How I Escaped My Abuser
The Final Two Months in NYC
I was 19 years old and desperately in love with my abuser when I got accepted into a study abroad program. It was 2015 and I was a sophomore at a Community college in Western New York with only two things on my mind: gaining my abuser’s approval and going abroad for the very first time.
I spent the semester in and out of the international office. I made good friends with the other students looking at brochures of foreign countries. I knew exactly where I wanted to end up: Kansai Gaidai in Osaka, Japan.
After I got accepted, my abuser congratulated me but told me over and over again about his fears of being cheated on once I went away. To reassure him, I agreed to move in together for the month before my flight. I proudly announced to my friends that we’d be moving in together over the winter vacation. I was devastated when the most I got was cold, flat smirks, and a stern “call us if you need ANYTHING.”
At the end of the semester, I packed my things and my friend drove me to the bus station. I was to take the Greyhound Bus into Manhattan and we’d meet at Grand Central Station. The only thing was, me being from the country (my father is a farmer and we had no neighbors), I wasn’t used to public transit.
