Latest / Martin Animations / On My 18th Birthday_ My Mom Asked_ _Are You Ready To Meet Your Real Dad Now

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On My 18th Birthday_ My Mom Asked_ _Are You Ready To Meet Your Real Dad Now · Martin Animations

0:00
Speaker 1: On my 18th birthday, my mom asked, Are you ready
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Speaker 1: to meet your real dad now? I dropped my birthday
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Speaker 1: fork and stared at the chocolate cake while mom's words
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Speaker 1: echoed in our kitchen. What do you mean, my real dad?
0:08
Speaker 1: My voice came out strangled because dad had died in
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Speaker 1: a car accident when I was 12. Mom pushed a
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Speaker 1: manila folder across the table with shaking hands. Richard wasn't
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Speaker 1: your biological father, honey. I've been protecting you from the
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Speaker 1: truth for 18 years, but now he's getting out and
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Speaker 1: you need to know. Inside the folder were newspaper clippings
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Speaker 1: from 2006 about a college student named Rebecca Walsh who'd
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Speaker 1: been assaulted on campus. Rebecca Walsh was my mother's maiden
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Speaker 1: name before she became Rebecca Coleman. The next document was
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Speaker 1: a birth certificate with the father's name blacked out in
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Speaker 1: thick marker. Under it was a court document showing that
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Speaker 1: Christopher Rankin had been sentenced to 18 years for sexual assault.
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Speaker 1: His mugshot stared back at me, and I saw my
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Speaker 1: own features reflected in his face. Same narrow nose, same
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Speaker 1: high cheekbones, even the same slight dimple on the left side. No,
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Speaker 1: I whispered, but mom was already pulling out more papers.
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Speaker 1: He gets released today at noon. His lawyer contacted me
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Speaker 1: last week. He wants to meet you. You told me
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Speaker 1: dad died in a car crash, I said, my mind
0:52
Speaker 1: struggling to reorganize 18 years of memories. Mom's tears were
0:55
Speaker 1: flowing freely now. Richard did die in a car crash.
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Speaker 1: He was your dad in every way that mattered. He
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Speaker 1: married me when you were two, knowing everything. He loved
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Speaker 1: you completely. She showed me photos I'd never seen before
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Speaker 1: of Richard holding me as a toddler, teaching me to
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Speaker 1: ride a bike, cheering at my little league games. But
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Speaker 1: Christopher is your biological father, and he's been writing letters
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Speaker 1: from prison for 15 years. She retrieved a box from
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Speaker 1: her bedroom closet that I'd always assumed held old tax documents.
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Speaker 1: Inside were hundreds of letters, all addressed to my daughter,
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Speaker 1: in neat handwriting. The most recent one was dated just
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Speaker 1: two weeks ago. Dear daughter, I'll be free on your
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Speaker 1: 18th birthday. What a gift from God. Your mother has
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Speaker 1: poisoned you against me, but I pray you'll give me
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Speaker 1: a chance to explain my truth. I've found redemption through
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Speaker 1: Christ and want to be the father you deserve. The
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Speaker 1: words made me physically sick. How did he know when
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Speaker 1: my birthday was? I asked. My hands trembling as I
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Speaker 1: set down the letter. Mom pulled up a website on
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Speaker 1: her phone showing my high school's honor roll from last year.
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Speaker 1: There I was, listed with my full name and birth
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Speaker 1: date for the Academic Achievement Award. He's been tracking you
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Speaker 1: online from prison computers, school websites, local newspaper mentions when
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Speaker 1: you won the science fair, your track team results, everything
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Speaker 1: public he's found. She scrolled through printed screenshots he'd apparently
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Speaker 1: sent to his lawyer as evidence of his paternal interest.
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Speaker 1: The doorbell rang at exactly noon, like he'd been waiting
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Speaker 1: outside counting down the seconds. Through the peephole... I saw
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Speaker 1: a thin man in an ill-fitting suit holding a bouquet
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Speaker 1: of pink roses. Christopher Rankin looked older than his mugshot,
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Speaker 1: gray-haired and gaunt, but his eyes were intense as he
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Speaker 1: stared at our door.' I know you're in there, Rebecca,'
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Speaker 1: he called out.' I just want to give my daughter
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Speaker 1: her birthday present. Eighteen roses for eighteen years I missed.'
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Speaker 1: Mom grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the door.'
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Speaker 1: We' re calling the police,' she said, but Christopher heard her.'
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Speaker 1: Go ahead. I'm not violating any law. I served my time.
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Speaker 1: I'm a free man on a public sidewalk.' He was right,
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Speaker 1: and we both knew it. There was no restraining order
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Speaker 1: because Mom's lawyer had said we didn't have grounds until
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Speaker 1: he actually did something threatening.' Please, I can hear you breathing, sweetheart.
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Speaker 1: I'm your father. Don't I deserve five minutes after eighteen years?'
