And then I met Rachel. We had just moved into our current place and I had a friend over for the weekend. He said that she didn’t know anyone in the area and had just moved here less than 2 months ago for school. I told him that I didn’t care since I’m always game to meet new people. He gave her a call to make sure that it was ok before we picked her up. I remember picking her up and seeing how nice she was, but she was also shy. Sara is also pretty shy around people she doesn’t know so it didn’t bother me any. I like shy people. I’m a bit shy myself, to a point. Anyway, my buddy had used my cell phone to give her a call so I had her number that way. I became Facebook friends with her and she said it was ok to text her and to use her number to get a hold of her. After a few weeks we started talking a lot and really getting to know each other. Rachel and Sara didn’t hit it off right away. Something I have learned is that if you put 2 shy people in the same room, it’s a very quite meeting.
Anyway, Rachel and I got close. We became such good friends! I couldn’t have asked for a better friend and I even considered her my little sister. She was family. I found it easy to talk to her. She cared about me like a true sister should and in ways that I never got from my real family. She honestly cared for me so truly and so deeply and the feelings were entirely mutual. She had self-esteem issues that I could relate to and had started to make progress in. I did everything I could to try to build her up and help her see that she really was worth so much. It was one of my goals to see her blossom and bloom! I wanted more than anything else in our relationship to see her take life and run with it! I wanted to see her free of all of those things that were holding her back. I didn’t understand what it was that had caused it, but I wanted to help and she began to let me.
I remember one night in particular. Rachel sat me down and told me that she had something to tell me. She it was personal and she considered it a gift and she wanted me to treat it as such. She told me her story. I was overwhelmed by the words that came out of her mouth. Her mother was a member of the clergy and her father in the medical field. They very emotionally, verbally, and physically abusive towards her. They also drank, a lot. And when they drank they got worse. My ears couldn’t believe how such a sweet girl could be taken advantage of like that. She also proceeded to tell me how several male members of her family, immediate and extended, had sexually molested, abused, and even raped her. I couldn’t believe it! And when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, she dropped the big one on me. She was also dying from a uncurable disease. My heart just broke. I remember feeling very numb as she told me all of this. I also remember feeling very protective over her. I didn’t want anyone to hurt her anymore and wanted to give her the world after she finished telling me so many of the details of her life. It hurt to hear that Rachel went through so much and honestly didn’t feel like anyone cared.
After I heard Rachel’s story, it stirred something in me. I became very protective, because I didn’t want to see anyone ever beat her down again! I knew that we both had a lot of work to do to work through some of the things that she told me and I wanted to ensure that none of the work that we put into it was going to be wasted or set aback by anyone else’s carelessness. She was my little sister and I was going to protect her damn it!…..
