[FULL STORY] What’s the worst thing your nightmare step-mother has ever done?

my nightmare stepmother burned all of my late mother's belongings and by doing so put my dad in the hospital I went nuclear on her my stepmother and I have never got along and I'll never forget the night she drunkenly called me bragging about the fact she just burned all of my late mother's belongings I burned them it was all junk anyway I've always hated how you guys kept her a part of your life you need to learn to let go you should look at it as a favor really I couldn't muster up words and just

hung up I sat in silence for a minute before receiving a flood of notifications from her she was sending me pictures upon pictures of Ashes accompanied by laughing emojis my dad and I were actually on a camping trip when this happened so I woke him up to tell him he thought I was joking but when I showed him proof he went pale he stepped outside his tent and started clutching his chest and having a heart attack I called an airlift it took 15 minutes for the helicopter to arrive and we immediately got in the doctors

told me not to get my hopes up and all this was happening while my stepmother was blowing up my phone demanding I answer her calls I ignored them however and held my father's hand the entire time he made it to the hospital and they admitted him to the ICU where he was hooked up to all these machines I sat by his bedside holding his hand watching his chest rise and fall the thought of losing him was unbearable I tried to be strong but the guilt was overwhelming I thought if I hadn't told him he would

have been okay but deep down I knew that wasn't true after what felt like an eternity the doctors managed to stabilize him they said he was lucky that he'd pulled through but he was still in a fragile state any more stress could be dangerous even fatal for the next few days I barely left my dad's side every time I stepped out of the room I felt anxious I was terrified that something would happen while I was gone the doctors kept saying he needed rest and that stress was the worst thing for him right now but

it was hard considering my stepmom had burned all of my mom's possessions my stepmom was always bitter about my mom and the sweet things that our family said about my mom last Thanksgiving we were all gathered around the dining table it was the first time my dad had brought his new girlfriend my soon to be stepmom to a family holiday everyone was curious about her they were eager to meet the woman who had finally brought a smile back to my dad's face after years of grief I remember sitting next to my dad my stepmom on

his other side her hand resting in his she seemed a little nervous but who wouldn't be meeting the whole family for the first time my dad kept reassuring her as we were making plates for the table the conversation naturally drifted to memories of my mom it was like that every year no matter how much time had passed she was always present in the room with us Aunt Linda told my stepmom that she was just as beautiful as Mary was Mary was my mother my brother sure knows how to pick them she said with a smile

there was a murmur of agreement around the table and I saw my stepmom's smile fade for a moment but she quickly bounced back and nodded politely as the dinner went on the stories about my mom started flowing how she used to make the best pecan pie how she would always sneak an extra slice to my cousin Jake and how she had this way of making everyone feel special my stepmom sat there smiling and nodding but I could feel the tension building in her it was when Uncle Joe started the prayer that the energy in the

room really shifted we all bowed our heads and Uncle Joe who always led the blessing began to speak Lord we thank you for this meal and for the family gathered here today we ask that you bless our food and our time together and we especially ask that you continue to bless Mary's soul may she rest in peace and may she know that she is missed dearly every day as soon as he mentioned my mom's name I felt my stepmom shift uncomfortably in her seat her hand still holding mine under the table suddenly felt tighter I

looked up at her and though her eyes were closed for prayer I could see how uncomfortable she felt it was in that moment I realized she was bitter bitter about my mom about the way we all still talked about her about the fact that no matter how hard she tried she would always be competing with a ghost when the prayer ended she quick let go of my hand and reached for her wine glass taking a long sip as the rest of the family echoed amen my dad oblivious just smiled at her and gave her hand

another reassuring squeeze but I saw it one day at the hospital my dad woke up and he was more alert than he had been in days he looked at me with those tired eyes and said he needed to talk to Stephanie I was scared for him and of what could happen if we pushed her too far but my dad was insistent he wasn't the type to let things slide and I knew that holding on to this letting it Fester would only make things worse for him so I agreed we would confront her but we'd do

it together we waited until my dad was discharged from the hospital he was still weak we decided to confront her at home when we got back to the house the tension was Heavy my stepmom was sitting in the living room watching TV like nothing had happened the sight of her made my blood boil but I kept it together for my dad's sake he told her that they needed to talk and when she noticed my dad was home she tried to greet him with open arms he pushed her away and she looked stunned she asked what

was wrong with him and he laid it all out you know damn well what's wrong you burned all of my wife's things he said for a moment she paused and turned red she then tried to justify it by blaming my dad for Still Loving my mom he told her that he didn't still love her but she was in no position to burn all of her belongings Stephanie said if he didn't still love her then why should it matter they were just things cluttering up the house she screamed at him I could see my father was

piping hot and I motioned for him to sit down I didn't want to have to take another trip to the hospital and even though he was still weak he snatched his arm out of my hand this was all she had of her mom and you threw it all away because you wanted to free up space he screamed she rolled her eyes and said he was being too dramatic she said he couldn't live in the past forever and that it was time to move on my dad told her that this wasn't about moving on it was

