His half-empty bottle sways precariously from two unstable fingers. His stomach doesn’t heave and his throat doesn’t burn anymore, for he is accustomed to this poison. It’s his best friend; he uses it to escape his misery. But its her worst enemy; it educes her suffering. She sits quietly on the couch, almost hoping that he’ll forget about her if she doesn’t capture is attention. Maybe he’ll stumble off to bed without giving her so much as a second glance, but she knows that she’s just pumping herself with false hope. So she continues sitting on the couch, awaiting the agony that follows.

I’d see Amanda at school, slowly losing herself and becoming more and more timid with each passing weekend. She kept it a secret from the world, but I knew what was going on. Not because the reoccurring bruises – she did a great job concealing them with make-up and jackets – but rather because she consoled these grim nights with me. We’d been best friends for years, and it pained me to see her hurt like this. Why couldn't she walk away? Couldn't she see that this was much more than just physical pain anymore? He was cutting permanent scars into her that she will never be able to leave behind.

Time and time again she'd say "I'm done with him. This wont ever happen again." Yet the cycle would always continue, abusive weekend after abusive weekend. Ive never understood why she stayed with him. how could she consider that love? Why did she believe him when he'd say it would never happen again, when she knew very well it would?

Drew's father beat his wife for years until he was eventually sent to prison for it. Drew witnessed this happening as a child and grew up with the complex that this is somewhat acceptable. Its like this in many cases. Abuse runs in families. Fathers indirectly teach their sons that it is okay to hit their woman. Likewise for mothers. If they stay, they're teaching their daughters that being hit is just what happens to a woman when she gets sassy. She deserves it, right? You'd think drew would have learned his lesson vicariously through his father. Obviously he missed the part where you can be locked up for this nonsense.

Many women fall victim to believing, “He'll change, he loves me. It was a one time incident. It'll never happen again.” Untrue. So tell me, why is it so easy for a girl to leave a guy for a new cute face, but as soon as he hits her, its as if he just proposed to her? Honey, he didn't hit you with love, but instead with the cold fist of control.