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My Sister Was Supposed to Hurt Me… But She Chose to Save Me Instead | Daily Telly Talks
Aug 11, 2025
#redditrelationship #aita #redditstories My Sister Was Supposed to Hurt Me… But She Chose to Save Me Instead | Daily Telly Talks My sister was raised to hurt me. It was a tradition passed down for generations — a ceremony designed to "purify" young girls by scarring them, body and soul. I was next. For weeks, my older sister prepared the knives… until the night she made a choice that changed everything. This is the raw, unfiltered story of surviving ritualistic abuse, breaking generational cycles, and finding hope in the most unexpected place: the hands of the person who was supposed to destroy me. ⚠️ Trigger Warning: This video contains graphic themes involving abuse, trauma, and survival. Viewer discretion is advised.
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0:00
My sister spent weeks sharpening blades
0:02
and tracing patterns on my skin. She'd
0:03
look at my arm, my back, my legs, and
0:05
her scarred fingers would move with a
0:07
practiced, terrifying grace. She was
0:09
planning to carve me like mom taught
0:11
her. When I finally begged her not to do
0:12
it, my voice a broken whisper, she
0:14
tilted her head and said, "You should be
0:16
grateful I'm the one holding the knife."
0:19
I stayed silent. That was 20 years ago.
0:22
Last month, she stood beside me on stage
0:25
telling a room full of survivors how she
0:27
saved my life. Who was the last person
0:29
you thought would save you? For me, it
0:32
was Anna, my older sister.
0:35
In my family, girls were forced to
0:37
endure a purification ceremony when they
0:39
turned 16. The ceremony was a horrific
0:42
ritual where the oldest sister would
0:44
carve sacred patterns into the younger
0:46
sister's skin to release her demons.
0:49
Anna had been mom's star pupil for
0:51
years, a testament to the family's
0:53
twisted faith. She'd practiced her
0:56
technique on our cousins, and I had
0:58
watched their bandaged bodies stumble
0:59
out of our house, their eyes vacant and
1:02
dead. Anna held the ceremonial blade
1:05
with disturbingly steady hands, while
1:07
mom praised her precision, her
1:08
dedication to protecting our bloodline
1:10
from corruption. I'd grown up watching
1:12
Anna transform from my protective big
1:14
sister into mom's devoted apprentice.
1:17
She was lost to me long before she ever
1:18
took a blade to my skin. I remember the
1:21
Anna who used to sneak me candy and
1:23
braid my hair, but after her own
1:25
ceremony, she became a different person.
1:28
She'd show me her scars with pride,
1:30
running her fingers along the intricate
1:32
raised welts that covered her arms and
1:33
back. "It only hurts until you
1:36
understand the beauty," she'd say while
1:38
I tried not to stare, repulsed by the
1:41
white, jagged lines. Mom would beam at
1:43
her and say Anna was proof the ceremony
1:45
worked, because look how obedient she'd
1:47
become. The transformation was complete.
1:50
As my birthday approached, Anna began
1:52
preparing her tools with a chilling
1:53
enthusiasm. She sharpened the blades in
1:56
front of me, the rasping sound of stone
1:58
against steel filling our kitchen. She'd
2:00
explain which cuts would hurt most and
2:02
which would scar prettiest.
2:05
Mom even gave her anatomical charts,
2:07
marking where to cut for maximum pain
2:09
without hitting anything vital. They
2:11
would discuss my ceremony over dinner
2:13
like they were planning a party,
2:14
debating whether to start with my back
2:16
or my arms.
2:18
The arms are traditional, mom would say,
2:20
but the back creates such beautiful
2:22
patterns. Anna would nod thoughtfully
2:25
and suggest doing both in one session.
2:27
I'd just push food around my plate too
2:29
sick to eat. One afternoon, mom showed
2:31
me the basement room they'd prepared.
2:33
The walls were lined with photos of
2:35
scarred girls, their eyes dead and
2:37
lifeless, including Anna with fresh
2:39
wounds covering her body. A medical
2:41
table sat in the center with leather
2:43
restraints. Mom said girls always fought
2:45
at first before accepting their
2:46
purification. Anna demonstrated how the
2:49
straps worked, explaining that she'd
2:51
have to gag me if I screamed too loud
2:53
because the neighbors might get the
2:54
wrong idea.
2:56
Every woman in our family for six
2:58
generations has been purified, she said,
3:00
her voice hollow. You should be grateful
3:03
to continue the tradition.