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Speaker 1: His voice was calm, reasonable, nothing like what I'd expected
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Speaker 1: from a convicted rapist. I opened the door before Mom
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Speaker 1: could stop me, but I kept the chain on.' I
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Speaker 1: don't want your flowers,' I said through the gap. His
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Speaker 1: face lit up when he saw me, and his expression
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Speaker 1: of joy made me want to slam the door.' You
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Speaker 1: look just like my mother,' he said softly.' Same beautiful eyes.
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Speaker 1: I knew you'd be gorgeous. The way he said gorgeous
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Speaker 1: made my skin crawl. Mom appeared beside me and addressed
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Speaker 1: him coldly.' You need to leave, Christopher. Now.' I have
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Speaker 1: every legal right to be here, he said, pulling out
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Speaker 1: a folder of his own. My lawyer says parental rights
3:00
Speaker 1: weren't terminated. I want a relationship with my daughter. He
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Speaker 1: tried to push the roses through the gap in the door.
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Speaker 1: Her name is Anna, by the way, mom said, though
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Speaker 1: I'm sure you already knew that from your stalking. He
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Speaker 1: smiled at hearing my name from her lips. Anna, beautiful.
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Speaker 1: I would have named you Christina after me. I slammed
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Speaker 1: the door and locked both deadbolts. Through the window, we
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Speaker 1: watched him place the roses on our doorstep and walk
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Speaker 1: to a beat-up sedan parked across the street. He didn't
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Speaker 1: drive away, just sat there watching our house. Mom was
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Speaker 1: already on the phone with her lawyer, Patricia Coleman, who
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Speaker 1: said she'd file for an emergency protective order, but it
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Speaker 1: would take at least 48 hours to process. Meanwhile, Christopher
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Speaker 1: had every right to sit on a public street. Pack
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Speaker 1: a bag, Mom said. We're going to Aunt Catherine's. But
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Speaker 1: when we tried to leave through the garage, Christopher followed us.
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Speaker 1: He stayed exactly three cars behind, never getting close enough
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Speaker 1: to be considered threatening, but never losing sight of us either.
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Speaker 1: Mom drove to the police station instead, and Christopher parked
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Speaker 1: across the street from there, too. The desk sergeant said
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Speaker 1: unless he made a threat or tried to make physical contact,
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Speaker 1: they couldn't do anything. He's smart, Officer Daniels explained. Knows
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Speaker 1: exactly where the legal lines are. Probably had 18 years
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Speaker 1: to research this. She recommended we stay with friends and
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Speaker 1: vary our routines until the protective order went through. But
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Speaker 1: she also warned us that Christopher had rights as a
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Speaker 1: biological parent that hadn't been legally terminated. You're 18 now,
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Speaker 1: so custody isn't an issue. But he can claim emotional
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Speaker 1: damages for being denied a relationship with you. We stayed
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Speaker 1: at Aunt Catherine's that night, but Christopher found us by morning.
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Speaker 1: He was parked outside her subdivision's gate when we woke up.
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Speaker 1: just sitting there with a coffee and a newspaper like
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Speaker 1: any normal person. Catherine's husband Paul wanted to confront him,
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Speaker 1: but mom stopped him. That's what he wants. Any confrontation
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Speaker 1: he can spin is us being aggressive. Instead, we documented everything,
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Speaker 1: taking photos of him following us, keeping a log of
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Speaker 1: every appearance. Patricia filed the emergency order on Monday, but
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Speaker 1: the judge wanted a hearing first. Without a direct threat
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Speaker 1: or attempted physical contact, it's hard to justify restricting a
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Speaker 1: biological parent's access. she explained. The hearing was set for Thursday.
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Speaker 1: Christopher would be there, would get to present his side.
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Speaker 1: He'll claim he just wants to know his daughter, that
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Speaker 1: he's reformed, found God, all the usual lines, Patricia warned.
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Speaker 1: Be prepared for him to seem very sympathetic. On Wednesday,
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Speaker 1: I went to school because I had finals I couldn't miss.
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Speaker 1: Christopher was there, standing across the street from campus with
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Speaker 1: a sign that said, I love you, Anna. Dash dad.
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Speaker 1: Students were taking photos, whispering. and someone posted it on
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Speaker 1: Instagram within minutes. By lunch, everyone knew my dad was
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Speaker 1: the creepy guy with the sign, except they didn't know
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Speaker 1: he wasn't really my dad, that he was the man
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Speaker 1: who'd raped my mother when she was 19. Jessica, my
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Speaker 1: best friend since middle school, found me crying in the bathroom.
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Speaker 1: I told her everything, the whole truth spilling out between sobs.
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Speaker 1: She held me while I shook, then marched straight to
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Speaker 1: the principal's office. Within an hour, the school resource officer
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Speaker 1: was escorting Christopher away for trespassing near school property, but
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Speaker 1: the damage was done. Everyone had seen him, taken pictures,
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Speaker 1: created their own narrative about the estranged father trying to reconnect.
