Fighting off a Friend

Trigger Warning: Violent Content and Talks of Assault

When I went off to college, a friend (or should I say former friend) tried to sexually assault me. He was drunk and making a mess in my sorority house, and I wanted him out. I told him I would walk him to his fraternity house to make sure he made it home safe because it was a minute away and I was concerned for his well being. I just needed to grab some shoes. I rushed to my room to grab some boots (because yay snow). I turned around, and he was right behind me. He tried to forcefully get me to my bed and I used the familiar boundary setting skills to get him out of my room and out of the house. Because I still wanted to make sure he got home safely, I walked out with him but maintained a safe distance. This might seem really naive, but I had a few friends who had seriously injured themselves walking home in the snow drunk and I didn’t want someone to get hurt when I could have prevented it. I maintained a safe distance the entire walk though because he had already invaded my personal space and tried to cross several boundaries. As soon as we got to his door, I started walking back to my sorority when he grabbed my wrist. I was surprised, and I ended up pinned against a brick wall with this guy trying to kiss me. This time I wasn’t so nice. A knee to the groin was enough to get him to let go. I ran back to the sorority house and immediately went to my best friend’s room. I broke down crying and told her what had just happened. The next day he texted me to apologize for his behavior. I blocked him. The next year, he messaged me on Facebook, again to apologize. Again, I blocked him. My senior year, he saw me at a party and tried to talk to me and I immediately left. I knew I didn’t owe him my time and presence. IMPACT taught me the essential skills I needed to know to save my life.