It's not my story to tell. However, I have been privy to this for a few years now. I was shocked to say the least, when I got to know her story, their story.
The story's my friend's, her family's. To any outsider, even myself, they would fit in to the neatly worded "happy family" category. Or so the exterior did seem. But the insides of this happy family were crumbling.
It was the usual story of abuse towards the wife. The husband or my friend's father would have one too many to drink at home and would find sorry excuses to beat his wife. He would leave her with bad bruises after thrashing her around the house, screaming at her, throwing things at her if not her.
If only he stopped at that. He used to take his intoxicated anger on his children as well; pulling them by their hair, throwing them against the walls etc. My friend used to go through the worst of fits, with being flung down stairs and smashed against cupboards on top of the other abuse.
Even a call to a friend during an episode like this is life threatening. The father would come looking for her, even if she were to lock herself in the room. Her physical bruises weren't that visible but her mother wasn't that lucky.
What I found intriguing about this was that, their's is an educated family. Both parents are in respectable professions, and it really made me wonder why a man of with his background would do something like this to his loved ones and also why a lady of her nature would endure this.
However, this doesn't end like most of the other stories where the victims don't stand up. My friend took the courage to stand up to her father and made him sign a 'letter' when he was sober, stating that he will seek counselling and that he won't hurt his family again. This was before she was to go to the police and make a complaint and there after go to the Child Protection Authority. It was a tough decision for her and I respected her [and still do] very much. It was heart breaking for me to see her go through this and not be there during the worst of a series of situations and only help her sitting at a pc thousands of miles away in a different land. Unfortunately, the 'letter' didn't work, but she used another technique in the form of non-violent communication which has thus far worked for her, with her father's responses to her changing.
It has been a year now, and to this day I haven't heard her complain about his behaviour. So I guess, one can get lucky if they stand up and oppose or express their feelings.
This was originally written for the Beyond Borders blog. The post can be found here.
The year went by in a blur,