When I hit adulthood, became chronically ill, endured abuse, and realized that life comes in phases with others outgrowing you and dipping out of your world as they please. On the day of my high school graduation, I didn't realise that it was the last day I would ever see many of those whom I'd known for years and considered friends. Social media offers others the convenience of ghosting and blocking you forever, in spite of never knowing they even had a problem with you in the first place.
Even from a young age, I cried for help many times. All warning signs and pleas were ignored. I realized that the moment you are seen as an adult in the eyes of the law, no one sees a duty of care or social obligation towards you anymore. I had been groomed by an older man for a long time and then moved in with him the day I turned 18 as I had nowhere else to go. He was very abusive, and eventually I reached out to many people I knew, I told therapists, I told psychiatrists, I told friends. No one cared that I was a teenage girl with no family and no home, being taken advantage of by a 26 year old sleazy man, because he didn't ever lay a finger on me to inflict physical harm until the end.
No one ever offered to help me or get me out of that situation, until it was too late. Several people in our community accused me of starting drama or being mentally ill and attention seeking if I confided in them, despite these people being grown adults of 26-30 years old. Every time I'm even reminded of his face I feel nauseated and afraid. I could not attend events in my old community for so long because I was terrified of him.
That was when I truly realized you're alone in this world as an adult. You can have someone screaming at you, insulting you, blackmailing you, making revenge porn of you, isolating you, controlling you, threatening you, and other people will not care or step in to help even if the alternative is homelessness.
