short story time: i "dated" a girl for around 3 months (after knowing her for 5 years) during which time i found out that she really was a psycho and emotionally manipulative. i wanted to be near her, to help her with her problems, but she'd dump all of her emotional baggage on me and i'd feel miserable because of it.

.. after one particularly bad series of events, i realized the only thing i could do was break up with her.

I threw away every piece of writing she wrote me, every picture she drew, etc. EVERYTHING, from her nekkid pics to things she spent hours drawing. i stopped reading her LJ, deleted her from my AIM friends list, blocked her phone# from my cell, etc.

i didn't BAN her from anything, because it was part of my plan: in order to get rid of her, i needed to make her stop liking me.. and that meant making sure she had access to me.

any time she tried contacting me, I would stonewall her and say, "we're finished." "i'm moving on with my life." "don't talk to me again." "leave me alone; you hurt me, and i'm through with being hurt." "no, you can't make things better."

i told my friends that i wanted to stay away from her whenever possible, and they helped warn me whenever she would draw near.

after about 3 months of "communication" like this, she left me alone for a bit.. i, meanwhile, was moving on with my life, finding new people and activities to fill the hole in my life. when she tried reaching out to me again, i shut her down immediately.

but you can never, ever let your guard down if you do this, because she might just come back, wanting to be friends.. but you can never be friends with an ex.