Sally's* Story

*The name has been changed due to confidentiality.  I don't mind sharing this story as I know there is no way for any of you to know who this person is as well as the fact that I am not sharing any specific or identifying details.


You hear about and read stories like this all the time.  Always sad.  Occasionally a happy, or not as sad, ending.  I've mentioned a similar story or two before in my blog.  This is just the most recent I have encountered.  Plus, the stories always mean so much more when the person impacts your life in some way.

Sally was born to a caring mother and father.  She was raised in a somewhat typical middle America home.  She had a decent lower middle class life.  At least for the first 6 years of her life.  At age 6, Sally was going to the store (or somewhere) with her mom and dad when her life was turned upside down, literally and figuratively.  No one knows the details of how it happened.  All that is known is that some good Samaritan came upon Sally's family's car, upside down, wrapped around a tree.  Whomever this person was pulled Sally and her parents out of the car as it caught fire.  This person drove nearly a mile to the closest house, had the owner call an ambulance, and then apparently disappeared.  Sally was in the hospital for 6 weeks.  Her parents did not survive.

After leaving the hospital, Sally went to live with her only living grandparent.  Her grandmother cared for her dearly, as she did for her grandmother.  Sadly, her grandmother was in poor health.  After only 1 short year, Sally's grandmother passed away.  Sally, of course, was devastated.  She became catatonic and had to go to a psychiatric hospital.  After months and months of therapy.  Sally eventually recovered enough to leave the hospital.

Sally then went to live with her only known relative.  Her uncle Bob* was a bit of a loner.  The only sibling of either of her parents.  He had never married and had few, if any, friends.  It took the State two weeks to track him down and another week to convince him to take Sally in.  Over the course of the next 7 years, uncle Bob did things to Sally that were unimaginable.  Deviant does not even begin to describe the sexual acts he performed on Sally and the ones he forced Sally to perform on him. 

How did this go on so long?  No one knew uncle Bob, and he liked it that way (for obvious reasons).  Sally had no family.  Uncle Bob threatened her with a painful, torturous death if she ever told anyone or ever made any friends.  When uncle Bob took in Sally, the State washed their hands of the situation.  Sally was with family.  Doing anything else would have cost them money. 

But eventually, uncle Bob got careless in his torture of Sally.  She began to show up at school with unexplainable bruises and scratches.  Teachers, and students, began to notice how some days she would come to school with a very odd limp, or how some days she would be obviously terribly uncomfortable sitting in the hard wooden desks at school.  Carelessness breeds more carelessness.   And that, compounded with Sally realizing the gravity of her situation, finally lead to Sally getting out of the situation. 

Sally finally told one of her teachers what was going on.  With Sally being the quiet, yet well manicured, attractive, and straight A student she was, the teacher had his doubts.  But, he did talk with Sally more about her report after school.  Unfortunately for Sally, the teacher decided to send her on home, and then report this to his principal. 

Sally got home from school that day about an hour late.  Uncle Bob obviously was very suspicious of what was going on.  Afraid that she might have squealed, uncle Bob decided to have one last hurrah with Sally that evening.  Sally has only recounted minor details of that evening to anyone.  But, everyone that has worked with Sally knows it was a brutal evening. 

Sally did not come to school that next day.  The principal at her school immediately called the police when her teacher realized she was absent.  Fearing the worst, the principal met the police at her house.  No one answered the door.  The police obtained a search warrant.  What they found inside was a gruesome mess.  To keep this blog SFW, I will not recount the details.  I will simply say this- two nude bodies, gallons of blood, uncle Bob dead (self inflicted wounds, non-gunshot), and Sally in the hospital for 6 more weeks.

Sally came to us 4 months ago.  She had obviously done a lot of work to rebuild herself.  She still occasionally sees her son that she put up for adoption and does well with that, especially considering his father was uncle Bob.  She has had some bad days.  But she always comes out of it, is very remorseful, and learns from her mistakes.  She is a very good young lady.  She was baptized three weeks ago.  I cried so hard that evening.

Sally is leaving us today.  She has finished high school  (half a year early).  She is moving on to an independent living program.  She will have her own apartment.  Already has a part time job lined up.  She will start college in the fall.  And she wants to be a domestic violence counselor.

In my last blog I talked about someone from this site that is an inspiration to me.  Sally, I think, is an inspiration to anyone who has met her.  I pray for her often.  I can't wait to see how she changes the world.