3:05
I stared at the blood stains on the
3:07
table that no amount of cleaning could
3:08
remove and knew I had to run. But mom
3:10
had installed new locks and Anna watched
3:12
me constantly, even sleeping on a cot in
3:15
my room. The night before my birthday,
3:17
Anna woke me at midnight.
3:20
"It's time for spiritual preparation,"
3:22
she whispered, her voice devoid of
3:24
emotion.
3:26
She led me to the basement where mom was
3:28
lighting candles around the table. "The
3:31
flickering light cast dancing shadows on
3:33
the walls of scarred girls.
3:36
They had laid out the ceremonial blades,
3:38
each one gleaming.
3:41
Mom had me lie down while Anna tested
3:43
the restraints one final time,
3:45
tightening the straps until they cut
3:47
into my skin. We'll let you meditate on
3:50
your transformation until sunrise, mom
3:52
said. Then Anna will begin. They left me
3:56
alone, strapped to that table, listening
3:58
to my own frantic heartbeat in the
4:00
darkness.
4:02
Hours passed, a slow, agonizing crawl
4:05
toward dawn. Just before the first hint
4:08
of light, the basement door opened. I
4:10
tensed, bracing for the first cut. But
4:13
instead, I felt the restraint suddenly
4:16
loosened. "Get up!" Anna whispered
4:19
urgently, her hands shaking as she
4:20
pulled me off the table. "We're leaving
4:22
right now." I stared at her in shock as
4:25
she shoved a bundle of clothes at me.
4:27
Her face tear streaked and scarred was a
4:29
mask of terror.
4:31
I can't do this to you," she sobbed.
4:33
"I've been planning this for weeks. I
4:35
have money saved and bags packed
4:37
upstairs. I had to pretend to be
4:39
excited, or mom would have brought in
4:41
cousin Rachel to do it instead. She's
4:43
even worse than mom." We crept upstairs
4:46
where two bags sat ready by the door.
4:49
Anna slowly turned the deadbolt, wincing
4:52
at every click.
4:54
Going somewhere?
4:56
A voice cut through the silence.
4:59
Mom stood at the top of the stairs in
5:00
her ceremonial robes, holding the
5:02
largest blade.
5:04
Her face was eerily calm as she
5:06
descended each step with deliberate
5:08
slowness.
5:10
Anna pushed me behind her, her whole
5:12
body trembling. "I won't let you hurt
5:15
her like you hurt me," she said, her
5:17
voice shaking but determined. Mom
5:19
laughed, a cold sound that made my skin
5:21
crawl. "Hurt you? I saved you from the
5:24
demons, but clearly the lesson didn't
5:27
stick.
5:28
As she reached the bottom of the stairs,
5:30
two figures emerged from the shadows of
5:32
the living room. Our cousins, Rachel and
5:35
Stella, both covered in ceremonial
5:37
scars, moved to block the back exit.
5:41
Did you really think I didn't know? Mom
5:43
said. I've been watching you cry
5:45
yourself to sleep for weeks, seeing you
5:47
flinch every time we discussed the
5:49
ceremony. That's why I invited back up.
5:53
She stepped closer as the cousins moved
5:55
in from both sides. Since you're too
5:57
weak to perform the ceremony, your
5:59
cousins will do it instead, and they
6:01
won't be as gentle as you plan to be."
6:04
Anna gripped my hand tighter as the
6:06
cousins grabbed her arms. "Mom advanced
6:08
on me with a blade raised." "Strip her
6:10
and strap her down," she commanded.
6:12
"Make Anna watch every single cut. Maybe
6:14
that will remind her why we do this."
6:17
Rachel's scarred hands grabbed my right
6:19
arm while Stella seized my left.
6:22
Their fingers dug into my skin, dragging
6:25
me toward the basement stairs. Mom
6:27
pressed the ceremonial blade against
6:29
Anna's throat. A thin line of blood
6:31
appearing where the metal touched skin.
