Member-only story
Un-Normalizing Abuse
The mindfuck of realizing everything was not as it seemed
When I was 10 years old, my older brother was arrested for trying to murder his infant daughter. He had many children, and everyone always thought he was a great dad.
While many families would be shocked and hurt by this, mine went a different route. Immediately, excuses were made. Conspiracy theories formed about who actually did it and how they were able to successfully frame my brother.
The mom and her brother were in cahoots.
The brother did it and took a pill to pass the lie detector.
A fourth person was present whom my brother refused to snitch on.
Were any of these stories founded in fact? Probably not. But they were stated as such.
My mom and I saw my brother in prison for the entire 10 years he was there. He was kind and thoughtful. We discussed books and played games. I grew up believing the conspiracy theories. There was no way the man who shared my favorite fantasy novels and taught me to play Checkers so patiently could have hurt a child so brutally.
When he was released, I saw through his facade almost immediately, but to this day, no one else is willing to.
