I think that's the key here Pacific - 'survivors'
We are aren't we? All of us here, posting are the ones who survived. The thing is, there are those who do not survive rape and/or abuse.
I can't even begin to imagine how the families and friends of those victims must feel. Then again, there of women who I have spoken to about rape and abuse who have said that they wish they'd died instead of having to live through the hell, memories, horror, blame, self loathing, the shame, the feeling of being damaged goods, the insecurities.........
When I left, I was scared to death that I'd bump into him all the time. I did once, I walked into him and almost vomited there and then.
He had the gall to ask after my DD. He asked how she was. Apparently, a friend told me that for years he had a picture of her (my DD) on his mantel piece, he told people that she was his DD and that he's 'lost her' when I left him.
My blood ran cold when I found that out.
The best thing I ever did was to open up and talk about it. Once I did, I found that I saw him as ugly and small. I found that the power he held over me was ebbing away.
I'd see him, not up close, I'd see him in his car and wonder what I ever saw in him.
But at the time, he had complete control over me. He'd groomed me for months before the first rape. He was the one to rape me first, his friend came later on.
By that time, I had become withdrawn, he'd cocooned me into his world, he held every part of me in his control. He promised every time that it was the last, that he was sorry, so so sorry.
It didn't stop. Not until I left.