My ex's guide to relationships came from her parents nasty divorce and literary cues. She expected a whirlwind romance where I swept her off her feet with passion, and when that didn't meet to expectations she decided I was the terrible man that her true love would rescue her from. She had entire conversations in her head how events would pan out and would get really upset if I went off script by not being a character in her story.

She struck out a lot. Once while we were sleeping in bed she started punching me and when I pushed her away from me she fell off the bed and was hitting herself by the time I got to the light. This fit in her abused girlfriend story. For weeks she wore plastered on makeup and big sun glasses for maximum attention for a minimum bruise.

After that I just took it. She'd slug me on the shoulder while joking around. She'd slap at me for losing at cards. If she was really angry, I get clawed in the face and take fist fulls of my hair. I grew out my beard because that made it hard for her to scratch. The mental manipulation was worse. I learned to cover what I said and was often getting steered into an outcome she knew she wanted. She created drama between myself and everyone I knew, I was pretty isolated.

There was money inequality while I was finishing a degree. I had an unexpected payout from some work and managed to get out of her debt and put money down on a new apartment. Suddenly she had no hold over me. Those last weeks she got really violent. I would lock myself in a room, listen to music on my headset and do homework. She would stand outside screaming for me to stop hitting her while punching herself. Her endurance for this was pretty remarkable and she would do this as long as there was nothing better on tv. I could tell when commercial breaks were on because she was suddenly yell. One night I attempted to take a piss, and she blocked my path and went for my face. I hit her once in the stomach and knocked the wind out of her. This was the only time I actually did hit her. For the last few days she was as respectful to me as any roommate. Everyone else did get another story as they called often to make sure I wasn't beating actively beating her that moment. She poisoned everyone I knew against me, but I didn't care at that point. As soon as I could move out I started over.