“I’ll fix you!” he spat through clenched teeth.

The battle lines were drawn.

I was the enemy.

My children were the weapon to be used against me.

Any friends or relatives, who tried to set healthy boundaries with him in his quest for supremacy and control over me, were resented, attacked verbally and immediately cut off.

But other timid family, friends and co-workers were easily recruited and enrolled to serve as his allies.

The timeline for the battle was stipulated…∞

“This will go on and on,” he vowed.

I never imagined someone could be so inhuman.

I never imagined that anyone would deliberately and aggressively attempt to remove me from my children's lives. 

But then again, if you want to hurt someone, really punish them, what would you do? You’d probably take the one thing they loved most. In my case, my children.

But that wasn’t sufficient. A cruel campaign was set into motion to systematically alienate me from my children and for almost a year, I was left to speculate where they were.

“Perpetrators of parental alienation also remove any evidence of positive interaction with the child and the “target” parent, in an effort to complete the brainwashing process, such as pictures, cards, presents etc.” – Parental Alienation Resource

This is what was done to us. I was shocked when my children were instructed:

 “No pictures of your mother!”

“No gifts from her!”

“No emails from her!”

“She doesn’t want you anyway!”

“In many cases, there is a history of severe psychological problems and agitations before the alienation tactics are ever employed. Many times these individuals suffer from some type of mental illness. The alienator perceives and portrays themselves as the victim. ” – Parental Alienation Resource

Words cannot describe the horrendous pain this monster intentionally inflicted on me and my children.

He had ordained himself as my punisher.

And his primary goal was clear: to punish me and destroy the healthy, loving relationship that I had with my children.

“They are obsessed, consumed and driven, by the goal of destroying the "target" parent in the eyes of the child (or children).” – Parental Alienation Resource

That is how I would be made to pay for trying to rescue myself, and my children, from the cycle of abuse.

I would be tortured for trying to escape an emotionally unstable, violent person.

The Punisher would make sure of it. And the strategy was simple.

I would pay in tears, and loss, and love.