Physical & Emotional Abuse Support Group
Abuse is a general term for the treatment of someone that causes some kind of harm (to the abused person, to the abusers themselves, or to someone else) that is unlawful or wrongful. No one deserves abuse, period. Abuse can be emotional, physical, or sexual.
"Child" of abuse, with decisions to make.
I've never been a part of a forum like this one before so sorry if I'm doing it wrong! I'm hesitant to post because I really don't want any judgement lol So please be nice! I'm gonna tell you about my life real fast and then I have a question.
So, I've been living in a very verbally and emotionally abusive home since, well, forever. You know how that is. My dad was the abuser, and I didn't start noticing anything was wrong until maybe age 8, but even then there was a lot of uncertainty until age like 12 or so. There's never been physical abuse, only a few threats directed at my mom. Then psychological abuse all around. I was homeschooled my entire life as part of his isolation tactic, okay? I started attending a church which had about 30 people in it at age 3. So, we went there on Sundays and Wednesdays, Walmart occasionally, and home. All the time. We lived in an appartment and had neighbors so that was fun, but we moved around a lot. We slowly moved away from civilization piece by piece and went from city, to town, to smaller town, to way out in the country. No neighbors. Two people live on my street and there are trees all over this place. I feel hidden. At age 16 I was blessed enough to get a job at a local fastfood place. I'm surprised my parents let me. My managers fell in love with me but I noticed a difference in me and the other kids. Their parents let them hang out with friends, go to school etc. And work was my only escape. I also noticed my intolerance for yelling (which my therapist now says is a trauma trigger) because I'd have panic attacks when my managers would yell at me. I realized that it was from the abuse, so I informed my general manager and she said she would tell the other managers to be careful with me. She cared a lot.
Fast forward to March 4th, this year, when I was 17. So, my dad follows the "Cycle of Abuse" to a T. Really nice for a while, then slowly tension builds and we're on eggshells, then "crisis" times come, then it starts over. He'd have blow ups, family meetings that would give my sister panic attacks, and even take my moms belongings to the landfill and throw them away. He knew it upset us, he liked that. He told us we weren't good enough, he'd threaten to leave us cause we didn't clean up enough, blah blah blah. On March 4th, on the way home from work, my mom told me dad was really mad. He constantly just sits outside to think, so I went out there to tell him about my day because he always wants me to or whatever. He stayed kinda calm but something was off. I went inside and a few minutes later he came in and started dragging my moms stuff outside and loading it up on his pickup truck. My mom just watched him, I started sound recording on my phone for evidence. I had a sewing machine on my moms desk, it had been my birthday gift a few years prior, and he was bringing that to his truck to throw it away. My mom yelled at him to stop and leave my stuff out of it, and that started an arguement, he shoved the office chair at her, and she called the police. I didn't know she was on the phone with the police, but when I heard a crash (he threw the lamp), I called the police on my phone too. I was too scared to go in there and check on them, but me and my sister had our tasers out ready to react if necessary. The police finally arrived and he was screaming yelling, etc. He almost hit the police officer, and they told us we should leave the house, because legally they couldn't make him leave and it wasn't safe there. We went to my sister's ex boyfriends house for the night (his family really loves us), and the next day we went to the magistrate.
He had a way to put my dad in jail for 24 hours, and give us a court date to go and recieve an ex parte protective order. We took it. We went to a protection group for domestic violence too. My dad was in jail, we went home, packed up all our stuff, slept, went to court the next day, got our protection order, bought a storage unit, put our important belongings in there, and decided we were gonna get out of there soon. My mom didn't have a job, so we wanted her to get one. From March 4th until the end of May, my sister and I paid every single bill we could afford. Which wasn't much, because we were teenagers working for $8 an hour. In that ENTIRE time, not once did my mom get a job. She kept making excuses and saying she didn't feel good. My anxiety was eating me alive, I was weak and exhausted but I worked 40 hours a week, and even once I worked 47 hours in a week. I busted my butt trying to make ends meet and she stayed home on the phone every day and when I'd ask about it, she'd get mad at me. We were losing our house, because my sister and I couldn't afford it, and she decided instead of getting a job, she'd let Daddy come home. So he came home at the end of May. All my efforts were lost.
The domestic violence group we were with offers free therapy, and they still let me go to that even now. But they're trying to make me stop. Ever since he got home, my mom has changed. She's worse than him. They want to control us and they don't want us to grow up. I turned 18 a few weeks ago, but they still won't let me walk around walmart alone. She fussed at me until I was hyperventilating then yelled at me and told me to stop or she would "take me to the hospital and leave me there." Then she threatened to make daddy leave, change the locks on the doors, and then she would leave too. Leaving me and my two sisters to fend for ourselves. She keeps making up excuses for me not to get my license, she won't take me to buy a car (even though I have enough money saved up to get a used one), and she's tries to make me late to work on purpose, knowing I could lose my job for that. She wants us to go to a new church (where no one will know us.) I graduated from homeschool, but she's witholding my diploma because she won't let me have it until I throw a graduation party. I don't have time, with work, to plan and throw a party.
I told my assistant manager about all this (He knows whats going on at home.) He told me that this is getting serious (since they're trying to cut me off from the social world again), and that I need to find someone to live with (who is my age and also female) and someone who would pay half the bills, while I pay the other half. He told me I'd have to tell my parents I'm going to hang out with a friend, and have that friend take me to get my car. That won't work because they won't let me hang out with friends. They always make up an excuse. He said I'll need to get my car and house in the same day. Its all too much. I've missed therapy two weeks in a row now and I'm slowly going crazy. I wanna move out, but soon my older, sweet but jobless sister is going back to live at college, and that would leave my younger, 16 y/o sister here alone. She has over a year until she's 18 and I can't leave her with these crazy people. What do I do? I thought about trying to get guardianship over her, but I don't have enough evidence to win. I need to get out. What can I do???
Sadly, it's not unusual for women in your mother's situation to not be able to muster up the ability to get a job and/or leave. That's not an excuse. It's just the truth. Abuse affects how the brain functions and the ability to make good decisions. Your mom needs a lot of help - way more than you can give her. The only thing you can do is take care of yourself by getting out asap and see what can be done to keep your sisters safe. Hopefully the shelter will be able to help you find the resources to be able to do that.
Please keep us posted and I hope you and your sisters stay safe.
~healing hugs~
this has been your experience
of life.
I can't add a lot to what MTC
already wrote, but I'll see.
One thing is that nobody
anywhere should be "yelling"
at anybody. . . . . certainly not
in the workforce.
You've already had the world
on your shoulders long before
anybody should.
Sadly, you're still in that
position and it'll take some
time to get yourself set up
on what will be the start of
your young adulthood.
Do it step by step.
Don't miss therapy.
Have social services
help keep you and
your younger sister
safe.
That's pretty much it.
It's probable that life
won't get easier for
awhile, but eventually,
it will. That will happen
faster if you get yourself
away from your severely
damaged parents.
Sending you hugs
and wishes for
better days ahead.