W8: Dear abusers...

Yeo Ya Qi (1901604)

I hope that Karma finds you well.

Dear Uncle Roger and Aunt Rosalie,

It has been a long while since we met, but I will never forget your faces.

Though you might be disappointed with the update, Brother John is currently doing well in school and he no longer cries to sleep at night. 

I'm glad to see him finally overcome the mental barriers you set for him. 

Although the pain and torture seem to be relieving on him, I can never forgive you for what you did to him.

I can never forget the scene I witnessed that night. 

The devilish smile on your face, dark brown leather belt, red swollen skin exposed in the air, and the 5-year-old boy sitting at the corner crying and shivering in great fear. 

I was stunned, overwhelmed by the scene that had just happened right in front of my eyes.

I even remember Uncle Roger's reactions. No shock nor guilt. What happened just now was just a regular routine for you. 

Aunt Rosalie, though you were never physically involved in this atrocity, you had imposed mental abuse on poor little John who did nothing wrong from the get-go. 

You failed to protect him from receiving violence and nonsensical punishments. 

The fact that you gave up on defending your children and chose to turn a blind eye to this abusive relationship was unforgivable. 

After the night, my parents brought John into our family and carefully treated his injured body and soul that marks your violence towards him. 

It wasn't easy for a little boy to undergo a series of PTSD; it sometimes is heart-wrenching for us to watch him suffer.

I guess abusers never realize that mental scars take a longer time to heal than the real scars that they create on bodies.

After all, what you enjoyed the most is to inflict pain on others and exert your dominance on the weaker ones because you can’t get it elsewhere.  

How cruel you are to cause pain to your child who was so small, so innocent, so dependent and emotionally attached to both of you. 

Based on research from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2021), children who witness violence between parents may also be at greater risk of having long-term physical and mental health problems. 

But what if the children him or herself was the one that directly received violence from the parents?

Wouldn't the effect be more disastrous for them? 

They will never believe in true relationships, they may feel inferior every time they meet people, not to mention that it will forever distort their value. 

Just a thought like that tears my heart apart. 

I heard that your company was having financial issues and you have been receiving a lot of stress just to keep your company.

However, stress, loss of income and isolation should not be your excuse. 

No one has the right to vent on other people, and subject your family members to your negative emotions. 

I do not believe that the excuses are enough to shape you into a cruel being like that.

But one thing is for sure, you are not the only abusers out there. Not the first one and definitely not the last one.

What I hope is punishments in any form will come and put all the abusers in great torture, in return for your viciousness. 

Your victims should not bear all the pain you inflicted on them, it is you who should be punished and your toxic behaviour must be eradicated before more and more victims are created.

I was too young to know what happened to you after that night. 

This was supposed to be a letter for the both of you but I just don’t know where to send this letter to because you just disappeared after everything happened. 

This is a letter for you, also a reminder for myself. 

That is to not be blindly consumed by hatred but to really understand that this is an inhuman behaviour that must not be repeated. 

I must not turn myself into a despicable person like you no matter what happened. 

I just want to tell you that I will not give up on searching for you and to show you what John and I have become without the toxic presence of abuser in our lives.

I hereby attach a photo of our latest trip to the beach for your reference.

Please continue your utterly grotesque life, and rest assured, we are going to live happily ever after.

No regards,

Your niece 

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Reference

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2021). Effects of domestic violence on children.               Relationships and Safety.       https://www.womenshealth.gov/relationships-and-safety/domestic-violence/effects-domestic-             violence-children