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Speaker 1: That night, mom finally let me read all his letters.
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Speaker 1: They started when I was three, full of religious language
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Speaker 1: about forgiveness and God's plan. By the time I was 10,
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Speaker 1: they'd evolved into detailed fantasies about what we'd do together
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Speaker 1: when he got out. Fishing trips, teaching me to drive,
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Speaker 1: walking me down the aisle at my wedding. He'd created
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Speaker 1: an entire imaginary relationship with a daughter he'd never met,
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Speaker 1: couldn't legally contact, and who only existed because he'd violently
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Speaker 1: assaulted her mother. Why did you keep me? I asked
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Speaker 1: mom as we sat in Aunt Catherine's guest room. It
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Speaker 1: was the question I'd been afraid to ask. She pulled
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Speaker 1: me close and stroked my hair like when I was little.
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Speaker 1: Because you were mine, not his, mine. The moment I
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Speaker 1: felt you move inside me, you became my reason to
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Speaker 1: survive what he did. Richard understood that. He said you
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Speaker 1: were proof that good could come from evil, that love
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Speaker 1: could defeat hate. The hearing arrived with Christopher dressed in
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Speaker 1: a suit that actually fit this time, looking every bit
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Speaker 1: the reformed sinner with his Bible and humble demeanor. He
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Speaker 1: testified about finding God in prison, about completing therapy programs.
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Speaker 1: about his deep desire to know his only child before
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Speaker 1: it was too late. His lawyer presented certificates from anger management,
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Speaker 1: substance abuse counseling, and victim empathy training. They painted him
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Speaker 1: as a changed man denied his fundamental right to fatherhood.
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Speaker 1: Then Patricia cross-examined him. Mr. Rankin, do you believe you
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Speaker 1: raped Rebecca Walsh? Christopher's calm mask slipped for just a second.
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Speaker 1: I was convicted of a crime I've served my time for.
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Speaker 1: Patricia pressed harder. That's not what I asked. Do you
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Speaker 1: believe you raped her? He gripped his Bible tighter. I
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Speaker 1: believe there was a misunderstanding that night. I was young
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Speaker 1: and drunk. She was too. Things got out of hand.
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Speaker 1: Mom grabbed my hand so tight it hurt. So you
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Speaker 1: don't believe you raped her? Patricia continued. Christopher looked directly
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Speaker 1: at Mom for the first time. I believe Rebecca regretted
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Speaker 1: what happened. and made a choice that destroyed my life.
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Speaker 1: The judge shifted in his seat, and I saw his
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Speaker 1: expression change. Patricia pulled out a transcript from the original trial.
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Speaker 1: You testified then that she wanted it, that she was
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Speaker 1: asking for it. Do you still believe that? Christopher's lawyer objected,
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Speaker 1: but the judge overruled him. I believe, Christopher said slowly,
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Speaker 1: that I've paid for whatever happened that night. Patricia smiled coldly.
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Speaker 1: So after 18 years, you still won't admit you raped her.
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Speaker 1: You still believe she wanted it, and now you want
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Speaker 1: access to the child that resulted from what you still
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Speaker 1: refuse to acknowledge as rape. The courtroom was dead silent.
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Speaker 1: Christopher's lawyer tried to redirect. talking about rehabilitation and second chances,
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Speaker 1: but the damage was done. I testified next, my voice
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Speaker 1: shaking as I described the stalking, the way he'd researched
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Speaker 1: my entire life from prison, how he'd created a fantasy
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Speaker 1: relationship with someone he'd never met. I showed the judge
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Speaker 1: printouts from Christopher's Facebook, which he'd created from prison through
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Speaker 1: a contraband phone. He'd commented on hundreds of photos of
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Speaker 1: me that friends had posted, always signing them, love dad,
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Speaker 1: even on pictures from when I was five years old.
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Speaker 1: The judge granted the protective order, but with modifications. Christopher
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Speaker 1: could write letters to a P.O. box if he wanted.
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Speaker 1: which I never had to read. He could attend public
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Speaker 1: events where I might be present, like graduation, but had
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Speaker 1: to maintain 500 feet distance. It felt like both a
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Speaker 1: victory and a defeat. Mom hugged me outside the courthouse
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Speaker 1: while Christopher watched from exactly 500 feet away, measuring the
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Speaker 1: distance with an app on his phone. The letters started
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Speaker 1: arriving at the PO box immediately. Patricia collected them as evidence,
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Speaker 1: but I read a few. They were worse now, angry
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Speaker 1: and accusatory. He called Mom a liar and me brainwashed.
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Speaker 1: He said I'd regret rejecting him, that blood was blood,
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Speaker 1: that I couldn't escape my DNA. One letter included a
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Speaker 1: photo of him at my age. and the resemblance was undeniable.
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Speaker 1: You're half me, he wrote. No judge can change that.
