Story 2

I've only ever been in two relationships in my life and the one which stood out the most was the second.
It serves to be the reason why I'm scared to ever go into another relationship, after creating some type
of phobia in my mind after the experience I got. My uncle had a restaurant where he made local dishes
and it was doing pretty well. I often went over to assist during the holidays, but when I was done with
high school, I went to work full-time while figuring out what I wanted to do next after school. It was
during this time that I met my second girlfriend who turned out to be my worst nightmare. She got her
job there as a cook through her dad who was a good friend of my uncle. I was asked to make her know
her way around the restaurant and assisted her with things such as tools and ingredients she couldn't
find whenever an order came. This made us become close and eventually we got into a relationship of
which my Uncle had suspicions but turned a blind eye. Basically, we were very much out there with our
slight PDA gestures during breaks, but he gave us the freedom as long as we weren't slowing down the
work process of the restaurant. As time went on and I got more confused on what I wanted for myself in
the future, our relationship grew thin and eventually felt cold as the spark had died. I broke up with her
and told her I'd appreciate it if we continued to be friends and she agreed. So we continued working in
the restaurant and things went smoothly between us until I discovered something on her wrist. It was a
tattoo with initials enclosed in a heart shape which I figured was ours. I tried questioning her about the
tattoo but she evaded my questions until she couldn't and gave it all up. She explained that it hadn't
been easy for her getting over me and she still had feelings but I shouldn't bother, because it was hers to
deal with. I then suggested it would be best if we stopped being friends and set boundaries, but this was
only the beginning of a event leading up to a terrifying incident. She burst into tears on hearing what I
said and threatened to kill herself if I ever left her. I was too stunned to speak and felt she was joking, so I
playfully held her hands trying to get her to stand up but she withdrew hers from mine and left the
room. I tried following after her but she told me to stay away from her. Scared that she might actually go
through with what she said, I went to my uncle and explained to him, so we got into his car and went
towards her house. On getting there, we met her dad who said she had just stepped into the house and
was in her room. He called her and she came out with a smile on her face and quickly apologized for the
way she acted earlier, attributing her reaction to her just being overly dramatic. When asked about her
threat on committing suicide, she denied and insisted I heard her wrong, that she wouldn't do something
as stupid as that and everyone believed. This however put me at ease on hearing her speak so calmly but
I knew she actually said she'd kill herself, but it didn't matter anymore as she gave her excuses which
everyone bought. Later that day, she sent a text apologizing for how she acted and what she'd said and
promised to make it up to me. When she came to work on the subsequent days that followed, we only
exchanged pleasantries and went about our day with our chores being in focus. This led me believing she
had chosen to respect my boundaries but the tattoo was still there. One night, she texted me that we
should meet at the restaurant, that she had a surprise for me. Not reading too much meaning to the
text, I went ahead to the restaurant and found the lights on despite it being closing hours. I turned the
door knob which opened and I went in. I tried calling her to know if she was around, because she
obviously was the one who opened the restaurant but there was no answer. Suddenly after wandering a
bit further into the restaurant, the lights went out and someone ran out of the darkness towards me and
hit me on the head with what I'd imagine was a stick. I lost my balance and fell to the ground and the
smell of gasoline suddenly filled the air as I saw the shadow of someone pouring it all over the place.
Soon there was a fire from a lighter which the person in the darkness held, but I couldn't see who did as I
slowly drifted into an unconscious state as the blood kept flowing from my head. The next thing I
remembered was waking up in the hospital bed with my uncle staying beside me. Apparently I had
suffered a concussion which led to me being unconscious for 3 days. When asked to give account of what
had happened, the images were blurry, but I remembered going there to meet Carmen, which was her
name and suddenly experiencing the incident. My uncle then explained to me that the hidden CCTV in
the restaurant showed that Carmen was the one behind the act and she was awaiting trial while being
held in juve. This came as a shock but led to a lot of trust issues and nightmares which has put me in
therapy for several years of my life now. Despite her being in jail, I still feel insecure despite it being so
long and always wondered if such an incident could happen if I ever went into another relationship.