about respect and that was when I chimed in the fact that she didn't seem to be remorseful at all infuriated me she told both of us that it was her house as well and that she was the wife now and if we had a problem with that then we both could leave she even said that we should be thanking her for removing all of my mom's belongings from the house she told me that with that stuff gone we could both heal faster and not have a constant reminder that she was dead my dad said he

paid the mortgage and that his name was on the documents he told her she needed to leave immediately this seemed like the final straw for him not including the fact that she did not visit him while he was in the hospital she refused to leave and the argument got heated my dad looked pale again and I forced him to the couch I told her to leave him alone she didn't care that she was causing him so much pain after my dad's color returned and his breathing was stable I helped him to the bed the morning

after the confrontation was eerily quiet the tension from the night before hung in the air it was impossible to ignore my dad was still in bed exhausted and emotionally drained from everything that had happened I could hear his slow breathing through the thin walls I made my way downstairs half expecting to find her gone but no she was there sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in hand as if nothing had happened she didn't even look up when I walked in her Focus was entirely on her phone her fingers moved rapidly across

the screen as I poured myself a cup of coffee the phone calls started first it was my aunt she asked me what was going on and why my stepmother had called her in the middle of the night crying about how my dad and I were ganging up on her and treating her like an outsider in her own home I tried to explain what really happened but the more I talked the more I realized that my stepmother had already convinced her otherwise then it was my dad's best friend who called to say he was worried stepmom

had told him that my dad was losing it and that he wasn't handling his grief well and was starting to lash out at her for no reason she made it sound like we were the ones who had crossed a line and the ones who needed help it became clear that she was going to fight and she was going to make sure everyone believed her side of the story I could see her out of the corner of my eye still sitting at the kitchen table smir as she continued to type away on her phone I couldn't

stand it anymore I slammed my mug down on the counter the sound echoed through the kitchen like a gunshot what the hell are you doing I yelled at her she finally looked up and said she was making sure people knew the truth she said me and my dad were clearly not in the right State of Mind to handle this so she's taking care of it I laughed she was serious I told her that she was lying to everyone and I knew about it she was the one painting us as bad guys she claimed she was

just protecting herself and said that people deserve to know what was really going on in our house she went on this whole rant about how she had never been welcomed in our home and that she was treated as a placeholder by my dad and I ever since my mom died I told her that this was my dad's home and said she was bitter since she wasn't half as good a woman as my mom was I said she needed to get out or I would call the police she stood up slowly her eyes never leaving mine

and said we'll see about that and with that she brushed past me leaving me standing there as the door closed behind her I realized that this was far from over stepmom was going to fight dirty and if we didn't find a way to stop her she was going to take everything from us after all the calls from family and friends my dad started stressing and then his health started to decline again he was stressed all the time barely sleeping and it was taking a toll on his heart the doctors warned us that he couldn't take

much more of this that if things didn't change he might not make it I couldn't stand by and watch her destroy him we needed to get her out of our lives but she wasn't going to go quietly that's when I realized we needed legal help we found a lawyer who specialized in family law and we started the process of filing for divorce it was grueling and my stepmom fought us every step of the way but the more she fought the more her true colors showed she tried to play the victim to paint us as the

bad guys but it didn't work the court saw through her lies and saw the damage she was trying to do she had no remorse or empathy just a burning desire to get what she wanted no matter who it hurt the divorce was ugly she dragged it out as long as she could trying to drain us financially and emotionally but in the end the Court ruled in our favor she was forced to leave and we were finally free of her after she was gone it took time for us to heal my Dad's health slowly improved but

he was never the same the stress had taken its toll and he was more fragile than ever we focused on rebuilding our lives on finding a new normal it wasn't easy and there were days when the weight of everything we'd been through felt like too much to bear but we had each other and that was enough we didn't talk much about my mom's things after that the loss was too painful one day as we were going through some old boxes in the attic I found a small envelope tucked away in the corner it was addressed

to me in my mom's handwriting my heart skipped a beat as I opened it tears formed in my eyes as I read the words she'd written to me before she passed she talked about how much she loved me and how proud she was of the person I was becoming and at the end she wrote no matter what happens always remember that I'm with you in every memory every moment I'm there I held the letter close to my chest and felt a sense of peace that I hadn't felt in a long time my mom was gone

but she was still with me in every memory in every moment and no one could ever take that away as time passed the pain started to fade my dad and I were closer than ever we knew that we couldn't change the past but we could determine our future and that's exactly what we did we moved to a new house it was a fresh start the first night in our new home we sat on the porch watching the sunset and my dad turned to me with a small smile we made it he said yeah I agreed

we did and through it all I knew that my mom was watching over us and that she would have been proud of the people we had become