GG: hey dave im irradiating some steaks for bec GG: im gonna take a quick nap wake me up in 5 minutes so i can flip them over TG: jade its been five minutes flip your steaks GG: snnnnzzzzz TG:
HS is supposedly a story that is also a game. In games, the characters die all the time. How many times did you let Mario fall in the pit before he saved the princess? Who weeps for these Marios. In games your characters die, but you keep trying and trying and rebooting and resetting until finally they make it. When you play a game this process is all very impersonal. Once you finally win, when all is said and done those deaths didn’t “count”, only the linear path of the final victorious version of the character is considered “real”. Mario never actually died, did he? Except the omniscient player knows better. HS seems to combine all the meaningless deaths of a trial-and-error game journey with the way death is treated dramatically in other media, where unlike our oblivious Mario, the characters are aware and afraid of the many deaths they must experience before finally winning the game.
Also, here’s a very important thing: a lot of abusive people will not show their abusive side at all in front of non-victims. Perhaps your friend claims her mother is emotionally abusive, but when you meet her mother, the woman is very sweet and generous and makes for great conversation and even treats you guys to ice cream or something.
Abusive people are alarmingly good at coming across as perfectly good people when they’re not alone with their victims,. They can flip like a switch between being scary and being amiable. Some might even go the extra mile to turn people against you, making it seem like you’re just being selfish and they’re not at fault. The two-faced act may not always be intentional, but that doesn’t make it any less damaging. In fact, it can make things worse because people may not believe you and you may not get the support you need.
So, if someone tells you that their parent/significant other/etc is emotionally abusive, and your first thought is “But they were so nice when I met them!”, this is probably what’s happening. Please don’t dismiss them just because you may have had a positive experience with someone that makes their life hell when you’re not looking. Listen to them.