I’ve been with my girlfriend for over a year now and I love her more than anything in this world. She is the image of perfection in my eyes. But there’s one thing. She looks as though she gets assaulted on a regular basis. For a while I genuinely though someone was hitting her. She always flinched whenever I would make a sudden move but she’s always denied it and that it’s ‘just a reflex’.
I brushed it off and tried my best not to think much of it as she reassured me that no one has ever hit her intentionally. However it genuinely looks like it happens on a daily basis. Every time I see her she has new bruises on her legs, arms, wrists and hips, as well as scratches all over her chest. I would be lying if I said I never thought she might be cheating on me with some abusive dick.
However, these thoughts were immediately cleared after spending a few nights at hers. We are long distance so we don’t see each other often and when we do it’s usually just for a day. Anyways, the first night I had fallen asleep for maybe 1 or 2 hours when I woke up to a weird sound. It sounded like someone struggling to breathe. I look over and I see her with her hands around her neck choking herself as she slept I immediately grabbed her hands away from her neck which caused her to wake up and look at me all confused and scared. I explained to her what happened and she started crying saying that she was dreaming that a faceless man was choking her in her dream.
The next night I was too afraid to sleep in case she’d end up choking again and I might not wake up in time to save her so I stayed up watching videos on YouTube with one of my AirPods in.
Around 2/3am I heard a scratching sound, a really loud one. I looked at my girlfriend but she seemed still and peaceful under the blanket. But the scratching sound continued so I lifted up the blanket. To my horror the site I saw was not pleasant. Her fingers scraping her chest in long, deep cutting motions, there was blood on the blanket. I shook her awake and once again she looked at me all confused. She looked at her hands and just stared at them. I tried talking to her but there was no response. I swear I saw a little smile. I touched her and she looked at me with a sleepy look on her face as if she only woke up now.
I don’t know what’s happening, I do think that there might be something inside her causing her harm while she sleeps, I can’t bear to think of what might happen if I don’t help her but I don’t know how to help her. I can’t be there all the time to wake her up. She’s tried to tell me that it’s just anxiety but it feels like it’s something a lot more dangerous