I needed to say this out loud, because silence kept protecting the wrong person.
It takes someone deeply disconnected from themselves to lie without flinching,
to manipulate love into a weapon,
to spend years tearing someone down while watching them try harder.
For three years, I gave everything I had—emotionally, mentally, spiritually,
believing effort could fix what was never meant to be healthy.
I kept showing up, even when I was shrinking.
I kept forgiving, even when it cost me pieces of myself.
I lost myself.