6:33
Anna thrashed wildly, screaming at the
6:36
top of her lungs for me to run. Her eyes
6:38
went wild, and she suddenly snapped her
6:40
head back hard into mom's face with a
6:42
sickening crack. Blood exploded from
6:44
mom's nose as she stumbled backward, the
6:46
blade clattering across the hardwood
6:47
floor. I wrenched my arm free from
6:49
Stella's shocked grip and bolted for the
6:51
door, my bare feet slapping against the
6:53
wood floor. Anna broke free too, but
6:55
Rachel recovered fast, tackling her just
6:57
as my hand touched the doororknob. Anna
6:59
hit the floor hard, her chin splitting
7:01
open on impact. I froze, my hand on the
7:04
door knob, hearing Anna crying out in
7:06
pain. My eyes landed on the keys hanging
7:09
on a hook by the door. I grabbed them,
7:12
threw them as hard as I could into the
7:13
darkness of the front yard, then slammed
7:15
the door shut and turned the deadbolt. I
7:17
pulled the house keys from the lock and
7:19
shoved them deep in my pocket. Mom
7:21
pushed herself up from the floor, blood
7:23
streaming down her face. She wiped blood
7:25
from her mouth and began to laugh, a
7:27
cold, unhinged sound. She told Rachel to
7:30
call her mother, that they needed the
7:32
whole family here for an emergency
7:33
purification ceremony. While Rachel made
7:36
the call, Stella hauled a struggling
7:38
Anna into the kitchen and tied her to a
7:40
chair with extension cords from the
7:42
garage. I pressed my back against the
7:45
wall, listening to Rachel explain. We
7:47
had a situation requiring immediate
7:49
family intervention. She announced the
7:52
family would arrive in 20 minutes. 15
7:55
minutes crawled by while I sat on the
7:57
floor near Anna, whispering how sorry I
7:59
was for getting her into this. She shook
8:02
her head, her face a mess of blood and
8:04
tears. She mouthed something, pointing
8:07
toward the coat rack where her denim
8:08
jacket hung. I pretended to stumble and
8:12
my fingers found her phone tucked in the
8:14
inside pocket. It was still recording
8:16
everything that had happened. Car doors
8:18
slammed outside.
8:20
Footsteps approached our front door in a
8:22
group. Mom's extended family arrived.
8:25
Nine women with scarred skin, all
8:27
wearing their ceremonial robes. Aunt
8:29
Patricia entered first, her face a mask
8:32
of cold amusement.
8:34
Two more aunts followed, their daughters
8:35
in tow. They formed a circle around me
8:38
in the living room, their eyes gleaming
8:40
with a terrifying shared belief. They
8:42
started removing their shirts to show me
8:44
their full scarred bodies, each pattern
8:46
more complex than the last. Mom's aunt
8:49
Patricia ran her fingers along her own
8:51
scars, explaining which ones hurt the
8:53
worst, pointing to deep marks near her
8:55
ribs that still achd 30 years later. I
8:58
tried to scream, but the gag turned it
9:01
into muffled whimpers as they laid out
9:03
plastic sheets on the living room floor.
9:06
Stella started cutting my shirt off with
9:07
scissors. The cold metal against my skin
9:10
making me shake. That's when we heard
9:12
the sirens, distant at first, but
9:14
getting louder. Mom's face went white as
9:17
she looked out the window. Police cars
9:19
surrounded our house. Officers in
9:21
tactical gear flooded in, their weapons
9:23
drawn, shouting commands. The women
9:25
scattered, but it was too late. Mom
9:27
dropped a blade and raised her hands,
9:29
but her eyes never left me. A look of
9:30
pure hatred on her face. They cuffed all
9:33
nine women. Paramedics rushed to untie
9:35
Anna and remove my gag, checking us for
9:37
injuries. Miss Wells from CPS arrived
9:40
within minutes, wrapping us both in
9:41
blankets and leading us to her car. Mom
9:44
screamed about religious persecution
9:45
from the back of a police cruiser as we
9:47
drove away. The first few weeks were a
9:49
blur of police interviews, medical
9:51
exams, and meetings with prosecutors.
9:53
Anna couldn't stop shaking. She'd flinch
9:56
every time Mrs. Garcia, our foster
9:58
mother, tried to hug her. 8 weeks into
10:00
our placement, Mrs. As Garcia's phone
10:02
started ringing constantly with unknown
10:04
numbers from extended family, calling
10:06
her a kidnapper and saying we were
10:07
lying, the grand jury hearing came 3
10:10
months after our escape. I had to
10:12
describe every horrifying detail of that
10:14
basement room. Two jurors started crying
10:16
when I described the restraints and how
10:18
mom had cataloged which cuts would hurt
10:20
most without causing death.
10:23
Anna's testimony the next day lasted 4
10:25
hours as she explained how mom had spent
10:27
6 hours carving patterns into her skin
10:29
when she turned 16. She admitted the
10:31
ceremony had broken her, made her
10:33
obedient, and made her willing to hurt
10:35
others to avoid more pain. 2 weeks after
10:37
the testimony, someone posted Mrs.
