Devilish - her brother gets quite cross with his sister from time to time, because she's not the sister he remembers her as being. Last night, for instance, she was lovely. She was chatty, and laughing, and happy... and he didn't want to go to bed, because - like me - he knows that these phases are few and far between these days. They were chattering away about the few interests they have in common, she was asking his advice about something she'd written for uni and actually listening seriously to his opinion, they were swapping funny Youtube videos... and it was lovely to watch/be on the edges of. Then this morning, she woke up in a nasty mood and turned something I'd said into an excuse to launch both barrels of vitriol at me. Which she did in front of my son, and he became quite upset about the fact that she was berating me at the top of her voice for not having aborted her... which... wow. He's okay now, though, as she's flounced off out and announced that as being at home makes her absolutely miserable, she's off to sleep elsewhere, tonight.
She was supposed to start work at 11 today. She initially told me that she was working from 1pm onwards - and then that they'd called her and she wasn't needed at all. Except I overheard them calling her to demand to know where the hell she was, she was meant to start at 11, how dare she leave them in a situation where they're a waitress down... I overheard, because she put them on speaker in her room, whilst I was in mine, with the doors open. Last night, she was bragging about how the manager of another local restaurant happened to be eating in her section and overheard "the way that [the manager] spoke to [her]" and was disgusted by it. She was all smiles and giggles as she told us how the manager of the other place was encouraging... nay!, demanding... that she hand a CV in to them because she's "just what [they] are looking for... with the tattoos, and how pretty [she] is...". Do I believe this? No. It's exactly like the conversation we had about Google. She is in a manic stage, a severe "up" of the cycle, and is having full on delusions of being fabulous. Which I suspect that she knows are lies, and delusions, but she needs to boost her own ego and self-esteem by telling me/others in the hope that we'll tell her "but, of course!!! You're so beautiful/wonderful/smart/funny/whatever...!!!". This stage is worse than the depressive "down" stage where she won't get out of bed, in many ways. Not least because this is the stage where her behaviour becomes dangerous and she puts herself in risky situations...
And now she's flounced off, expecting a cavalcade of anxiety and pleas for her to come home to follow in her wake. Except... it's not happening. Because my son, the dogs (for yes, she has dumped the pup on me again!) and I are going to visit the village in which my father grew up, today. A whim visit. A last minute decision. But one which I've been putting off, even though my son has been asking to go there for months.
Am I worried about her? Of course I am. Actually, I am genuinely terrified that she'll come home in an urn. But she's an adult, and I cannot keep doing this. She made a choice this morning to be downright cruel and nasty both to and about me, in front of her brother. For absolutely no reason. She made a choice to flounce off out without her doorkey. Now is when she needs to face the consequences of those choices, I'm afraid, and understand that I and her brother are not here purely to be her emotional punch bags. We deserve better. As does she, but...
When I posted yesterday, I was already halfway to the "can't and won't do this anymore" stage. Today, after watching her smile of triumph and the delight in her eyes as she taunted me, and belittled me, and physically intimidated me... as punishment, I suspect, because of the work situation (I can't help but wonder if her being so lovely last night was so that I'd let my guard down)... I'm fully there.
And for anyone who read the very wise words about the choice I made between my ex and her... we never lived together, he was never left alone with her, and I know for a fact that he did not touch her. If she was abused, then it was by her paternal biological family. She adored him right up until my son was born (whom she informed the radiographer at my sexing scan, had to be a boy because if he turned out to be a girl... she would throw her in the dustbin with all the other rubbish! Consequently, she was never left alone with my son when he was a baby...!) then something seemed to shift in her brain and my ex was no longer permitted to be in our life. I haven't dated since. Because she won't allow me to. She's actually told me that. I have a DV counsellor because of my daughter. Because when she's like this...? She's dangerous. To herself, and to others.
But this afternoon? I'm definitely putting my son first. He and I quite like our escapes into the countryside around where we live, with no real agenda other than "must eat at some point", and we're fortunate enough to live in a beautiful area. If his sister returns and continues to behave the way that she does, then my son will be going to stay with his Dad and stepmother for a while (whether he wants to, or not). Because he is a child, and my daughter is an adult... and realistically, there's no choice about which one of them I have to protect.
She'll never know how much I love her. She'll never understand it. Even if she has children, herself. She said last night that I am the only person who has ever told her that she's loved by them Not even her "boyfriend" of 11 months has told her. He's told her that he doesn't trust her, that she smells and needs to shower, that she shouldn't drink with her medication, and that she's fat (which she really isn't)... but never that he loves her. And she believes that's acceptable (it's really not and she's worth so much better/more than he's convinced her she is).
But now, I have to stop waffling and round the canines and child up... and try my very best to hide my terror that my daughter is going to do something stupid today, and my upset at being berated and belittled for breathing, by her, this morning.
Thank you all, though. and or for/to you all.