did was go into my phone and change all of my passwords so he could get into all of my accounts and see everything I was doing. As more time passed, I didn't even think it was possible. But he got more and more cruel every day. He would pick fights with me about everything, and it got to the point that I was scared to fuck up, even in the smallest of ways. I was literally walking on eggshells every moment. Another thing he would get mad about is if I wasn't in the mood for sex. And he literally wanted it every single day, sometimes multiple times a day. And he would also get mad if I wasn't in the mood to sleep with other people. Like, if our friends came over and he was trying to initiate sex and I wasn't in the mood for it and just wanted to hang out with them, it would be a screaming match every time they left. Things escalated even more when we moved into our house and no longer had a roommate. He had isolated me from my family, and the abuse became more intense. I remember one particular night, we were outside smoking a cigarette, and this drunk girl was walking past our house going home from the bar. We had been drinking, too, and she seemed really friendly, so we decided to invite her in and she joined us. We had really been on the rocks lately, and I was trying my hardest to make him happy. So I asked if he was interested. Well, he said yes. So I started flirting with her and her and I ended up getting along really well to the point that nothing turned sexual. But we were talking as friends. David was quiet the whole night. When the sun finally came up, we then drove her home. And I'm not even kidding, the moment she got out of the car, David started screaming at me about how I had left him out and how I was a shitty fiance. I always shut down when he yelled at me. I tried arguing with him in the past, but he had too much of a mean streak that there was no reasoning with him. He had screamed at me from eight in the morning until well into the night. This would go on every single day for three years. But slowly the fight started getting worse. Whenever I would try to go smoke from being stressed out during an argument, he would rip the pack of smokes right out of my hand. Then he picked up the pace a little bit. We had been arguing in the kitchen and he shoved me. At that point. I was so sick of letting him push me around that I stood my ground and I didn't shut down that time. He shoved me into the bedroom and he wrapped his hand around my throat and screamed in my face. When I started crying, he got up and told me that he needed to leave because he had never put his hands on a woman before. But we ended up working things out. Things seemed peaceful for a little while, but it didn't last long. We ended up having another argument. And during that argument, he had pulled a gun out. I remember putting my hand up and just saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down, over and over again. He had put the gun to his head, acting like he was going to pull the trigger. And then he put the gun in his mouth. Now, I do want to say that I had tried leaving a few times previously, but I always got dragged back into this bullshit. And I was honestly just really scared to leave. I desperately wanted to leave him. But now, after him pulling out his gun, I realized just how unstable he really was. And I had no idea where to even begin. He was still obsessively watching my accounts. Any messages I sent were not safe, so I couldn't tell anyone about what was going on. Well, during the time when things were getting really bad, I met my now husband. And of course David was angry. I had told my husband, who will call K that I wanted to play some Call of Duty with him as we had started gaming together. I didn't have a gaming headset at the time, so we just decided to FaceTime so we could still communicate while gaming. Well, David was at work, and shortly after we started gaming, my phone was blowing up for messages. He said, yeah, so who the hell are you FaceTiming with? I know that it's K. You two sure have become friends pretty quickly. I'm not gonna lie. I no longer had any love left in my heart for David after the years of abuse. And Kay was so kind that I started quickly developing feelings for him. The only time that I felt some kind of happiness was whenever I was talking to K. But again, I was really terrified to leave David. He was very well known in that town, and my fear got the best of me. I felt like he would find me and shoot up my house if I left. And I didn't want to put any of my family or friends in danger by staying with them. Well, I know David could sense that I was falling out of love with him because I started sticking up for myself more. I had tried to leave multiple times already, to no avail. So he started being really nice to me out of nowhere, like, consistently. But the sex thing was still an issue because I got physically ill every time he kissed me or even touched me. But I still did it to keep him happy and to keep us from fighting. Well, one night, I wasn't really in the mood, but he wanted to have sex. I had