heart-wrenching

Just received an email from my friend:

Hi everyone,

It's a little hard for me to communicate because I am under house arrest, I got no net and phone connection at the moment, I can't even log onto facebook, I came out today for some work, so yeah, just mailing you guys a quick update.

My parents are crazy, I made a big mistake in coming back home. They are not sending me to UK or anywhere for that matter. They want me to get married, to some random guy, like an arranged marriage thing, forcefully, which is like legal here in a way because your family's honor and pride is more important than your daughter's happiness.

Anyways, I stay home the whole day staring at the TV. Yeah, I get TV here, thank God for that. But, nothing seems to go through my head, am getting more and more depressed everyday, and all this happened because my stupid cousin sister went and snitched and dobbed on me to my parents about me and my boyfriend. She knew what my parents would do after that, but still she couldn't keep her mouth shut.

I cry everyday and am lonely and sad and stuck in my own house and none to share all this with. Dad wants me to work at one of our national dailies, but he doesn't trust me, so I doubt he will let me work there. Today, Mum and Dad said I can go to a local uni and do my BBA, but the thing is I have lived abroad all my life, I doubt I will be able to adjust here, but I wanna get some fresh air so I might as well go for it. And, I hate my family. Anyways, I gtg, guys, don't know when I'll talk to you guys again, love you all...

tc
xxoo

I cried when I read this email. I don't know how I can help my friend anymore, I haven't been in a good or stable mood these past few weeks, dealing with many issues revolving around my friend. Watching her as she excitedly informed me about the patch-up after the break-up, watching her as she smiled and air-kissed her boyfriend over the phone, watching her as she talked about her future with her boyfriend and the kids they would have, watching her struggle to keep her relationship under wraps, watching her as she broke down after receiving a call from her mum to break off all ties with her boyfriend or they would disown her, watching her cry when her parents stormed into her room and smashed everything into bits and pieces and take her home by force. And, to think, that all my friend did was to fall in love. To think that such a deep relationship could be met with such twisted rejection is way beyond my thinking. All I know is that I refuse to give up without a fight, to the extent that now her boyfriend thinks I am a big-time idiot.

It gets to a point where your sympathy for your friend turns into sympathy for yourself. I just want to escape from all of this. Your nightmare has become my nightmare. I no longer want to bother. No longer want to try. No longer want to reminiscence. I'm sick and tired of all these months of melodrama, really. Give me a break.

If I cry with my friend, who's gonna cry with me?