After the divorce my children and I went our separate ways. It seemed that no matter how hard I tried to fight it through proper legal channels the situation was hopeless but, just the same, I gave it all I got. There was this problem with the step-mother who felt I wasn’t nice enough to her, and so made sure the girls broke bonds with me. All that screaming and cussing that came out of my mouth didn’t help matters. She kept calling the Police and being the important person that she was, (no she wasn’t) they came a knocking at my door and called to harass me and accuse me of making harassing phone calls. The fact that they wouldn’t let me see my children didn’t count. “Can’t I get a lawyer?” they told me. I did. I spoke to several who told me not to bother fighting it. Just “be nice”. These kids grow up just the same and live their own lives. Getting a Court order, according to them, was too expensive and, by the way, they are not enforced. All my complaining fell on deaf ears.

Well, I spent years in misery with everyone taking it as a big joke and no one’s support. They all expected me to give it up. “That’s just life!” No, I couldn’t accept it.

While they were not with me, both my daughters went out on a body-piercing spree. It was a big trend in that small hick town we lived in at the time to put as many holes in your body as you can endure. I’m just so grateful it stopped before they reached the tongue piercing and genital piercing stage. The other day, just out of the blue, my youngest daughter announced that she no longer wanted all those holes in her ears (three in each) and was only going to use one from now on.

I wonder why that happened? Maybe it’s something in the City air?

It took some doing to bring my youngest back with me and only after missing years of birthdays, Christmas’, proms, special events, etc., etc. According to some, “The girls have come into their own.” That’s not the way I see it. They’ve been totally destroyed and I’ve missed so much of their formative years that we seem like strangers and they’re both convinced that it was all my fault.

So it’s been several months that my youngest is back under my roof. There’s so much secrecy about what happened when I was not a part of her life and she still keeps secrets about what she plans to do tomorrow or the weekend or with the rest of her life. So many phone calls showing up on my Call Ident as “Blocked I.D.” so I won’t know who’s calling her or possibly take down the number and investigate further. Her life is none of my business, so they all tell her, and yet I’m expected to pay her way and care for her. It’s required by law but I’d do it just the same. She found herself surrounded by other children whose parents were also divorced and they all fell through the same crack. They’re very untrusting of adults. She always goes into her room to take phone calls so I don’t hear her conversations. Except for a few instances.

There are three that I remember quite well. She ALWAYS answers the phone now. It doesn’t bother me. There were these three instances, about once a month, when I was at home and overheard. She answered the phone and because she is hearing impaired she has to angle the phone a certain way to hear the sound but the voices carry out and so I can hear a voice but can’t make out the words. Well, this was a woman’s voice. She talked non-stop for the entire conversation without my daughter asking questions, answering or interrupting and she just listened and went into a bit of a daze. The conversations lasted from five to ten minutes and at the end my daughter says, “Okay, bye.”and hangs up. I asked who it was but she says, “You don’t have to know.” or “You have to learn to mind your own business.” or “Never mind.” I’m convinced that someone is using some kind of mind control or brainwashing technique on her. I’m also convinced that there was a cult ring operating in that hick town where we living in. I know, you think I’ve been watching too much TV but I’ve learned a lot from those TV investigative shows I’ve watched and enough from the news reports to know that there are sick people who really do this kind of stuff.

Has something like this ever happened to you?

Who can I tell? I called my ex-husband and left a message and wondered if he had noticed this before but he has not replied. Should I go to the Police? Why bother? My complaints haven’t held water with them up till now. So I’ve become a spy/agent/investigator or Nancy Drew/Buffy the Vampire Slayer, incognito, and when this all comes to the forefront I’m sure there will be many who will benefit from my ordeal and new discoveries. Unfortunately, I’m not one. I look upon this as an obligation that I’ve followed through with in an effort to stop my daughters and I from falling even further into the pit.