In my sleep i startle , i startle because am filled with fear . Fear that came as a result of being countlessly hit by he that i had put my trust in, he that i gave my heart to, he that i gave my time and shared it with him like it was ours because he was to me everything that i was never to him.
He told me he loves me .
"love" , the word that gets the average girl sprung , the word that is the reason of our weakness , weakness of emotions because we all want to feel loved , we want to be told we are loved , that sense of belonging we all yearn for.
what i thought was love , i never saw the monster eyes in him . I was too obsessed with the cinderella fairy tale ,i could not see that the signs of being in the hands of the big bad wolf.
The first time it happened , i cried, we both cried , he said he was sorry and that he would never touch me like that ever. i believed him ... because 'i loved him'.
And then again , and this time i blamed myself because i thought it was as a result of my never ending talking whenever we argue.
And then again, and again, and again and again.... i lost count, i got used to being hit that it was just an act like any other. I allowed him that privilege of abusing me . Not because i wanted to but because i felt he had a right to that even the voices of my friends advice were unheard .
I turned to alcohol and cigarettes as an escape and so that became the new me, that was my new identity "the girl that gets hit but still goes back to him" . I chose to isolate myself from everybody ,from friends because the stigma that comes with being in an abusive relationship is unbearable .
With dark makeup i covered my bruised face, and played sad music, drunk as much and the relationship between Dunhill and I got tighter.
My dignity was stripped off as i was the laughing stalk , and my aim to prove them wrong was just another trap as the longer i stayed, the worse it became until one night , i just got up ,without looking back , i chose to face my fears.
The nightmares of him coming for me tormented every night as i carried this burden alone , in my sleep i continue to startle as a result of that fear, the fear i hope will one day just cease .
#Ruddietude . #GenderBasedViolence #CryOfAWoman