My ex kept a dead rat under his bed as a “pet” (CW ABUSE!)

I met my ex in middle school, and we started dating in 8th grade, until the end of freshman year at high-school. This dude was something else, definitely. I was selectively mute (woohoo autism), and it was extremely difficult for me to talk to people, but he pursued me for quite a while to the point where I got comfortable talking to him. I didn’t have any friends at the time other than him.

He was verbally and physically abusive- he claimed a demon possessed him whenever he abused me (lmfao), put me in chokeholds constantly (I once scratched him while he did it, and he told his mom *I* abused him, then she had a talk with me. So fucking awkward), bullied me for listening to emo music and called me gay for it in public til I cried (he only listened to final fantasy soundtracks. I’m genuinely not kidding.), made me sit on his lap in public spaces when I did not want to, told me that being mute was the only special thing about me so I should stay that way, chased me with a machete (jokingly… but still!) and more.

Anyway, I only tell you all of this because that was fucked up, right? Well, despite ALL of that, this specific incident somehow takes the cake for me.

One day, I was helping his clean his room up. It wasn’t that bad, honestly, and we were almost done when we had to move the bed to sweep underneath. Here it comes: we moved the bed over, and there was… something vaguely reminiscent of a rat, stuck and ingrained into the wall; black, rotted, and smushed against it. There was definitely a smell. It kind of smelled like bleach? I was honestly in shock, but I believed for a split second that he didn’t know it was there. No. I asked what it was. He said something along the lines of “oh, just a rat, I noticed he was dead there a while ago. I left him there because he’s my friend.” Bro what. You fucking what. I held back my disgust and honestly I don’t even remember my exact reaction to this, but I sure as hell was shocked to the point that I remember it now, 10 years later! I’m not sure how I didn’t just nope the fuck out of there after seeing that, but I guess I endured “worse”.

I wish I had somehow taken a photo of it so I could prove it but also… yeah, never-mind, no I don’t. I’m glad my memory is vague enough to not distinctly remember what it looked like. I also can’t believe I didn’t smell it all of those times I came over. I know we were kids, but what the fuck dude 😭