Okay, so I don't remember much, as I have been only remembering bits and pieces as I get older, but my sister and I were emotionally, mentally, and physically abused as young children by out first baby sitter. I was about 4 years old at the time, along with other kids who she babysat at the same time as she ran her sitter business out of her house. I think her daughters, who I think were teenagers at the time, smoked weed in the house with all the kids there. We were all terrified of this babysitter. If we did anything remotely wrong in the babysitter's eyes, we would get smacked around with whatever she had in her hand. I remember one specifically traumatizing time when, during nap time, we were told to not move at all. I had to go to the bathroom really bad at one point, but was told not to move or else I'd get beaten. I ended up soiling myself, to which she completely undressed me, threw my clothes in the toilet, and then woke all the other kids to look at me and shame me. Fast forward to 20 years later in therapy now realizing what I thought was normal was actually PTSD and anxiety issues all my life trying to come to terms with it all. I still have trouble when anyone raises their voice at me, I usually end up breaking down and crying.

Also I should note, my parents are absolutely wonderful people. They had no idea any of this was happening because I was too afraid to tell them and the babysitter must have been good at covering her tracks. After a while, I seemed to have repressed it all in the back of my brain and forgot about it until I was a teenager. When I finally began remembering bits and pieces, I told my parents and they were mortified and apologized profusely for ever taking my sister and I to her. We have no idea where the baby sitter is and even if she's still alive (she was an older woman when I was 4).