The struggle was a battle, the stress was a disease with no cure, and hearing my heart beat was only the brash yell of my body asking for help. As a freshman in high school my first thought as I woke up in the morning was one thing, one person, a monster to me now, the love of my life to me then. I didn’t know any better, I was young and naïve. I should have known but because I didn’t, I let one boy take control over my entire life. They call this an abusive relationship; I was in one for three years and I never even knew it. I believed I was living ordinary though in reality I was living a nightmare. How could I be so blind? I couldn’t see that this relationship was affecting me in every single aspect of my life, most importantly academically.
I’m going to take you back to a single moment in my life that will forever be engraved into my memories, a single moment that impacted me so heavily. Even just a simple thing like writing this essay becomes a trigger to deep emotions like anxiety and depression, they call this post-traumatic stress. My first big week in high school hadn’t even finished yet when I met my moment. I was a 14 year old girl and easily fascinated by a manipulative17 year old boy; they call this love at first sight. An innocent most simple moment like this turned into a terrifying chain of events.
November 2008, the first time I felt his hand strike my face I thought of this moment.
The first time should have been the last, but it continued throughout almost my entire high school career. I was emotionally and physically tortured, I was no longer in control of my own body, and I was convinced the only safe place to be in was wrapped inside his arms. Getting out