actually led him, but he had become so aggressive that it was painful. I kept telling him that I didn't like it and that it hurt, and I even started crying. But he seemed more excited by this. I felt so broken afterward. And that's when I knew something shortly was going to happen to me. And I was really scared that this was going to get worse until the point he ended up killing me. He had even asked me about what happened to me in previous assaults as a way for him to get in the mood, if you know what I mean. I knew something was off, and I was trying to figure out how to get out safely. Going to the cops wasn't an option because we only shared one vehicle. And I was honestly terrified of going to the police, and I didn't really know what I would tell them anyway if I did. Well, fast forward to a week after my 23rd birthday in 2021. I got a call from my coworker saying that David had just been arrested and to hide all of my weed. So I quickly ran outside in the freezing cold to Hide all of our paraphernalia. When I was then approached by three men in hoodies, they said my name and they asked to confirm if they had the right person. I said yes. Well, they said that they had just arrested my fiance on 14 counts of child pornography. I instantly fell to the ground crying. I felt sick. The next day I had to go in to meet with the detectives and sign release forms for the two gaming consoles that they confiscated. And when they told me in great detail what he had been doing, including talking and exchanging photos with underage girls, I grabbed a trash can and I was actually on the verge of throwing up. I've never felt that sick to my stomach in my life. When David called me from jail, I yelled at him and I asked him why the fuck he would do this and what the fuck was wrong with him. He had the audacity to ask me to stay and wait for him to get out of prison. And I told him no, that he should have known how I felt about pedophiles, especially after what had happened to me. His parents ended up siding with him, forcing me to return our car that I helped pay for. And they told the police I was harassing them. They actually wanted me to stay with him. I had a severe mental breakdown to the point that I needed medication to help me sleep and to help me stop crying. I later found out from a friend whose dad is in the same jail as David, that he told David I was married and pregnant. And this motherfucker actually had the nerve to say, fuck that bitch, she was cheating on me anyway. Which I wasn't, but I honestly should have. His article got published on Sweetwater now and everyone soon came to find out what a sick, twisted monster he really is. So to anyone in a toxic relationship, listen to your gut. There's so much abuse that went on in this relationship that I honestly don't even have the time to write it all out. But I should have ran when my heart was telling me to, whether I was scared or not. So please, if there's even a second of doubt, get out before it's too late. I had to lose myself first, and I almost lost my mind before realizing that I deserved better. Don't let the same thing happen to you. Don't ever for a second doubt that you deserve better. This happened over the course of 12 years. I, a 29 year old female, had a really bad track record with relationships. That is, until I met my husband, a 30 year old male. I've been in two seriously abusive relationships over a period of six years. The first guy who we'll call Joe was 34. And I had started dating him when I was 17 and he was 22. We were together for two years and he was a real piece of work. He convinced me to drop out of high school and move in with him. He beat me and raped me and he emotionally manipulated me. He told me my family hated me and he isolated me from everyone in my life, things like that. He verbally assaulted me every chance he had. I was working 40 hours a week and he refused to work, even going so far as faking a serious back injury to avoid working. I was so naive, I left him and I moved back home. But after a few months, I took him back. My parents kicked me out, so I moved across the state with Joe. After only three weeks, I left him again. But while I dodged a bullet with him, the next guy who I dated was the real monster of this story. His name is Scott. After I left Joe, I was scared. I was alone and I was far away from my family. And to top it off, my parents disowned me at this point because a friend of mine had told them a bunch of lies, which they believed. So I started dating sky when I was 19 and he was 20. He was just my friend for a few weeks before we started dating. The first three months were fine. Now, I need to mention here that he knew about my ex, as he was staying in the same house Joe and I were staying in. Scott seemed like a great guy. He told Joe if he ever caught him putting his hands on me, he would beat him right back. He seemed to care a great deal about me and we seemed to have a lot of common interests. We got along well until we didn't. Scott never put his hands on me, nor did he ever force himself on me. But he used the fact that I