I just lost a friend

As bad as this sounds, I finally feel free!

I'll tell you the whole story:

A couple of years ago, A girl started trying to become closer to me and friends with me after her only friend moved to another school, I never noticed that no one else was really her friend, she was kinda just there

She started asking to hang out now that we're "friends" and kept pushing about all these things we should do together as friends, except I felt that I didn't choose to be her friend, ever, in fact I tried getting away a couple of times but she wouldn't take a hint

So I gave in, I became her friend, we were even bestfriends (well at least to her), She even became part of my friend group and I always had to take the blame for whatever shit she did to my friends, and by time, she wanted to be my only friend and hated whenever I hung out with anyone else, it was terrible having to keep up with that, but that was just the beginning

As we got closer, She started opening up about how terrible her life is, and I'm not gonna share what she told me because that's dishonest, but to sum it up, she basically had health issues, family issues, financial issues, and she wasn't doing that well in school either, I was almost the exact opposite

And I'd always listen, I'd answer every call, every message, I'd agree to hang out every time she said she needed to talk, I was doing all I can because that's what friends are for, but at times, I'd feel like she was draining me, it was not that I minded her venting or complaining, it's that I couldn't bring up anything that made me happy, I could never share my success or happiness with her because I'd feel guilty, and I couldn't share whenever I was sad or devastated or needed to vent, because what problem did I have that could possible be worse than what she's going through?

And so it always felt one sided, like I always there, always ready for when she needed me, but never the opposite

She'd also make super obnoxious comments that I always let slide, but one time she said "Oh wow you've gotten really fat", then I couldn't really let it slide because weight has always been one of my insecurities, her saying that just brought up the times I was bullied when I was younger, and so ever since that comment, I started to focus more on and notice on how our friendship is, and on how I would never say something like that to her, or how I'd never use something she told me scared he to death against her (she almost gave me a heart attack twice while sleeping over because she knew I had sleep paralysis and was terrified whenever it happened), or how I'd never try to choke her "jokingly" as she claimed

I also started to notice how every time she called or texted or talked with me it was always to complain, yet her other friends got to hear anything other than complaining, as if I was just a person she was using to vent and complain to and drain the life and energy out of without sparing anything in return

She also always played victim, not that I was never wrong, but there were times where she was obviously the one who's wrong yet every time I had to be the one apologizing making sure she was ok because I know how her life is and that I should always be there for her and not the one against her

But I finally had it and was really ready to lose her and didn't give a care about how she'd feel... was when she started picking arguments over literally nothing, our last argument was when I changed my mind over a hangout with our friend group, she wanted me to not wanna go just like she does, I tried really hard to show her how this is nothing worth picking an argument over but that got me nowhere, so we didn't talk for like a week and then friends noticed and I said that I wanted nothing to do with her anymore and that I didn't mind losing her but one of my friends made her text me saying she doesn't want us to stay that way and wanted to make up, so I gave in, I acted normal, but I already knew that I didn't want her as a friend anymore, I had already made my mind

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, I was hanging out with my 2 closest friends, just chatting, and she found out, so she texted us paragraphs about how we excluded her and how we should've invited her and considered how she was having a really bad time because her dad was having heart surgery (she also said I hadn't checked up on her although through that time I texted and called many times just to make sure she's ok and ask how her dad's doing) and we all told her that due to her dad's circumstances and how he was having his surgery THAT SAME DAY we thought it was very inappropriate to text and ask her to hang out, plus, we just wanted to hang out, just us 3, it's not like I never hangout with her anyway, she just said ok, and that's how it all ended

Years of never thinking about how I felt but only how she felt, years of listening to her complain and vent yet never having space to do the same, years of feeling guilt for ever feeling happy knowing how she was, years of her blocking me from having any other friends because she'd get jealous, years of having to push my bestfriend away because she hated how I considered her my best friend too, years of always having to be there for someone who was never there for me.

The funny thing is, A friend of mine who doesn't even know her personally told me a long time ago that this would all happen, how she was a toxic friend that would drain the life and care out of me and then move on and look for someone else to do the same to.

Ever since, I've been feeling free, I can hangout with whoever I want, whenever I want, I can share my success without feeling guilty, I can finally live.

What do you guys think? Do you have a similar story?