She's this lovely girl from a foreign country..cultured, friendly, open & adorable!
of course we began the usual but desired regime on "how are you?!"s and all that...
how she's been lazy (like the rest of us...lols), how she's coping with a lonely life here in Melbourne, how her studies are going and so on....
amidst our full-of-laughter-but-partially-shushed-due-to-the-lecture conversation, she starts talking about her bf and her weekly (WEEKLY!) visits to *Adelaide to meet her boyfriend!
I was going "awhhh...." at first but then here comes the bomb shell...
Her face tells it all..As she tries to hide her true feelings, i notice glimpses of HER through that cracked mask...glints of fear, sadness, disappointment, exhaustion, anxiety....but she's been practising putting on her "makeup"...the "concealer" works well to strangers...
She begins revealing how her "kind & really nice" bf has been hitting her...I was immediately paralysed...
She then goes on about her bf's anger explosions that eventually lead to her being bashed up...
The punching bag as we would call it..She tells me of her bruises on her body (if she'd showed me ,it'd be even more heartbreaking...) She ever so calmly tells me of her visits to the doctor who even advised her to report this dire issue to the authorities...
What could anyone do?
She said she loved him. Even casually joked that she won't go see him this time so that he'd feel guilty. She mentioned how he begged for her forgiveness when she told him that breaking up was what she wanted...how he promised her that he'd stop his aggression once and for all but....(predictably..) in her last visit, he failed to keep his end of the bargain in this relationship...To the point where he (quote) "hit me(*Kirsten) in front of my sister.."
I was absolutely speechless....i've never had a friend who's been in such an ....(hate to say...)...abusive relationship...
Dumbfounded, i only manage to repeat to her to be really careful...asked her if her parents knew and shockingly-yes was her answer...she exclaimed how angry her mum was but i didnt ask if her mother actually did anything about it...Asked if she'd made up her mind on breaking up, she was still hesitant and indecisive...
The lecture soon came to a close...this was glued/stapled/plastered/caged/locked up in my mind...
As she walked out, i said be careful one last time...And that no one...absolutely NO ONE deserves to be hit like that...and that she deserves the best...She thanked me and left...
With her back facing me, i thought to myself - what a strong woman...still attending university, continuing with her life...
She really does deserve better...
=(
* name and location has been changed to keep identities secret
No comments:
Post a Comment