I Faced My Abuser and Won

We didn’t face off in the courtroom, but I still feel like it was a victory.

Photo by Ahmet Sali on Unsplash

Almost five months ago, my on again off again boyfriend of two years drunkenly pushed me to the floor and kicked me, leaving a sizable bruise on my leg. It was only a few days after Christmas, and my children were sleeping in the next room. Everything had been going well all day, but that…