When a Sociopath Gets Too Close

I have given a little back story to my life in dealing with a sociopath. I have discovered that not much has been written on this subject and I do not have many articles to draw inspiration from as I am traveling down this path. So I will pave my own way and hope someone will find some comfort in knowing you are not alone. Never lose faith, find your voice and speak out loud and clear. There is hope.

When I first met my sister in law, all I knew about her was that she was trying to start a new life, that one of her children was living with her mother in Arkansas. She had her other two young sons living with her and had just moved to California from Arkansas and was living with her father. It did seem strange to me that two sons would be with her and one would be with her mother. The explanation I was given at the time was he was "too delicate" whatever that means. And because I was new to my relationship with her brother I didn't question it. Live and let live that is my normal policy.

My first known memory of her having any health problems was when my boyfriend had to go to the hospital. She had fallen off a bike while having a seizure and was bruised. Now I knew that she had a seizure disorder that defied medical explanation. She had every test in the book and no one could find any reason for her seizures.

The longer I knew her, the stranger the tale became. Her soon to be ex husband left in a hurry when she decided to end their relationship of fourteen years. That summer she threw herself a divorce party at the local pub and it seemed life was looking up for her. She met her current husband at the same local bar September 2007. From the start this guy was sketchy didn't have a job. Not that she had one either - she was living on disability for these unexplainable seizures.

Christmas of 2007 was a hard one. This wonderful new guy, the answer to her prayers for a new beginning, happened to get himself arrested driving drunk with a loaded pistol that she bought him as a Christmas present.
She came to us, her brother and I, that Christmas day. She informed us she received a preapproved credit card with enough money to bail her new superman out of jail. Little did I know my prophetic words would haunt me. I told her when she asked what she should do..."Stupid is as stupid does". I did not know her well at that point in time. I was actually being sarcastic. I thought a reasonable person does not put themselves into debt, take money out of their children's college fund to bail out a loser they met a scant four months ago. Well, not literally a college fund, but just to do something so ridiculous was beyond my reality.

Little did I know I was just getting to know the real person, the real sociopath. The closer you get, the more you realize that there is no reality except their own. And sometimes it is too close for comfort.