I made this friend a few months ago and she's probably the greatest online friend I've ever had (I'll call her Sally). We can relate a lot to each other, and vent to each other.
But her venting is extremely upsetting and worrying and I don't know if I should do something.
One of the more upsetting stories she's told me had to do with her father abusing the family. She found him in the morning abusing her mother and when Sally confronted him, he starting yelling at her instead. He continued yelling at her when they went outside to leave for school. Once in the car, Sally told her dad she didn't know the exact time school started, so he said he would kill her and he hit her. They both got out of the car and he repeatedly hit her and was yelling at her in their yard. No neighbors came out to help, for some reason, and her sister was in the car but was too scared to help.
Sally said she almost killed herself after school. She'd been dealing with this kind of physical and mental (mostly mental) abuse for quite a while, and she'd come pretty close before, but this time she said she felt really crazy and came very close. She had a sharp object with her, she said, but she didn't really elaborate because she felt uncomfortable.
I definitely would have reported her father by now, but she's said many times that it would be horrible for her to do that to her mother and siblings. I'm not exactly sure what it would do to them for her to report her father, but she's uncomfortable with sharing that as well. I really, really want to help her, but I'm afraid to report anything and I'm afraid consoling her over text isn't enough... help?
But her venting is extremely upsetting and worrying and I don't know if I should do something.
One of the more upsetting stories she's told me had to do with her father abusing the family. She found him in the morning abusing her mother and when Sally confronted him, he starting yelling at her instead. He continued yelling at her when they went outside to leave for school. Once in the car, Sally told her dad she didn't know the exact time school started, so he said he would kill her and he hit her. They both got out of the car and he repeatedly hit her and was yelling at her in their yard. No neighbors came out to help, for some reason, and her sister was in the car but was too scared to help.
Sally said she almost killed herself after school. She'd been dealing with this kind of physical and mental (mostly mental) abuse for quite a while, and she'd come pretty close before, but this time she said she felt really crazy and came very close. She had a sharp object with her, she said, but she didn't really elaborate because she felt uncomfortable.
I definitely would have reported her father by now, but she's said many times that it would be horrible for her to do that to her mother and siblings. I'm not exactly sure what it would do to them for her to report her father, but she's uncomfortable with sharing that as well. I really, really want to help her, but I'm afraid to report anything and I'm afraid consoling her over text isn't enough... help?