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Speaker 1: Graduation day came with Christopher stationed precisely 500 feet from
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Speaker 1: the stadium entrance. He held a sign congratulating his beloved
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Speaker 1: daughter and had hired a photographer to take pictures of
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Speaker 1: me walking across the stage with a telephoto lens. Other
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Speaker 1: parents thought it was sad, a father forced to watch
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Speaker 1: from afar. They didn't know he was documenting everything for
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Speaker 1: some future legal challenge, building evidence that he was a
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Speaker 1: devoted father denied his rights. Two weeks later, Christopher sued us.
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Speaker 1: He wanted compensation for 18 years of parental alienation and
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Speaker 1: intentional infliction of emotional distress. He claimed mom had hidden
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Speaker 1: me from him, denied him his constitutional rights as a father,
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Speaker 1: and damaged his mental health. The lawsuit demanded $ 500, 000 we
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Speaker 1: didn't have and joint custody retroactively acknowledged, meaning he wanted
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Speaker 1: legal recognition as my father on all documents. Patricia laughed
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Speaker 1: when she read it. He has no case, but he
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Speaker 1: can make your lives hell for years fighting it. She
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Speaker 1: countersued for harassment, stalking, and violating the protective order's spirit,
8:54
Speaker 1: if not its letter. She also filed to have his
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Speaker 1: parental rights officially terminated based on the rape conviction and
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Speaker 1: his continued denial of the crime. We need to go
9:00
Speaker 1: on offense, she said. Make him defend rather than attack.
9:02
Speaker 1: The legal bills started piling up. Mom took a second
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Speaker 1: mortgage on the house Richard had left us. I got
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Speaker 1: a job at Target to help with expenses, and Christopher
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Speaker 1: showed up on my first day, maintaining his legal distance
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Speaker 1: but making sure I saw him. He came every shift,
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Speaker 1: buying single items to justify his presence. Always checking out
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Speaker 1: at a different register while staring at me. Management couldn't
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Speaker 1: ban him without cause, and he never did anything explicitly threatening.
9:21
Speaker 1: College started in August, and I thought moving two hours
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Speaker 1: away would give me some peace. But Christopher followed. He
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Speaker 1: rented an apartment in the same town, got a job
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Speaker 1: at a construction site near campus, and joined the same
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Speaker 1: gym where I had a membership. Always legal, always exactly
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Speaker 1: 500 feet away, but omnipresent. I changed gyms. He joined
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Speaker 1: the new one. I studied at different coffee shops. he
9:37
Speaker 1: found them all my roommate rachel thought i was paranoid
9:39
Speaker 1: until she saw him herself he was sitting in our
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Speaker 1: dorms visitor lot technically public property just watching our window
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Speaker 1: that's seriously creepy she said and helped me hang blackout
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Speaker 1: curtains but i could feel him out there knew he
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Speaker 1: was documenting my every movement he posted on facebook about
9:51
Speaker 1: being a loving father forced to love from afar and
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Speaker 1: strangers commented with sympathy and outrage on his behalf october
9:56
Speaker 1: brought a new development christopher had been contacted by a
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Speaker 1: father's rights group that and subpoenaing my medical and school records.
10:14
Speaker 1: Mom hired a second lawyer to handle the avalanche of paperwork.
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Speaker 1: We were hemorrhaging money we didn't have, which was probably
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Speaker 1: part of Christopher's strategy. Patricia warned us he might be
10:21
Speaker 1: trying to force a settlement, hoping we'd give him some
10:23
Speaker 1: form of access just to make it stop. Don't give in,
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Speaker 1: she advised. That's what predators do. They exhaust you into compliance.
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Speaker 1: I started seeing a therapist at the campus counseling center. Dr.
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Speaker 1: Melanie Harrison specialized in trauma from sexual assault, and she'd
10:34
Speaker 1: seen cases like mine before. Children of rape live with
10:36
Speaker 1: a unique burden, she explained. You're proof of the worst
10:39
Speaker 1: thing that ever happened to your mother, but also her
10:40
Speaker 1: greatest love. That's complex trauma. She helped me understand that
10:43
Speaker 1: Christopher's obsession wasn't love, but possession. Control. The same impulse
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Speaker 1: that had driven him to rape Mom. November brought the
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Speaker 1: first real victory. Patricia had found three other women Christopher
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Speaker 1: had been accused of assaulting in college. Two were willing
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Speaker 1: to testify about their experiences— though the statute of limitations
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Speaker 1: had passed. One, Nicole had kept evidence all these years,
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Speaker 1: including photos of bruises and a recording of Christopher admitting
11:02
Speaker 1: he got rough but claiming she'd wanted it that way.
11:04
Speaker 1: The father's rights group quietly withdrew their support. But Christopher
11:07
Speaker 1: didn't give up. He represented himself now, filing handwritten motions
11:10
Speaker 1: that were legally nonsensical but emotionally exhausting. He demanded a
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Speaker 1: paternity test, which we didn't contest since biology wasn't in dispute.