have severe PTSD for my ex to manipulate me into doing anything he wanted. I was sexually assaulted at 13 and 16 and again during the time that I was temporarily away from Joe. Yeah, I used to be around a lot of shady people. I'm now hypervigilant of anyone near me that I don't know. And I'll have panic attacks if a stranger even brushes against me. I also have vivid nightmares as well as night terrors and sleep paralysis. Anyways, he would yell and throw things anytime I didn't do what he wanted. I wasn't allowed to have my own opinions. I wasn't allowed to be smart, and I wasn't allowed to have any friends. Once I found a job. He quit his job. We were very poor. Most nights we didn't even eat. But he would always make me give him my entire paycheck and would always buy weed. I eventually made up with my parents and I almost moved back in with them because Scott had ended our relationship after eight months. But he somehow manipulated me into staying but not getting back together for a month. He made me sleep on this tiny little bench that was from the back of an old van in our living room, but would regularly invite me to have intimacy with him. On several occasions I had caught him sexting with an ex girlfriend of his, but he would always gaslight me into thinking I was crazy. I stayed with him for four years. He was separated and his now ex wife really wanted a divorce, but he didn't want to pay for it. He would also string me along saying he wanted to get married and have a family with me. Over the years I managed to get a high paying job and bought a house rent to own. But he thankfully manipulated me into not putting my name on the house, only his as well as several cars and even got him two motorcycles. It took a long time, but I made enough that we were finally doing well. He still wasn't working, but I made enough. I hated my job. I worked seven days a week for over two years, but I really loved the stability. I was an in home care aide and my client happened to be his disabled mother whom he convinced me to move into our home. She was a whole other kind of mess. Eventually I got into a highly regarded CNA program in my area and I finished at the top of my class. This is when Scott told me if I took a second job, he would make sure I lost my current job. I couldn't understand at the time why he didn't want me to get another job. I now know that it would have been the end of our relationship. I would have met new people and I would realize I don't need him and that I could do better. Shortly, right before my state exam for my license, I moved my best friend and two of her kids in with us to help her. Some background on this friend. We'll call her Marie. She was 29 and she was the same friend who got my parents to disown me. She also married a guy that I had briefly dated in the past whom I was devastated over losing at the time it happened. But I forgave her. Well, to put it plainly, she convinced Scott to break up with me after I accused them of sleeping together which they had Been he had intimacy with her right outside the door of the bedroom that I was sleeping in and the house I paid for. While I financially supported the both of them, as well as our two children, the third had been taken by the state. Well, this time I left. I moved out and back in with my dad. My parents had divorced. At this point, I was in a bad place. I spent every day drunk. I drank about half a gallon of whiskey every day for months. I cried, I slept, and I just continued to drink. I saw Scott on and off from the time I moved out at the start of December until early February, Trying to make things work out during this time. I even caught him again with Marie. At one point, he would gaslight me again. But on February 14, 2018, I went to the doctor and they told me that I may have cancer. I went to his house to tell him, and before I even could, he shut the door right in my face because he didn't want me in the house. This broke me. I resigned my position. I got sober, and I completely rebuilt my life. About a year later, I got back in touch with a guy that I was friends with in middle school and high school, and I eventually married him. He has been the light in my life. He's kind and very understanding. I'm so thankful for him. He knows my past and all my trauma. But he helps me and he reassures me. And I know that this man would burn the earth for me. But here's the thing. After Scott and I were over, he started seeing another woman, who we'll call Renee. I'm unsure of her age, but she was probably between 28 and 30. The pair ended up having two kids and even got married. Turns out she got him doing meth early on in their relationship. After being married less than three months, she decided she wanted a divorce. Well, he didn't like this. So one night, while she was out with friends and their two young children were with Renee's parents, he tied up her dog with barbed wire and put the dog in the shed. He also locked up her other pets. I'm not sure how many. I know at least two cats and another dog in their house, and he lit the shed and house on fire. One