Chapter 5 - The Nightmares and the Guilt
While the legal battle brewed in the background, the real war was happening inside our home every single night. Chloe’s physical injuries—the blisters on her feet from walking in uncomfortable dress shoes and the chill she had caught from sitting in the cold wind—healed within a few days. But the psychological damage ran much deeper, manifesting in heartbreaking ways that left Thomas and me feeling entirely helpless.
She refused to go into any room of the house alone. If I walked into the kitchen to grab a glass of water, Chloe would immediately drop her toys and follow me, clutching the hem of my shirt with white-knuckled intensity. Whenever we went out to the grocery store or the park, she would freeze if I stepped more than two feet away from her, her breathing becoming rapid and shallow until I physically took her hand.
One Tuesday night at three in the morning, a piercing scream echoed from down the hallway. Thomas and I sprinted into Chloe’s bedroom to find her sitting bolt upright in her bed, drenched in sweat, scratching frantically at her arms and legs.
"I can't move! I can't move!" she sobbed inconsolably as Thomas scooped her up into his lap, rocking her back and forth while she thrashed against his chest. "The buses are going to hit me, Mommy! Grandma won't let me get up! The man is looking at me!"
"You're safe, baby girl, you're at home," I whispered, crying tears of frustration as I stroked her cheek. "Grandma can never, ever hurt you again. I promise you."
After we finally got Chloe to fall back asleep between us in the master bed, Thomas walked out to the living room and collapsed onto the sofa. When I sat next to him, I realized he was weeping—deep, silent, shuddering sobs that shook his entire frame. He had been trying to stay strong for both of us, but the guilt was eating him alive from the inside out.
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"This is my fault, Sarah," he choked out, staring at his trembling hands in the dim moonlight filtering through the window. "I grew up watching her treat people like this. I knew how controlling and mean she could be when she didn't get her way. I should have never let Chloe go on that outing without us. I handed our daughter over to a monster because I wanted to believe she was just a normal grandmother."
"You couldn't have known she would commit a crime, Thomas," I said fiercely, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. "You are not your mother. You are a loving father who is standing up to her right now. We are going to get Chloe through therapy, we are going to heal, and we are going to make sure Eleanor pays for every single tear our daughter has shed."