11:16
Speaker 1: When it confirmed he was my biological father, he acted
11:19
Speaker 1: like he'd won something. Science doesn't lie, he posted on Facebook.
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Speaker 1: I am her father, no matter what they say. The
11:24
Speaker 1: next escalation came in January. I was walking to class
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Speaker 1: when Christopher appeared directly in front of me, well within
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Speaker 1: the 500-foot limit. Before I could react, he grabbed my arm. Please,
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Speaker 1: just listen for one minute, he begged. I'm your father.
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Speaker 1: I love you. I've loved you since before you were born.
11:37
Speaker 1: I screamed, and several students intervened. Campus security arrived within minutes,
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Speaker 1: and Christopher was arrested for violating the protective order and assault.
11:43
Speaker 1: At his arraignment, Christopher claimed he'd miscalculated the distance, that
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Speaker 1: grabbing me was just a father's instinct to connect with
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Speaker 1: his child. The judge wasn't buying it. She revoked his
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Speaker 1: bail and ordered a psychological evaluation. The evaluation revealed what
11:53
Speaker 1: we already knew. Christopher showed signs of narcissistic personality disorder.
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Speaker 1: and an inability to acknowledge his crimes. He genuinely believed
11:59
Speaker 1: he was the victim in all of this. While Christopher
12:01
Speaker 1: sat in jail awaiting trial, we finally had some peace.
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Speaker 1: I could walk to class without scanning for him, sleep
12:05
Speaker 1: without wondering if he was in the parking lot. Mom
12:07
Speaker 1: stopped jumping at every doorbell. We started to remember what
12:10
Speaker 1: normal felt like, but we also knew it was temporary.
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Speaker 1: His sentence for violating the order would be minimal, maybe
12:14
Speaker 1: a few months. Patricia used this time to build our
12:17
Speaker 1: case for terminating his parental rights permanently. She gathered testimony
12:20
Speaker 1: from the other women, documented his stalking, compiled his letters
12:23
Speaker 1: showing his unstable mindset. She also found something unexpected in
12:26
Speaker 1: his prison records. Three different cellmates had requested transfers because
12:29
Speaker 1: Christopher talked obsessively about his daughter. and what he'd do
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Speaker 1: when he got out. One had reported Christopher had a
12:33
Speaker 1: wall of pictures of me that he'd printed from social media.
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Speaker 1: The termination hearing was scheduled for March. Christopher appeared via
12:38
Speaker 1: video link from jail, representing himself again. He'd written a
12:40
Speaker 1: 20-page statement about his rights as a father, quoting the
12:43
Speaker 1: Bible and Constitution in equal measure. But when the judge
12:45
Speaker 1: asked him directly if he accepted responsibility for raping my mother,
12:48
Speaker 1: he launched into a rant about false accusations and women's lies.
12:51
Speaker 1: Even on the grainy video feed, you could see the
12:53
Speaker 1: judge's disgust. Mom testified about the night of the assault
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Speaker 1: in detail I'd never heard before. How Christopher had followed
12:58
Speaker 1: her from a party, forced his way into her dorm room,
13:00
Speaker 1: held her down while she begged him to stop. How
13:02
Speaker 1: she'd fought back, leaving scratches on his face that prosecutors
13:05
Speaker 1: had used as evidence. How she'd wanted to die afterward
13:07
Speaker 1: but chose to live for me. I sobbed through her
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Speaker 1: entire testimony while Christopher rolled his eyes on the screen.
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Speaker 1: Nicole testified next about her assault two years before Mom's.
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Speaker 1: The pattern was identical. Followed from a party, forced entry,
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Speaker 1: violence when she resisted. She'd been too scared to report
13:19
Speaker 1: it then, but she wanted to speak now. He's dangerous,
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Speaker 1: she said simply. No child should be forced to have
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Speaker 1: him in their life. Christopher tried to object, but the
13:26
Speaker 1: judge muted his microphone. The judge's decision was swift and comprehensive.
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Speaker 1: Christopher's parental rights were terminated completely. He was banned from
13:32
Speaker 1: any contact with me, direct or indirect, for life. Any
13:35
Speaker 1: violation would result in immediate imprisonment. The judge called him
13:38
Speaker 1: a continued threat to the safety and well-being of both
13:39
Speaker 1: mother and child and said his complete lack of remorse
13:42
Speaker 1: made him irredeemable. Christopher screamed obscenities until they cut his
13:44
Speaker 1: video feed. He was released from jail in May after
13:46
Speaker 1: serving five months. The no contact order meant he had
13:49
Speaker 1: to leave the state since we lived in the same town.