of my close friends who's like my younger sister, happens to be close friends with Renee and had relayed all of this information to me. After this happened, I broke down. I remembered all the times that he had talked about wanting to know what it was like to watch the life leave someone's eyes, which is a direct quote by the way. And also how angry he was when he lost the house that I was paying for after I left. The venom he held for me in his heart while I felt horrible for Renee. I really feared for my safety. Also, he wasn't arrested for several days and he only served seven days for a parole violation. He was never charged for what he did to Renee's house, which was her grandmother's and Renee had it before they got married. And he was also never charged for what he did to her precious pets. I only saw sky once after I resigned my position. I saw him at a grocery store and I had a full on panic attack. He just looked at me with such loathing, such hate. He blamed me. I honestly never knew he would do something so horrible. I now have a permit to conceal Carrie. I own two handguns. I always lock my doors and I always observe all of the people around me. I've also changed my number since because of an unrelated stalker. My life is now filled with so much love, but also constant paranoia. I know that both Scott and Joe are out there. I've seen Joe's family a few times and him once. I'm just so glad I got away from the both of them. I know deep in my heart they would have severely injured me or worse, killed me. Either of them. They were very violent men with violent tendencies. I hope anyone who reads this keeps these things in mind. Don't ignore the red flags. Never ignore them. There's someone out there who will treat you properly, who will treat you with kindness, love and compassion. Don't settle for less. You're worth far more than their anger, their blame. If you encounter such a person, run. Don't question the flags. You can't save them and you can't change them. Just get out while you can. I'm writing this out in hopes that someone else with some pretty profound experiences can confirm that. That I'm not crazy. I've been off and on in my faith of the afterlife for years. At the time this story occurs, I was a full blown atheist. I've tried doing research, tried looking for credible videos or stories of people with crazy paranormal experiences. Because what I'm about to tell you is 100% true. And I really don't think any of this was my mind playing tricks on me. But my mind always tries to rationalize everything. So I guess let me know what you think. But I was a skeptic until I met my evil ex boyfriend. I was only 18, a young, naive girl at the time. When I met my Ex who we'll call G for this story. He was very interested in dating me, but I was with someone else at the time. Even though I'd made it known that I had no desire to hang out with him, I wanted to remain loyal. He still persisted. Fast forward and I'm 19 and come to find out my boyfriend cheated on me. So we break up and I reconnect with G and I decide to give him a chance. I remember getting off the phone with him one night as I was getting ready for him to drive three hours the next day to pick me up and then bring me back to the town that I had just left. The town he lived in. And I had this sudden intense feeling of impending doom. I wish I would have listened because I really believe it was a warning. I started noticing some strange things about a month into our relationship. Some rather toxic traits that became apparent pretty early on. A few months go by and I notice it's got quite the mean streak. I started getting sleep paralysis episodes which has never happened to me before in my life. I would never see anything. But it felt like how your leg feels when it goes numb. That weird tingling. It was like that, but it spread through my entire body. I remember trying to move but couldn't. All I could do was breathe fast and heavy in hopes that he would notice I was doing something unusual and he'd wake me up. But he never did. We ended up moving into his parents house until we could get on our feet. And due to his lack of desire to work and spending habits, we ended up staying in their basement for an entire year before getting our own place. I remember the first incident. I woke up early to go for a run, but due to it being cold outside, I ran on the treadmill in the basement. I'd say I'd been running for about 20 minutes, completely focused on my music when I noticed a shadow in front of me which looked like a little boy scurry around and then disappear. I immediately turned off the treadmill and went right upstairs. I tried to rationalize it in my mind. It's gotta be playing tricks on me because I would always see things in the corner of my eye that aren't there. So that must have been one of those instances. But what was weird about it was this was head on. Still, I quickly forgot about the incident and I decided it was just my mind playing with me. Everything seemed quiet for a while. Granted, we had been fighting heavily for a long period of time at this point. So