Community Ties Mean Nothing
“This is more specific to the teeny-tiny town I used to live in. Used to believe I was valued by the community. Used to actually believe in that community spirit, that soul, if you will. I had seen it and participated in it.
When I left my marriage of almost 13 years, there had been about ten years of domestic violence. I well and truly thought the community would help me out if I needed it and reached out, as I had seen so many other times in the 15 years I had lived there. Nope, got quite the opposite. Nobody believed me. People who I thought were friends disappeared. People who I thought were friends played the, ‘It wasn’t really that bad was it?’ card. People that I thought I could trust to help keep me safe by not tell anyone where I was living went straight to my abuser with that info. Hardly anyone would even speak to me, even just to say hi, when I needed acknowledgement most.
[Screw] all of [them].”
Story credit: Reddit / OutcastTraveller