10:39
Garcia's address online. Protesters with
10:42
signs about religious freedom started
10:44
showing up. Ms. Wells connected us with
10:46
a teen support group for abuse
10:48
survivors, but my story stood out even
10:50
among kids who'd been through hell.
10:53
Anna discovered mom's old photo albums
10:55
that the prosecutors had seized, and we
10:57
saw generations of scarred women posing
10:59
in their ceremonial robes. Mom's
11:01
extended family pulled money to post her
11:03
bail, but she found ways to send us
11:05
messages through flowers delivered to
11:07
our foster home. We'd watched Mrs.
11:09
Garcia burn them in the backyard. The
11:11
prosecutor called us with worse news.
11:13
She'd found mom's detailed journals
11:15
documenting 23 girls she had performed
11:17
ceremonies on over 15 years. The FBI
11:20
took over the case. connecting our
11:23
family to others with the same
11:24
ritualistic abuse in Oregon, Washington,
11:26
and California. Two weeks after the
11:28
testimony, Anna swallowed an entire
11:30
bottle of pills from Mrs. Garcia's
11:32
medicine cabinet. I found her on the
11:34
bathroom floor, barely breathing, and
11:36
screamed for help. At the hospital,
11:38
after they pumped her stomach, she
11:39
grabbed my hand and sobbed that she
11:41
couldn't live with what she'd almost
11:42
done to me. She kept saying she'd wanted
11:45
to hurt me, that some part of her had
11:47
been excited to continue the tradition
11:49
before she'd snapped out of it.
11:51
The site ward nurses kept Anna on a
11:53
72-hour hold while Detective Martinez
11:55
dug deeper into our family history.
11:58
3 days later, he called me with news
12:00
that made my stomach drop. The medical
12:03
examiner's office had found three death
12:04
certificates from the past decade. Three
12:06
teenage girls who had died from sepsis
12:08
that started as infected wounds. Their
12:11
families never reported any ceremonies,
12:13
but the scar patterns matched what Anna
12:14
had described. The FBI was taking over.
12:18
Our case had just helped uncover one of
12:20
the largest child abuse rings in the
12:22
country. Anna was moved to a special
12:25
psychiatric facility where trauma
12:26
specialists worked with ceremony
12:28
survivors. She wanted to testify at
12:30
mom's trial to look her in the eye and
12:32
tell the jury everything. We spent hours
12:35
with the prosecutor preparing her
12:37
testimony, going over the evidence.
12:40
Anna's hands didn't shake anymore when
12:42
she talked about the ceremonies.
12:44
Before the trial started, we went to a
12:47
tattoo artist who specialized in
12:48
covering scars. The woman took one look
12:51
at Anna's arms and said she'd do them
12:53
for free, telling us we were reclaiming
12:55
our bodies as she carefully traced
12:58
Phoenix's rising from flames over the
13:00
raised tissue. 2 days into trial, the
13:02
prosecution brought in experts who
13:03
studied generational abuse. They showed
13:06
charts of isolation tactics and
13:07
fear-based compliance while mom sat
13:09
there glaring at them with pure hatred.
13:12
That week, Mrs. Garcia filed adoption
13:15
papers for us and the family court judge
13:17
approved them immediately. We finally
13:19
had a real parent who'd never heard us 6
13:22
months after our escape. I took the
13:24
stand first and walked the jury through
13:26
everything, showing them the videos Anna
13:28
had secretly recorded. Jurors turned
13:30
green and had to leave the room. Anna
13:33
testified the next day, and when she
13:35
described her own ceremony, mom jumped
13:37
up screaming that Anna was possessed by
13:39
demons. Security grabbed her as she
13:42
yelled that only blood could save her
13:43
daughter's soul. The judge ordered her
13:46
removed from the courtroom. Mom's lawyer
13:48
couldn't salvage her defense. We had
13:50
Sunday dinners where nobody got hurt and
13:52
movie nights where we could actually
13:53
relax. Anna enrolled in community
13:56
college to study social work, and I got
13:58
to be a normal teenager complaining
14:00
about homework and friend drama. I
14:02
learned to smile again. And every time I
14:05
look at my sister now at the beautiful
14:07
phoenix rising from her scarred arm, I
14:09
remember that in our family, a knife can
14:11
be a tool of tradition or a weapon of
14:13
freedom. I'm grateful that Anna held the
14:16
knife, but not because she was a victim,
14:19
but because she had the courage to let
14:20
it