“

Just because you never hit me does not mean that what you did was benign and wholesome. The hurt you caused was more than skin deep.

“

Sometimes, we focus on saving others in order to distract ourselves from our own growth.

“

I am the truth, your karma, the revolt — I am the resistance, the pieces you tried to keep shattered, coming back together again.

“

“Never sacrifice your own personal growth at the expense of waiting for someone else to change.”

“

“My three-year-old daughter said daddy should leave because he made me sad.”

“

“I thought I could somehow fix things, that there was something I could do to help her.”

“

I’m still haunted by your hands, whispers on my skin that left permanent marks, almost like shadow scars.

“

I’ve had to overwrite every situation in which I’ve been hardwired to feel anxiety. Because of your game, I’ve had to relearn how to live my life.

“

He ties his words around you like a corset, fashioning you into his soulmate. Fast-forwarding intimacy on all levels, he plays the victim, weaving a sad story about betrayal by his previous partner who you will later come to learn is also a victim.

“

These pathological individuals walk among us every day in their false masks, often unseen and unnoticed because of how eerily normal they are.