I constantly just felt this heavy negativity all around me. One night I was laying in bed with G, and he was fast asleep. That's when I then hear footsteps walk from the hallway to the kitchen above our room and back. I figured it was one of his parents maybe getting a glass of water. And then I heard it again. Footsteps from the hallway to the kitchen and then back. Okay, yeah, that's weird. Must have forgot something. Then I heard it again. The same footstep pattern. This went on, I kid you not, for maybe about 35, 40 minutes. So the next morning, I had asked his mom, hey, so did Urgi's dad get up and walk from the hallway to the kitchen at all last night? She said no, that they were sound asleep. If I remember correctly, this was about 2 or 3 in the morning. I'm not gonna lie, I didn't know how to explain that one. The next weird event happened shortly after. I was awake, of course. It was early in the morning. Around the same time, I heard a muffled conversation between two men that again went on for about 40 minutes. It was in the kitchen right above our bedroom. I went up to use the restroom in the dark to see what was going on, and no one was up there. His parents were also fast asleep. Couldn't explain that one either. We eventually moved into our own place. And G's anger is at the highest it's ever been, to the point that he's put his hands on me. His behavior is becoming very aggressive the longer I stay with him. I remember hearing toys go off in my stepson's room when no one's in there. And it got to the point whenever I entered the house by myself, I felt unwelcomed, like whatever was in his house followed me to mine. Even when I tried to tell my sister about the house, I couldn't even get to the first story before she said, I don't think we should talk about this. Something is definitely wrong with that house. Okay, so this is where it turns into more adult content. So, any younger people listening, I advise you not to continue. When she and I were on a camping trip, I took shrooms, which ended up being a pretty scary experience. Unfortunately, I remember the entire time I was feeling normal again. I don't know if it was my subconscious or what, but it told me, promise me you'll break up with G. He's going to destroy you. You need to leave him. Promise me. That was the most intense thing I've ever experienced. I was having a good time until these thoughts started bombarding me. And then it really turned Bad. Very quickly, my body knew something was wrong. I eventually started falling in love with someone else. And very deeply. And spoiler alert, we're now together and married. And he's the father to my amazing baby. But at the time, I was just so scared to leave G because during an argument, he actually pulled out a firearm and threatened to unalive himself. And he had already put his hands on me. I wanted to leave, but I didn't know how. Whenever he would kiss me, I got sick to my stomach. And this wasn't just a mental thing. It was like my body was repulsed by him. I physically felt ill when he was close to me. I knew it wasn't just because of the fighting too. Because we had fought for three years and I had no problem before being affectionate with him again. My body was telling me that something was wrong. The way we broke up was not pretty. Here's where things really take a turn for the worse. He got arrested for viewing images and videos of children being sexually assaulted. When I found out about this, I had a complete mental breakdown. This explained all of the gut feelings, why I felt sick whenever I was near him. This also explained why he would never let me see his phone, why he wanted me to work all the time. All the answers came tumbling down and I could barely function. I couldn't believe it was real. I didn't really know if these ghosts were evil or just trying to warn me that something was wrong. Here's the crazy thing. I've only had two paranormal experiences since my husband and I have been together. I remember sitting up one late night with my stepson. And on the nightstand right next to me, something fell down. And at the same exact moment it fell, I then saw a shadow fly out from behind it. My stepson reacted to it too. And he was only a little over a year old at the time, so I knew I wasn't going crazy. The last one was when my husband was in the shower and I heard someone call out. I shrugged it off until my husband got out of the shower and I asked him if he said hey really loudly. And he just said no. I thought that was you. But nothing else has happened since. I don't know if the ghosts were checking on me or not. I know that that's so silly to say, but I never got a bad feeling during these last two events. The other crazy thing is, since G has been in prison and since we've broken up, my sleep paralysis episodes have totally stopped. I don't know. These are too crazy to try to rationalize them, but my brain still tries to. I'm a skeptic. I can't help it. But as much of a skeptic as I am, it's really hard to dismiss. I know he's evil, but I can't help but feel like something was trying to tell me that.