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Survivor Story: I am a Teen Dating Violence Survivor

BreakTheSilenceDV

BreakTheSilenceDV

Written by: BTSADV Survivor

I was 15 when I went through my first relationship. It was love at first sight, and that’s when I knew he was the boy I wanted to take home to meet my family. The first two months were amazing. He treated me so well, buying me flowers and necklaces and making me feel like a queen.

We had an argument because he started talking to other girls flirting and asking to meet. I told him I’d like a break to really think about whether or not I wanted to carry on the relationship; this was only the second month of our relationship when he started doing this. When I told him this, I was at home messaging him, and suddenly he turned up at my house, grabbed my phone, and hit me. This was the first time he hit me.

After that, he used to punch me, throw me around the room, and strangle me every day. I would try to break up with him, and he would come to my house without me knowing he was coming and hit me and hurt me by pinching me until I told him we could stay together. He would bend my leg into positions it wasn’t supposed to bend into and push down so it would hurt – to the point where one time he dislocated my leg. He did the same with my arms.

I was 15, and this was my first relationship, so I didn’t know how I was supposed to be treated. I thought maybe love does hurt? I was brainwashed. I managed to escape after one year and five months with him. Now I’m 18 and still recovering after leaving over a year ago. I’m just happy I am out of the relationship, but I still feel embarrassed that I went through that. Still, I am relieved I am not with him anymore.

I will not let that relationship define me. I am important. I am enough, and I am going to get through this. 

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