Since that day, Hayden never laid hands on me again. We haven’t had sex since and he hasn’t shown any interest in coming within close contact with me. I looked up at the blank ceiling of the room and wondered if we would live our lives in a loop like this until we died. Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen. I knew that I had to talk to him, but I just couldn’t do it. Taking the first step forward was always the hardest and I was being such a coward for avoiding it.

On the fifth day, I woke up with renewed motivation to turn things around. It was...