I am a 19yo(f) my older sisters are Nickie a 24yo(f) and Millie, 22yo(f), fake names, we all share a trauma that until recently I had forgotten most of. Our rough ages at the time were, Me age 2, Millie age 5 and Nickie age 7.
We lived with our dad at the time, he was a cook at an old restaurant the no longer exists, closed due to financial issues. He got us a babysitter while he worked as he was a single father at the time caring for three daughters.
Everytime he worked he would bring us to an apartment complex up to a room rented by an old man, like late 60s or 70s idk. The old man, who we will call Johnson, acted friendly to us and my dad while my dad was in the area, but the second he was out of sight and earshot, he would bark at my sister’s to clean his apartment and yell at me to go to sleep.
He would sit in this old creaky rocking chair that had a window overlooking the parking lot, he sat there all the time so that once my dad would come back he would get us to shut our mouths and act all friendly again.
For two months he would abuse us, he hit my sister’s if they cried, pulled their hair if they weren’t fast enough while cleaning, force us to get our own food, in which Nickie would do that cause she wanted to make sure her little sisters had food if she could get any, she once used a chair to reach a box of crackers he had purposely put out of reach and she fell cutting her arm on the table, when she fell he stomped over and grabbed her hair, hitting her and yelling…
Until recently I didn’t know why they got it much more than I did, till I found out when they told me, he had threatened to hurt me if they didn’t listen, then locked me in his room the whole time until it was time to go or my sister snuck food to me.
I remember one time I asked Johnson if we had any toys and my sister’s looked horrified that I had disturbed him, he was so mad at me, that Johnson screamed at me and. Threw. My. Car seat. At. Me…. I was terrified and crying, I was close to screaming my lungs out and the thing almost hit me. It didn’t and hit the wall behind me thankfully.
My sister’s protected me so much and I was so scared.
One day Nickie wasn’t with us at his place, just me and Millie. Johnson was a smoker and we had ‘upset him enough’ that he stormed out to smoke, in that time Millie saved us… She got me out of Johnson’s room and got my coat on and put her coat on, we didn’t grab anything else, not even our shoes, she opened the door and led me to a fire escape, the ones with the stairs leading down, she opened the door and the alarm went off, alerting everyone. Including HIM.
We ran as fast as our legs could take us, down the stares through the lobby and out the door, before hearing yelling and seeing him chasing us, Millie picked me up, (I was and still am quite small and light) and ran as fast as she could to my dad’s work, he almost caught us several times thankfully Millie was a fast freaking kid, she got us to the work and screamed for dad while I was scream crying riding on her back.
She told dad EVERYTHING when he came out concerned why we were crying and barefoot and where Johnson was, before Johnson burst into the place, turning from beat red to sheet white. My dad ripped into him screaming about how he could every think it’s ok to lay a hand on us or yell at a child, and according to my dad he told him “IF I EVER SEE YOUR FACE AROUND ME OR MY CHILDREN AGAIN I WILL MAKE SURE YOUR SIX FEET UNDER AND IM IN JAIL FOR MURDER!!!”
i don’t remember much afterwards but now. Every four years like clockwork, I have the same nightmare, him chasing us, looking like a bloodied up devil screaming he will kill us should we ever slow down. For years I’ve never spoke a word about it. But. I don’t know, I’m sick of having to bottle up all of this, it scares me so much to know that I was used against my own sisters….
Now days I’m introverted, rarely speak to anyone, I have depression and severe anxiety and I’m scared of anyone I’ve never met before, the only person I trust outside my family is my boyfriend who reassures me constantly that it wasn’t my fault and that he is most likely dead now, but like. What if he is still alive and wants to hurt us for tattling on him.
This will forever haunt me and I don’t know how to stop the horrid dreams….
Edit: thank you to everyone for taking the time to read my story.
A special thanks to DevilDog340_YT For sharing my story on YouTube
Link: https://youtu.be/EA1K7bmofGk