Child Abuse Story from Cristina MB
by Cristina MB
(Florida, USA)
My mother was always extremely manic and talked non-stop. Every day of my childhood was filled with drama; the littlest thing, whether someone looked at her the wrong way or said something about her, she always took it the wrong way. Therefore, she had no friends, and as a result I grew up isolated and lonely. No friends were permitted in her house.
One evening, when I was about 3-1/2 years old, I had a bad cough. Mother rushed into my bedroom and POUNDED me with her fists for waking her up. I then tried to stifle my cough by burying my face in my pillow, to no avail. She came back and beat me longer and harder the second time. I was so afraid, I couldn't even cry.
There were plenty more incidents of abuse and neglect. Every time we went to the grocery store in dad's car, I was left alone to wait in the car, regardless of the extreme heat and/or cold. My mother didn't want to be bothered while shopping. I nearly fainted on a few occasions as the car got so searingly hot and I got overheated. My sister Gloria was locked in the boiler room when she was only 2-1/2 years of age. My father tells us this was shortly after one of mother's many breakdowns.
I have since confronted her (after 40+ years), and she denies every incident. My father played dumb when I asked him why he didn't intervene when I was so young and in so much pain. He knew if he did, he would have to deal with Mother's temper tantrums.
My sister had it even worse than me. My mother physically abused her with the metal vacuum cleaner hose, leaving big black and purple bruises all over her legs and upper back. Of course, my sister hid these from the public. Mother also called her "big, fat good for nothing" in Italian. She continually remarked that she would amount to nothing, even though Mother could never hold a job for more than a few months.
We were left to fend for ourselves when I was 7 and my sister 9. We pretty much had to take care of ourselves as my mother was unwilling and incapable of doing so. To this day, she claims she was abused as a child, and repeats stories over and over hundreds of times. We really didn't need to hear these stories when we were just little kids trying to cope as best we could with the madness.
The most infuriating and frustrating part of this story is that my mother NEVER GOT HELP. She didn't believe in doctors, and still (at age 83) has yet to see a doctor for her physical/mental problems. If you ask her, she "doesn't have a problem," it's everyone ELSE who is "crazy."
Thank you for listening to my story. It is very cathartic to get it out in the open after having "shut down" my inner child for most of my life. I look forward to healing and one day forgetting the hellish past I endured.
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