There are some conversations you have with people that are light and airy, meandering from topic to topic little hummingbirds in search of the nectar of distraction, and there are others that start with a solid explosion and then lead you into dark alleyways where you wish you were only getting mugged by memories.
I’ve had both types in the last few days but there’s a set that is weighing on me at the moment because what I am hearing has me genuinely in fear for a friend’s life because of violence they are receiving from their partner.
Its hard to hear, harder to not start trying to badger them with what I want them to do. I’ve told them that I think they need to leave. I’ve told them how desperate a place it sounds they’re in… and now all I can do is be that unstinting support, reminding them that they are not a failure, that it is not their fault and that things don’t have to be like this if they don’t want them to be.
I don’t know what else I can do – but I can’t turn my back on them.
