Hattie met Sal through mutual friends in 2009 and the two
women
began a relationship a few months later.
"Sal was going through a bad time when we got together,"
Hattie
explains. "A relationship she'd had with someone she knew
through
work had turned sour and she'd been outed and lost her job.
There
was a lot of homophobia involved. She had gone through a lot
of
stress, had self-harmed and was prone to depression. Perhaps I
was
naïve, but I thought I could save her from her past and provide
her
with a real, loving, caring relationship."
At first the relationship seemed stable, but the cracks started
to
appear after a few months, when the couple moved in
together.
"When we had disagreements Sal would become hysterical. She
would threaten to kill herself and she would self-harm, all
because
of my 'lack of understanding' of what she was going through,"
says
Hattie.
Friends and family warned that the relationship was unhealthy
but
Hattie was determined to stick by Sal. "I loved her and I wanted
the
best for her. I thought, 'She doesn't really mean this, I have to
take
into account what's happened and rationalise everything'."
In spite of her accusations, Sal did not want to let Hattie go
either:
"I was told: 'Don't ever leave me. You're the best thing that's
ever
happened to me. If you leave me, I don't know what I'm going to
do, or
where I'm going to go, I just want somebody to love me…'."
