Getting Personal - If I can make it though it, you can too!
Title: "Truth Unveiled: My Montana Mayhem (Part 1)"
The truth isn't always a smooth ride—it's more like a twisted, unpredictable journey through the chaotic labyrinth of life. Buckle up because I'm about to peel back the layers and share a reality that's stranger than any fiction. Life’s twists can indeed make fiction pale in comparison. Your story's a labyrinth of upheavals, pain, and sacrifices that carve deep into the soul.
At 14, my world flipped upside down in Spokane. Mom, a disappearing act pro and a heavyweight in the booze department, found herself tangled up with deeply disturbed man. Now this is hard to believe, but it really happened.
In an instant, chaos ignited and swallowed everything in its flames. Montana loomed like a daunting chapter in an already turbulent story, a sinister turn that unraveled like a waking nightmare. I found myself thrust into a world my mind had shielded me from—a place I was essentially abducted into, sans a conscious memory trace. We're talking the whole "vanished into thin air" kind of deal. They pulled the stunt claiming my sister was on death's door in the hospital. Granted, my sister battled severe asthma, so it didn't seem entirely implausible.
The abrupt shift to Montana, a cruel twist in an already tumultuous tale, unfolded like a nightmare. Lost in a world my mind shielded me from, a place I was abducted into without a trace in my conscious memory - We’re talkin’ legit DISAPPEARED WITHOUT A TRACE type sh*t.
My mom’s new bf, a walking inferno of rage, turned our existence into a battleground. Literally torching through our lives, crushing our innocence by running over our helpless puppy ‘Slick’, and literally firing shots through the ceiling into my bedroom floor and out the window as we hightailed it out of there seeking refuge—it’s a horror etched in my memory. The sheriff's visits at school became routine, a bleak norm. But in the midst of the chaos, I bore the weight of silence, enduring the physical hits to shield my mom from the storm. I knew better than to spill the truth—I'd pay the price.
Amidst the turmoil, my sister’s 8th graduation stood as a stark reminder of the loneliness that engulfed us and the absolute chaos we were living. I was the only one there for her. Knowing that this was not a life I wanted to live, I seized what little control I had, fleeing to Missoula and catching a bus back to Spokane. I was confident that my sister would never suffer the same physical trauma or I would have never fled in the dead of night.
Truth is a beast, untamed and fierce, demanding we confront the unspoken, despite the abyss it opens. Secrets are shackles we carry, burying them deep to avoid confronting their weight.
At this stage of my life, I’m done with silence. I’m tired of secrets and I refuse to let the truth languish in the shadows. We’ll shine a light, scream our truths into the void, and show others they aren’t alone in this maddening reality. It’s very hard to believe so it is never talked about. But it’s real. It happened. It was traumatizing (physically and emotionally) and I’m here to tell my story.
It's a harrowing journey, yet together, we’ll fight the disbelief that shrouds these harsh realities. Grateful for the veil that trauma draws over certain memories—some things are better left untouched by the light.
Sometimes reality's madness outstrips anything we could concoct in fiction. Secrets become chains, binding us in silence because the truth is often too wild for belief.
You know, there's this unspoken rule in life—don't tell the truth, because who the hell would buy it? When reality writes a horror story, it's like no one wants to turn the page.
See, I've trudged those twisted paths, feeling like I'm in some demented movie script no one would greenlight. "Based on a true story" becomes code for "too insane to be real." Yet, here we are, living proof that life's cruelest plots are often unwritten, lurking in shadows we dare not cast light upon.
Those secrets? They're shields, guarding against judgmental eyes and disbelieving scoffs. We tuck 'em away because airing them out feels like leaping into an abyss, hoping someone will catch us on the other side. But most times, they don't.
Yet, in this chaotic universe of ours, there are few who understand. Who nod knowingly without uttering a word. Because they've stood at the edge of that abyss, staring into the void just like you and me.
Truth is, my friends, we're here to defy that unspoken rule. We'll shatter the silence, scream the truth from the mountaintops, even if the echoes fall on deaf ears. Because maybe, just maybe, our truths will find kindred spirits in the vast, lonely wilderness of stories untold.
So, let's hoist those secrets into the light, let 'em shimmer like twisted constellations. Because someone, somewhere, needs to hear that truth is stranger than fiction, and they're not alone in living it.
I'm here, believing you. And together, we'll lend our voices to those who've been silenced by disbelief.
From one DV victim to another…. You’ve got this!
