Storyboard: A new true life story every month.

This month: Lisa's Story

I met Steve at Chloe’s, my friend’s house, he was one of her brother’s mates and I thought that he was gorgeous. I always managed to be round her house when he was there and I couldn’t believe it when he asked me to go to the cinema with him, from then on I saw as much of him as I could.  He was nearly two years older than me and I suppose that I felt grown up and loved it when the girls from school saw me with him.  

Steve would always tell me that the only person I needed in my life was him, and at that time it seemed true. One of my mum’s friends offered me a Saturday job in one of her shops and when I told Steve he went mad and said that it would mean that we wouldn’t be able to have as much time together, I actually stood up to him and told him that I could do with the money and on that first Saturday Steve turned up in the afternoon and waited outside the shop until it was time for me to go home.

As I chatted about what I had been doing Steve remained silent and I could see that he was angry. That was the first time that he hit me. I never went back to the shop even though I had really enjoyed it. My mum couldn’t understand it when I said that I didn’t like it there and we argued about it all the time.

I couldn't go anywhere without him being there, he would even get jealous of my own family members. I lost all my self confidence and all my friends because of his possessiveness and jealousy. He threatened to hurt me or himself if I ever left him and told me every day that he couldn’t live without me.  He physically abused me on a number of occasions, once he said that I was flirting with the boy who was serving us in McDonalds, when we got outside he pushed me against the wall and pushed the burger into my face and said that it would teach me never to show him up again.

I started to learn how to read his moods and did my best to please him - I kept my eyes down when other boys were around. I learnt to say the right things to keep him happy, I never did tried to provoke him or fight back. I shut myself off from the rest of the world and tried to pretend that everything was OK.

One day at school, one of my teachers asked me to stay behind and asked me if I was Ok and if everything was alright at home. She was worried about me not passing my A levels and went on about my future. It was at that point that I broke down and told her all about me and Steve. Even as I was speaking the words I realized that I wasn’t happy with my life and I wasn’t happy with Steve.

My teacher was great, she rang my mum and then gave me a lift home, my mobile remained switched off all the way home. When mum checked my phone, I had twelve missed calls - he’d text me seventeen times, and left loads of messages ranging from pleading loving messages to foul mouthed ranting.
He was really angry at first and accused me of wanting to leave him to be with another boy. He would often call our house in the middle of the night, saying that he was going to do allsorts, but after a few months the calls stopped.

Things are better for me now, my mum and I have a much better relationship but I still feel ashamed about how I was with her, my friends have also been great they suspected that something was wrong but didn’t know what to do.  I just wished that I’d spoken up earlier.