Behind Closed Doors

(repost)

This is my entry for week 6 of Blogophilia



Blogophilia Week 6:
Topic:  Clairvoyance Experiment
Bonus points (hard, 2 points):  Include a commode planter in the front yard.
Bonus points (easy, 1 point): Reference a hockey movie.

It was late in the evening, and I really wasn't expecting any visitors when I heard something in the yard.  I went to the front window and looked out.  There was a little girl in a long flowing gown sitting on the commode planter in the front yard.  I went out the front door to investigate.

As I approached her, she stood up and asked if she could play with "that little girl who lives here."  She appeared to be around 4 years old, and was wearing some sort of costume.  She looked like a little princess with her gown,  long curls hanging down her back, a tiara perched on her head.  'It's kind of late for you to be out playing alone.  Where are your parents?"  She just looked at the ground.  "What is your name?"  Nothing.   "Are you lost?"  Again, nothing.

Becoming increasingly concerned, I asked her to come inside.  She stood up, clutching a video tape titled "Miracle" in her hand, and a teddy bear to her chest.  "I've seen the little girl who lives here.   I just wanted to play with her."  "Well that's my daughter,  but she is already in bed.  I would think you would be in bed by now.  Where do you live?"  "Not far," she replied.        I continued to try to get some kind of information out of her as to who she was or where her parents were.  She didn't want to tell me anything.  She looked like she hadn't had a bath in a while, and acted nervous, or afraid of something.  I wondered what had happened to her.

"Let's go for a ride, ok?"  She took my hand and followed me to the car.  I'd already decided I didn't want to be accused of kidnapping or anything like that, so I  headed straight for the hospital, calling to ask a police officer to meet me there.  Once we arrived, she was reluctant to go in, but I assured her I would stay with her the whole time.   As they were taking blood samples for various tests, and taking x-rays, a police officer talked with me outside the door of her exam room.  I explained how she turned up at my house.   It seemed the hospital personnel were acquainted with her, as they had quite a long record of previous visits.  Child protective services had already been called in, because the parents were under suspicion of child abuse and negligence.  At the time, they were nowhere to be found, so I agreed to stay with her.  After the first round of bloodwork failed to show anything abnormal, another set of tests were run.  It seemed that a hospital employee with a quick, intuitive knowledge of things and people (clairvoyance), had uncovered an interesting piece of information in questioning the girl.  She told them that her mother gave her shots that would make her be a good girl.  ?????   WTF?  

It seemed that the mother had been injecting her with human feces.  The mother  had a disease called Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy. People with this syndrome often injure their children in order to gain attention and sympathy.  They will create  symptoms of medical illness in the child, and then seek medical attention.  This is a character-disordered parent who finds the drama of the "illness" and support of the hospital staff so gratifying, that keeping her child in the "sick role" is more important than realizing the danger and sickness of what she is doing.  Sadly, many of these children die before any real proof is gathered.

In this case, the morbid act was discovered before it was too late.    It turned out this family lived just around the corner from our house.  You can never tell by looking at someone what really goes on in their home.  They appeared to be a normal, happy family to all of the neighbors.  The little girl was removed from the home, and charges were filed on the parents.    She is now living a happy, healthy life with a loving family.  Her body has healed, but the emotional trauma she has been through will always be with her.