Some part of you would have liked to say that you’d been seeing him for what he was but the truth was…you hadn’t. Eyes closed toght, you had been blind to it for far too long. It had been going on for so long and you had gotten to the point where you just took it.
When he called you names…
According to him, you were stupid and useless, never ever doing anything right.
When he criticized you endlessly…
According to him, you were so damn difficult, so hard to please, alwats screwing up anything you touched.
It hurt.
It hurt like hell.
But you took it all, every word and every barb, always saying nothing. Doing nothing. Like a good little punching bag.
Somehow, the toxicity of your relationship had become your new normal. You had begun making excuses for Adam for years, telling yourself that every boyfriend acted like this. It was a bad day, a bad mood, a bad time. Or it was a rough patch, right? Everyone went through rough patches but…it would be fine. It was normal, it was okay, everything was okay.
Until it wasn’t.
Until you met the turtles.
It had happened so suddenly, a series of accidents that lead to a masked turtle saving your life. And from there, a friendship begsn to blossom. You never told your boyfriend about any of it. He never wanted to hear what you had to say anyway so…you kept it to yourself.
Everyday, you came home to the same old thing.
Useless. Disastrous.
Insults thrown your way, a screaming fight in which you never uttered a word. You only sat there and let yourself be screamed at before Adam stormed out, leaving you to weep.
And every night, you ran off to something new…something wonderful.
One turtle in particular had taken to you, always slipping away when no one was looking. A rooftop overlooking the city and stars became a special sort of place. There you would hear and feel everything you didn’t even know you had wanted.
Beautiful. Intelligent. Funny.
He told you that you were all kinds of wonderful. That you were everything he had ever dreamed of, all that he had ever wanted…and that you deserved so, so much more then that bastard.
And for the first time in forever, you believed it.
They weren’t the biting remarks you were so used to, they were like honey…warm and sweet, and you began to crave it.
You began to fight back.
When your boyfriend snapped at you, you snapped back.
Teeth bared, claws out, you weren’t backing down anymore! He was shocked the first time you dud it, standing there with a stupid look on his face. Damn, did that feel good! When Adam tried it again, he found that this wasn’t a fluke. It was courage. It was you, the you that had been gone for so long, broken down by cruelty…and brought up by love.
“Shut up!” He had screamed, storming towards you.
But you didn’t back down.
You didn’t run and hide.
Pushing back, you glared up at him and, for the first time, you saw Adam for what he really was. Ugly. Evil. A tyrant that had ruled over you life with cruelty and abuse for far, far too long. But tyrants fall and empires crumble, new life springing ftom the ruins of what once was.
“No!” You screamed back, “No! I’m sick of this and I’m sick of YOU! People don’t act like this when they love each other so you don’t love me…so just leave!”
He’d laughed bitterly, smirking that smug like smile, it made you want to smack him.
“Who could ever love you?” Adam sneered. “Who could ever want you? You’re lucky that-”
No. No.
He wasn’t doing this anymore. He wasn’t going yo break you to bits again. You weren’t going to let this happen, not now and not ever. No one else was going to treat you like that ever again. Fire burned within, a raging anger bursting forth and interrupting his little tirade.
“I love me! I want me!” You shouted, shoving him away. “And I am so fucking done with you.”
“Y/N-”
But you weren’t going to hear any more of it. Throwing him and all his stuff out into the rainy street, you glared down at the man you had once loved…the man that had become your nightmare. Every nasty thing he’d ever said to you ran through you mind, destroying any pity you may have felt for the pathetic little creature. There was no parting kiss or kindness for him. The last thing you would ever say to Adam was a simple order:
“Never come back.”
The door was shut. The locks were changed. In fact, you changed everything. New sheets (you hated the ones he had slept in), a new look (you wore everything he had told not to), a new you.
It was…awesome.
Laying back in the sunlight, you felt as though everything had changed for the better. The nightmare was over and your eyes were wide open…and your phone was going off.
The name displayed on the screen made you smile, a message flashing brightly.
“Meet me on the roof?”
“Always.”
Waiting on the roof, you wore a smile on your face and a dress in his shade. The sun set slowly, stars beginning to appear one by one by one, and from out of the shadows, a figure appeared.
“Y/N!”
“Hey, you~”
That toxic love had up and died but you would not mourn it. A sweeter love had taken its place…and you were ready to live again.
(This is based of According to You by Orianthi. Moral of of the story, treat your girlfriend right or she will find someone else who will)
