I reported my abuser to the police yesterday and I was the only one that said well done.

I had never said the words aloud before, not a single time, but I sat in that room on my own, faced a complete stranger, and said every single word that I went in there to say. I feel absolutely exhausted, overwhelmingly proud of myself, and completely gutted that my parents have not shared in my enthusiasm.

My parents both know I was abused as a child and I told them where I was going. My dad asked a couple of non-intrusive questions about it on the way back, which I appreciated, but when we got home it was as if I hadn't even left the house. Business as usual. Even when I started conversations and offered several openings, bits of information to let them know I was ok talking about it, they wouldn't engage. It wasn't until 8 and a half hours later, when I said I was so ready to crawl into bed, that my mum even acknowledged it - asking if I had anywhere to be tomorrow (no), or this week (no), and is there anything I wanted to say about it (yes, 8 hours ago). That was it.

No we're proud, no we love you, no well done, no what you did was brave or amazing or even out of the ordinary, actually. It was as if I do this kind of thing all the time. I'm not being funny but I literally have no contact with people outside my home besides my GP; I sure as hell don't talk to people I've never met about something so truly horrific like it's nothing. Surely they must realise that they're the only one's here; if they don't say anything, nobody will. Even feeling proud of myself just makes me ache with the lack of support.