13:51
Speaker 1: He moved to Florida, according to the private investigator Patricia
13:53
Speaker 1: hired to keep tabs on him. For a few months,
13:55
Speaker 1: there was blessed silence. I finished my freshman year, got
13:58
Speaker 1: straight A's, started feeling like a normal college student. Mom
14:00
Speaker 1: started dating someone. Carefully, slowly, but it was progress. Then
14:03
Speaker 1: in August, the packages started arriving. Not from Christopher directly,
14:07
Speaker 1: but from various online retailers. Baby clothes, all pink, all
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Speaker 1: newborn sized. The gift messages were blank, but we knew.
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Speaker 1: Patricia reported it, but proving Christopher had sent them was difficult.
14:16
Speaker 1: He was using other people's accounts. paying with prepaid cards,
14:18
Speaker 1: routing everything through proxy services. He'd found a loophole. The
14:21
Speaker 1: packages escalated. Dolls that looked like me as a baby.
14:23
Speaker 1: A music box that played the lullaby from my childhood
14:26
Speaker 1: video mom had posted years ago. A framed photo of
14:28
Speaker 1: Christopher holding a baby that wasn't me but could have been.
14:31
Speaker 1: Each gift was perfectly legal. Technically not from him, but
14:33
Speaker 1: psychologically torturous. Mom changed our address. but the packages found
14:37
Speaker 1: us anyway. I was studying in the library one September
14:39
Speaker 1: evening when a stranger approached me. Anna? She said. I'm Christina,
14:42
Speaker 1: your sister. I nearly threw up. She looked like me,
14:45
Speaker 1: but older. Maybe 25. Half-sister, she clarified. Christopher is my father, too.
14:49
Speaker 1: She sat down uninvited and pulled out her phone to
14:50
Speaker 1: show me photos. Christopher with another woman. Christopher holding a toddler.
14:54
Speaker 1: Christopher at Christina's high school graduation. He raped your mother, too?
14:57
Speaker 1: I asked, my voice barely a whisper. Christina shook her head.
15:00
Speaker 1: My mother was his girlfriend in high school. They dated
15:02
Speaker 1: for two years. He was different then, or maybe just
15:04
Speaker 1: better at hiding it. She showed me more photos, a
15:06
Speaker 1: seemingly normal teenage relationship. Mom left him when she got
15:09
Speaker 1: pregnant with me. She said he became possessive, controlling. She
15:12
Speaker 1: ran before it got worse. Why are you here? I asked,
15:14
Speaker 1: though I suspected I knew. Christina sighed. He contacted me
15:17
Speaker 1: after he got out of prison the first time, told
15:19
Speaker 1: me about you, said you were being kept from him illegally.
15:21
Speaker 1: He wanted me to reach out to convince you he's
15:23
Speaker 1: not a monster. She paused. But I've done my research.
15:26
Speaker 1: I know what he did. She explained that Christopher had
15:29
Speaker 1: been building a network of supporters online, father's rights activists
15:32
Speaker 1: who saw him as a martyr. He'd been careful to
15:34
Speaker 1: present only his version of events, claiming the rape was
15:36
Speaker 1: a false accusation, that mom had hidden me out of spite.
15:39
Speaker 1: These men were helping him circumvent the no-contact order, sending
15:41
Speaker 1: packages on his behalf, gathering information about me. One had
15:44
Speaker 1: even offered to... accidentally encounter me to deliver messages he's
15:47
Speaker 1: obsessed christina said his apartment in florida is apparently a
15:50
Speaker 1: shrine to you photos everywhere your artwork from elementary school
15:53
Speaker 1: he somehow got even a lock of hair he claims
15:55
Speaker 1: is yours but probably isn't she shuddered i went to
15:57
Speaker 1: see him once trying to understand who my father was
15:59
Speaker 1: i lasted 10 minutes before i had to leave he's
16:01
Speaker 1: not well anna he's dangerous she gave me her number
16:04
Speaker 1: before leaving if you need anything or if he escalates
16:06
Speaker 1: call me i've been watching him for years trying to
16:09
Speaker 1: stay ahead of his chaos After she left, I called
16:11
Speaker 1: Patricia immediately. She was glad Christina had reached out, but
16:13
Speaker 1: worried about what it meant. If he's building a network,
16:15
Speaker 1: we need to be more careful. These groups can be extremist,
16:18
Speaker 1: violent even. October came with more packages, but now they
16:21
Speaker 1: were darker. Dead flowers with cards saying, thinking of you.
16:24
Speaker 1: A book about fathers and daughters with passages highlighted about
16:26
Speaker 1: forgiveness and reconciliation. A DNA test kit with a note saying,
16:29
Speaker 1: proof is in the blood. Each package was reported, but
16:31
Speaker 1: law enforcement said without proof of Christopher's direct involvement, their
16:34
Speaker 1: hands were tied. Then I started getting friend requests on
16:36
Speaker 1: social media from men I didn't know. Their profiles looked
16:38
Speaker 1: normal at first glance, but digging deeper revealed connections to
16:41
Speaker 1: father's rights groups. Some had shared Christopher's posts about being
16:44
Speaker 1: an alienated father. I blocked them all, made my accounts private,
16:47
Speaker 1: but they kept coming. Christina warned me that Christopher was
16:49
Speaker 1: recruiting these men to watch me, report back to him
16:51
Speaker 1: about my life. November brought an escalation I hadn't expected.
