A while back, I mentioned that my little sister did a brave thing. I didn't give details because I wasn't sure she would want me to. But I've been given the green light and I'd like to share her story, which is great because most people wouldn't talk about this and she seems to be OK with talking about it now. A couple of months ago, she moved in with a guy she'd been dating. It turned out he wasn't so nice after all. He was really abusive. He said mean things to her only to apologize later and say that he loved her. She was worried about getting out and didn't know how to do it. She said she couldn't save money for her own place because he knew about all of her money and he would know if she was setting some aside. When I called her, she couldn't talk to me, saying only "OK" and giving really short answers because he listened to every word she said. She was expected to call him before she left work and then to go straight home. And at one point, he started driving her to work and then coming back to pick her up because he didn't want her to have her car with her. WHAT A PSYCHO. Our parents finally got involved and she started to open up about it some. Our mom, who tends to blow things out of proportion sometimes was very worried and would tell me that, but I hadn't talked to my sister about it, so I wasn't sure if what she was saying was just her interpretation of the situation. But soon it became clear that we had to get her out of there. She needed her family. Only she was really the one who had to make the move. And so, one Friday out of the blue my mom calls and says, "Guess who's at my house?" She says it's my sister, her dog and her two cats. My sister went home from work one day and told him that was it and she wasn't taking it anymore. She packed up her animals and went to our mom's. And for that, I'm so proud of her. So many women stay and just take it. I thank God that she didn't do that. A couple days after she left, I talked to her about it and asked her why she didn't tell us how bad it really was. She said she was embarrassed that she'd let that happen to her. But she knows (at least I hope she does) that it isn't her fault. She is not the one with the problem. The thing that's bothering us most is that we think he got to our dad. Dad was here for a week in December putting a new roof on our house and one day I was in my bedroom while he was on the roof. I could hear him talking and I figured he was talking to my sister's boyfriend. She had gone to my mom's because of some argument the two of them had. Now, I know that it was probably more than a misunderstanding. But back then, we didn't know what was going on. So he was telling this guy that he needed to give my sister space and that he couldn't suffocate her because she would just pull away. Anyway, that's pretty much the gist of that conversation. But I have a feeling that he called my dad for sympathy a lot in a manipulative move to get our dad on his side. Otherwise our dad would be kicking that guy's ass. And he's not. And I want to, but I won't because as my sister says, he's not worth it. And we have concluded that maybe dad not kicking this guy's ass is in all of our best interests because dad would just get in trouble. You hear dads say, "Hurt my daughter and I'll kick your ass," but with our dad, it's totally true. He's pretty tough. I certainly wouldn't want him mad at me! So the latest, and herein lies the problem, is that this guy went to my mom's house one night and got into my sister's car. She saw him from the window. After she inspected, she saw that he took a bunch of her CDs and left her a letter. I didn't ask what it said and I don't care and neither does my sister. So she called about getting a restraining order or something called a personal protection order. Now. I don't know all the legalities, but she was only allowed to get the personal protection order, which would last for only 72 HOURS. What kind of protection is THAT?! She decided not to do it because she figured it would only make him angrier and then at the 73rd hour, he'd be ready to do something. What kind of system do we have here? For all the talk about women leaving abusive boyfriends or husbands, where's the help? Thank God my sister is with our mom. Mom was sleeping when that guy came to her house and my sister didn't wake her. If she had, things would have surely gotten ugly. You really don't want to mess with my mom either. Not when it comes to returning malfunctioning electronics and certainly not when it comes to her daughters. She definitely has that motherly instinct. My sister ended up losing a lot of her stuff to her ex-boyfriend because he wouldn't let her take it all. But you know what? It's just stuff. It can be replaced. We got the most important thing. Her.