Dear toxic former friends,

You hurt me. You bullied me. You manipulated and embarrassed me. You shoved me down into my lowest of lows. You emotionally tortured me. You made me not want to live anymore. Yet here I am. You failed to keep me down. Your quest to make me miserable did not last. I am happy, and I have you to thank for it.

It's been three and a half years since I was able to call you friends. Three and a half years of wondering what I did to deserve to be so rudely dumped by friends I trusted. I thought it was my fault for the longest time. I believed I did something to destroy the friendships, especially the 8-year-long one. It took me until last year to finally realize it wasn't me. Friends don't turn on each other. They don't call each other names that are too hurtful to even mention. You six were never my true friends. Thank you for showing me that. Because you set me free from your friend group full of backstabbing and showing off; you let me become who I was supposed to be. Your friend group will always be toxic, that much I know. People don't change easily and you never once apologized in earnest to me, so I know you will be the ones who don't change at all.

Kicking me out of your friend group was the best thing that's ever happened to me. I now have loyal friends with whom I can truly be myself around and open up to. I'm closer to my family because I needed them most when you put me through so much drama. I have a boyfriend who acknowledges the scars you left on my heart and is there to make sure that people like you never break it again.

Sometimes I still want to scream at you. To yell and cry and beg why you left me alone with no friends in high school. I still want to flip you off if I come across your car when I'm visiting home. You gave me trust and forgiveness issues, but luckily those are things I can work on. You are who you are and karma is a bitch. Good luck with that.

You broke my heart. All of you. Your lying, deceitful, gossiping personalities tried to shatter me. But you didn't. I'm stronger than I ever was because now I know I can handle rock bottom and I can get back up again. Thank you for saving me from becoming a toxic friend.