16:53
Speaker 1: A man showed up at mom's work claiming to be
16:55
Speaker 1: from corporate, conducting routine interviews. Mom's boss nearly let him
16:58
Speaker 1: talk to her before mom recognized something was off. The
17:00
Speaker 1: man fled before security arrived, but camera footage showed him
17:03
Speaker 1: placing something on mom's car. It was a letter from Christopher, handwritten.
17:06
Speaker 1: saying he forgave her for her lies and hoped someday
17:08
Speaker 1: she'd let him be a grandfather to my future children.
17:10
Speaker 1: How dare he! Mom raged, the angriest I'd ever seen her.
17:14
Speaker 1: How dare he forgive me for his crime? Patricia immediately
17:16
Speaker 1: reported it as a violation of the no-contact order, but
17:19
Speaker 1: Christopher claimed ignorance. The man who delivered it refused to
17:21
Speaker 1: identify himself beyond saying he was helping a fellow father.
17:23
Speaker 1: Without cooperation, prosecution was difficult. The system that had failed
17:26
Speaker 1: to protect Mom 18 years ago was failing us again.
17:28
Speaker 1: I changed schools for my sophomore year, transferring to a
17:31
Speaker 1: college across the country where Christopher wouldn't know to look,
17:33
Speaker 1: except he already knew. On my first day, there was
17:35
Speaker 1: a bouquet of roses waiting at the registrar's office. Congratulations
17:38
Speaker 1: on your new adventure. Love always, Dad. The registrar said
17:41
Speaker 1: a nice man had dropped them off that morning. Paid cash.
17:43
Speaker 1: Didn't leave a name. Campus security reviewed footage, but the
17:45
Speaker 1: man wasn't Christopher. Just another recruit. Dr. Harrison continued our
17:48
Speaker 1: sessions via video. He's escalating because he's losing control, she explained.
17:52
Speaker 1: The legal system has cut off his access, so he's
17:54
Speaker 1: finding illegal workarounds. This is actually when abusers are most
17:56
Speaker 1: dangerous— when they feel cornered she helped me develop safety
17:59
Speaker 1: plans vary my routines stay hyper vigilant without letting fear
18:02
Speaker 1: paralyze me but she also prepared me for the possibility
18:04
Speaker 1: that this might never end christina called on a thursday
18:06
Speaker 1: night in december he's gone she said his apartment's empty
18:09
Speaker 1: he told his landlord he had a family emergency my
18:11
Speaker 1: blood went cold patricia immediately contacted law enforcement but christopher
18:15
Speaker 1: hadn't technically violated anything by moving we hired extra security
18:18
Speaker 1: installed new cameras waited for him to surface three days
18:20
Speaker 1: passed with nothing then a week The waiting was almost
18:23
Speaker 1: worse than his presence. He surfaced on my birthday. Not
18:25
Speaker 1: in person, but through a billboard. Driving to campus, I
18:27
Speaker 1: saw my own face staring back at me from a
18:29
Speaker 1: massive sign. Happy 19th birthday, Anna. Love, Dad. It was
18:32
Speaker 1: visible from the highway, probably cost thousands of dollars. Cars
18:35
Speaker 1: were slowing to look. Someone posted a photo on Twitter,
18:36
Speaker 1: and it went viral within hours. Creepy or sweet? The
18:39
Speaker 1: caption asked. The comments were divided. The billboard company claimed
18:41
Speaker 1: they'd been paid by a marketing firm representing a client
18:43
Speaker 1: who wanted to remain anonymous. The contract was legal, the
18:46
Speaker 1: content wasn't threatening, just deeply violating. Patricia got it removed
18:49
Speaker 1: within 48 hours, but the damage was done. My face,
18:52
Speaker 1: my name, my connection to Christopher was now public in
18:54
Speaker 1: a way we'd tried to avoid. Reporters started calling, wanting
18:57
Speaker 1: to hear about the devoted father fighting for his rights.
18:59
Speaker 1: We declined all interviews, but Christopher didn't. He appeared on
19:02
Speaker 1: a Father's Rights podcast. presenting himself as a victim of
19:04
Speaker 1: a corrupt system. He admitted to the assault, but claimed
19:07
Speaker 1: it was a youthful mistake he'd paid for. He cried
19:09
Speaker 1: talking about missing my childhood, about just wanting to love
19:11
Speaker 1: his daughter. The host ate it up, comparing him to
19:13
Speaker 1: fathers denied custody and divorces. The episode got millions of downloads.
19:16
Speaker 1: Mom and I watched it together, sickened by his performance.
