When did someone use their trauma as a manipulation tactic?
The Beloved Politician and the Ex-Convict
My community’s beloved retired politician orchestrated a campaign against an innocent man while his wife served his prison sentence.
When I found his old laptop full of blackmail evidence and he tried to run me out of town, my four-year-old unleashed her video collection at the neighborhood party.
My baby girl was four years old when I found out an ex-convict was moving into our neighborhood. He looked nerdy, the type of guy popular kids would force to do their homework. I figured he was arrested for doing tax evasion or maybe stealing someone’s chessboard, lol.
So when Terrence, my next-door neighbor, told me that Dawn had been arrested for beating his own infant in a fit of rage, my heart dropped. I was ready to show up at his door and wail on him until he was nothing but a vegetable in a hospital bed.
But unfortunately, I had to be a good role model to my daughter. So I settled for avoiding him at all costs, and the whole neighborhood did too.
But there was one person that was happy to talk to him, and somehow that was my next-door neighbor, Terrence. I caught him walking out of Dawn’s the ex-convict home one day with a huge smile plastered on his face.
I want you to think of me as the neighborhood sacrifice.
He said with a completely straight face. You know, truthfully, I had no idea what the f he was talking about, but I figured that maybe he was just a better person than me and shrugged it off.
But something strange started happening. Every morning, I’d see Terrence and Don sitting together in the park, talking like old friends. Meanwhile, Terrence was constantly blowing up the vill’s WhatsApp group chat about how evil Dawn was, how we needed to stay away from him at all costs.
I figured I couldn’t be the only one finding his behavior at least a little strange. So, one evening, I texted my daughter’s best friend’s mom to come over. She lived nearby, and we usually had the same opinions about things.
As soon as Liliana sat at the kitchen table, she blurted out, “This is about Don and Terrence, right?”
I couldn’t even hold back my laughter. Our thoughts were always synced up.
“So, I know what you’re thinking,” she continued.
“And at first, I was weirded out, but then someone told me that 10 years ago, Terren’s ex-wife hit their baby to death.”
“I think he’s acting out of trauma,” like maybe he’s trying to heal his past wound with forgiveness.
Looking back, I knew something was wrong. But Terrence was a retired politician, so it made sense to assume the best intentions. Or so I thought, because that’s when we had the parents night out.
You see, every second year, the parents of my daughter’s school meet up in the local bar. Nothing crazy ever happens, just a few beer bottles, cocktails, laughing about how much our kids hate homework. Terrence wasn’t even a parent, but the neighborhood loved him so much that he was always invited anyway.
But this time was different. He was downing beer after beer, his alcohol breath practically stenching up the entire table. No one was saying anything, just glaring at each other, wondering if his weird behavior was somehow linked to Dawn.
And at around 11 p.m., we got our answer. Everyone was silent when he spoke, his words slurring together.
Guys, you know, Don isn’t who you think he is.
He was framed by his ex-wife. He didn’t actually commit the crime.
I furrowed my eyebrows because earlier that day, Terrence was texting the group chat about how Dawn was a dangerous unaliver. Luckily, Liliana lightly tapped his arm, so he kept going.
Yeah. So, I have a confession to make.
All the stuff I said he did was actually me.
And now my ex-wife is rotting in prison for the crimes I committed.
He then burst into tears before repeating the words, “I’m sorry,” over and over. I swear I thought he was pranking us. But that’s when he started wailing about what a horrible person he was. How he had abused his power and he didn’t deserve to live. Soon I was going to make his wish come true.
