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"See?" Alexa said and turned to me "This is all my fault"

"No," Felicia said, her voice firm "Don't blame yourself for the actions of someone else He's clearly a psycho He's responsible, not you You were the victim, Alexa Don't blame yourself or he wins"

"It's hard not to, considering I picked him as a boyfriend and fiancé What does that say about me?"

"Rapists and n on their foreheads," she said "So who they are and just how sick they are until it's too late Blaine's like that He looks nors, but inside he's a black hole of hatred"

Alexa nodded slowly "Yes, that's Blaine all right Black hole of hatred It's why I broke it off with hi his true self show Maybe he figured he was finally secure enough with me that he could shoho he really was, but I didn't like it He always bla in his day If he had a problem at work, it

was so ticket, it was the cop as just trying to make a quota and should be after a real criet s, like the milk was expired, or we ran out of coffee, or there was a bleach stain on his favorite black t-shirt, or he couldn't find his cufflinks and I must have put it somewhere"

Then, Alexa stopped and stared off into the distance for a moment "From what I've read, that's typical of abusers They are perfect partners at first, doing everything right, and then when things are secure enough, they start controlling their partner They start abusing them That's what Blaine did with me"

She looked at me "I feel so stupid"

I reached out to her and took her hand "You weren't stupid You were doing what any hu to be happy You found someone who tried toto find soround?"

"Not good, and I used to wonder about him, why he didn't want to talk about his past, but I knohy now of course He had a bad family life His father was abusive to his s were always afraid of what their dad would be like when he returned fro They hid in their bedrooms after he came home from work if he was drunk, and often ithout dinner to avoid upsetting hirowing up has to warp you"

"That's too bad, but you know, everyone has a choice to behave a certain way He should have gotten therapy if he was struggling with violent tendencies"

Alexa shrugged "There's still a part ofboy as once totally innocent -- as himself a victim He's still responsible for his acts, but he didn't choose to have a wife-beater and child beater as a father"

"No, he didn't, but he can choose how he behaves now," Felicia said "He tried to kill Candace He raped you Now, he's harassing you"

Alexa nodded and sighed heavily "I don't want to talk about Blaine anyet that Blaine even exists"

"Okay," I said and glanced at John and Felicia, who nodded in the darkness