Lo que he aprendido de mi amiga maltratada por su pareja

I have a friend whom I’ve known practically my entire life. We knew each other from school and we lived close to each other, so we always hung out together. It wasn’t until college that we became great friends.

Es muy inteligente, sarcástica, ingeniosa y guapa. Siempre tenía una lengua afilada y era la más divertida en todas las reuniones.

Además, tenía una relación estable de larga duración. Su vida era todo lo que siempre quise para mí.

I remember one day we were having a latté in our favourite cafe and she said that her boyfriend is near, driving around in his car and that she is just going to give him kiss hello. 

I remember thinking and saying to her,“Omg, that’s super cute.”

As time passed, we started becoming really close friends. I told her that she has the greatest life ever: “You are beautiful, finishing up college, everyone likes you, and you are in this great relationship full of understanding and trust.” She kind of smirked when I said that.

On another occasion, we went for a jog and her boyfriend, whom I still hadn’t met, called her and asked where we were going.

I made a joke and took her phone and said, “We’re going out with these handsome guys from university.” I noticed how uncomfortable she was.

I don’t recall what happened in between; she graduated and I still had two more semesters, so I went back to university and she called me,saying they’d broken up.

Me lo contó todo en una especie de código, como si tuviera miedo de hablar por teléfono.

Cuando volví a casa me lo confesó todo. Toda su relación era una mentira. Era una persona extremadamente celosa y agresiva.

Remember the time he stopped by to “kiss” her, well he was just controlling her. And that time I made a joke about the guys from uni, well, he didn’t believe her and slapped her because of it. 

Ella me habló de montones de situaciones en las que él estaba celoso y paranoico y la golpeaba sólo porque creía que era lo correcto.

Le pregunté cómo se las arreglaba para estar tan bien y feliz delante de nuestros amigos y me contestó que cuando estaba entre nosotros, vivía la vida que quería.

Su relación duró mucho tiempo. Dijo que tenía miedo de romper con él porque amenazaba con suicidarse o matar a su familia y a ella. 

Le lavó el cerebro y ella tenía miedo de contárselo a alguien.

At one point she was afraid to ask him to go to the movies and see the new James Bond film just because he might think that she is “in love with the actor,” then freak out and hurt her physically. 

Eventually, he broke up with her although she played by his rules. He was obviously mental and he couldn’t cope with himself anymore.

She was finally saved although she wanted to even get back together with him – classical Stockholm syndrome. Luckily, he moved away and she realized that freedom is the most important thing in life for her.

She thought she’d never find anyone again. Her self esteem was shot and she’d completely lost faith in men, but she fell in love again with the greatest guy ever to whom I introduced her.

Por fin es feliz y vive la vida que siempre deseó.

A veces me sorprendo a mí misma quejándome de un tipo cualquiera que me hizo daño y me bajó la autoestima, entonces pienso en ella y dejo de quejarme.

Es una persona tan buena y fuerte que consiguió salir de todo esto sólo porque creía en el amor y en que hay gente buena ahí fuera.