Dating can be a wonderful, yet frightful experience. It helps you discover what kind of person you want to marry. Now we all wish for that "perfect" relationship, but in reality the "perfect" partner, may turn out to be a dud.

In the beginning it was great, he was my very first serious boyfriend and I adored him. We were inseparable, and perfect for each other... so I thought. About three months in, things started taking a turn for the worst. He grew angry with me over the littlest things, and everything was always about him. I remember spending hours outside of a video game arcade until he was finished.

Somehow it progressed to an even worse relationship and I hadn't noticed. Well, in all honesty I had noticed but in my eyes he was still flawless. In public nobody would have ever guessed how broken we were, but behind closed doors his true colors showed. He would punish me if I upset him. A scar on my leg is finally faded from his kick. Not only had he kicked me, but I had also been choked and punched in the stomach. But since I "loved" him, I thought it was a onetime thing.. How wrong I had been.

After six months of dating this guy, we finally ended. I felt like a bird being let out of its cage. I was finally free of his abuse and could venture out to find happiness.