My cousin, who is 17, has been dating a 16 year old who we have come to learn was beating her, was all around abusive and basically schizophrenic. She finally broke up with his crazy ass this last week. Since then he has been calling the house trying to talk to her, talking to my aunt and basically ticking Sara off.

Now to really give you a feel of this situation, I feel I have to describe my aunt just a bit more indepth. She has always been very reclusive, almost out of touch with this world. She married young and lived with her husband in a trailer with no phone and no car for 14 years before finally having Sara. After grandmother died, she tried to commit suicide. She is now on prozac and lithium, has not received any form of therapy whatsoever and sleeps til noon about every day. She has a good heart, and helps anyone in need, but cannot go out, has no/few friends.

For some reason she lives her life as if Sara's doing everything for her, at least thats what it seems to me. A vicarious shadow that her daughter is continuously rebelling against.

So today Sara was explaining how she wishes Rita wouldn't talk to him on the phone anymore. All Rita kept saying was that he needed help and she was trying to help him. Never mind that they both had already called his parents about his threats etc, and disregarding the fact that Sara had said that she feels that he is more important to her than her own daughter is. Then Sara says that he has been beating on her for a while and making threats before she finally broke up with him. Rita's comments are that she doesn't believe her, and that she probably did something to deserve it, and why didn't she say something before if that was happening.

I had had enough at that point and basically told her that she should reconsider what she had just said and think about who she was related to, her daughter or her daughter's ex, when it came to who she should care more about.

She didn't even look at me, just did her tone out thing, no eye contact, the usual. Im fairly sure she didn't hear me anymore than she hears Sara, but at least Sara heard me. I told her directly that she should not allow any man to do such things to her. That she deserves better.