My best friend, who I’ll call Derek, had been spending an unhealthy amount of time with his fiance (Evan). Every time I tried to tell him I was worried, he acted like I was jealous instead of listening to someone who has known him far longer than his fiance has. He ignored my feelings and even scoffed when I said this was unfair to me.

I eventually got him to come boxing with me after he kept cancelling (I had to pull the “I don’t feel safe being alone right now” card 🙄). He came away with some bruises, which I didn’t intend, but I honestly thought it might help people see what I’d been seeing- that he wasn’t safe- so I took advantage of the opportunity.

I reported his fiance because he was obviously being emotionally abusive, preventing Derek from hanging out with me. I may have emphasized certain things, but only because nobody takes emotional abuse seriously unless there’s evidence they can actually see.

When nothing happened, I called for help from Derek’s phone, pretending to be him. I know that sounds bad, but I was scared he’d minimize it or protect Evan, like victims do.

Now Evan is in jail, and Derek is drinking again and crying all the time and saying he feels crazy (he doesn’t know I reported Evan). This isn’t what I wanted. I don’t want to take care of him. I want to play Halo.

I keep wondering whether I made things worse. But what was I supposed to do- just watch him throw his life away and then pretend I didn’t notice? I’m not even Catholic so I don’t understand why I’m feeling this way.

Edit: Solved!

Edit 2: uh oh, I asked my mom and she said I went to a catholic preschool… This might go deeper than I thought.