19:19
Speaker 1: He'd learned to cry on cue, to present just enough
19:21
Speaker 1: remorse to seem human while maintaining his victimhood. Comments poured
19:24
Speaker 1: in supporting him, calling mom vindictive, calling me brainwashed. Someone
19:27
Speaker 1: leaked our address, and protesters showed up with signs saying,
19:30
Speaker 1: fathers have rights too. We had to leave through the
19:32
Speaker 1: back door of our own home. Patricia filed an injunction
19:34
Speaker 1: against Christopher doing any more interviews, but the judge ruled
19:37
Speaker 1: it would violate his First Amendment rights. As long as
19:39
Speaker 1: he didn't mention specific addresses or make threats, he could
19:41
Speaker 1: tell his story however he wanted. The legal system that
19:44
Speaker 1: had briefly protected us was showing its limitations. Christopher had
19:46
Speaker 1: learned to work within those limits. to torture us legally.
19:40
Speaker 1: January brought a new horror. Deepfake videos started appearing on
19:41
Speaker 1: sketchy websites. my face superimposed on pornographic content with titles
19:55
Speaker 1: claiming I was Christopher's daughter. The sites were hosted overseas,
19:58
Speaker 1: impossible to fully remove. As soon as one got taken down,
20:00
Speaker 1: three more appeared. Christina traced them to forums where Christopher
20:03
Speaker 1: was active, though proving he'd commissioned them was impossible. I
20:05
Speaker 1: had to leave school. The harassment from his supporters, the
20:08
Speaker 1: pornographic videos, the constant fear made education impossible. I moved
20:11
Speaker 1: back home, defeated, which was probably what Christopher wanted. Mom
20:14
Speaker 1: quit her job to stay with me full-time. We were
20:16
Speaker 1: prisoners in our own lives while Christopher remained free to
20:18
Speaker 1: destroy us from a distance. The system had failed us completely.
20:20
Speaker 1: One night in February, I couldn't take it anymore. I
20:23
Speaker 1: called Christina and asked for Christopher's actual address. I want
20:26
Speaker 1: to confront him, I said. End this somehow. She refused
20:28
Speaker 1: at first, but I convinced her I just wanted to talk,
20:31
Speaker 1: to make him see what he was doing to us.
20:32
Speaker 1: She gave me an address in Georgia where he'd been staying.
20:34
Speaker 1: I told mom I was going to stay with a
20:35
Speaker 1: friend and drove through the night. I found Christopher at
20:37
Speaker 1: a construction site where Christina said he'd been working. He
20:40
Speaker 1: saw me before I could approach, and his face lit
20:41
Speaker 1: up with pure joy. Anna, you came to me. He
20:44
Speaker 1: started walking toward me, and I held up my hand
20:46
Speaker 1: to stop him. Stay back. i said i'm here to
20:48
Speaker 1: tell you something he stopped but his smile didn't fade
20:50
Speaker 1: anything sweetheart i've been waiting so long to hear your
20:52
Speaker 1: voice you raped my mother i said loudly enough for
20:54
Speaker 1: his co-workers to hear you're not my father you're the
20:57
Speaker 1: man who destroyed her life and has been destroying mine
20:59
Speaker 1: his smile finally disappeared you don't understand he started but
21:02
Speaker 1: i cut him off i understand perfectly you're a rapist
21:04
Speaker 1: who can't accept what you did you're sick and you'll
21:06
Speaker 1: never be part of my life stop contacting me or
21:08
Speaker 1: i'll make your life as miserable as you've made ours
21:11
Speaker 1: Christopher's face went through multiple emotions before settling on rage.
21:14
Speaker 1: You're my blood, he snarled. You can't deny that. I
21:17
Speaker 1: made you. That's when I pulled out my phone and
21:18
Speaker 1: showed him I'd been livestreaming our entire interaction. Thousands of
21:21
Speaker 1: people were watching Christopher admit to making me through rape,
21:24
Speaker 1: watching his mask slip completely. This is who you really are,
21:26
Speaker 1: I said to the camera. This is the devoted father
21:28
Speaker 1: you've been defending. The live stream went viral before I
21:31
Speaker 1: even got back to my car. Christopher tried to follow me,
21:33
Speaker 1: but his co-workers held him back, disgusted by what they'd heard.
21:36
Speaker 1: By the time I got home, his supporters were abandoning
21:38
Speaker 1: him in droves. The father's rights groups distanced themselves. His
21:41
Speaker 1: employer fired him. The podcast deleted his episode. I'd finally
21:43
Speaker 1: found a way to fight back that the law couldn't stop.
21:45
Speaker 1: Mom was furious when I got home, then relieved, then proud.
21:48
Speaker 1: You did what I never could, she said. You faced
21:50
Speaker 1: him down. Patricia was less pleased about the legal implications
21:52
Speaker 1: but admitted it was effective. Christopher tried to sue for defamation,
21:55
Speaker 1: but truth is an absolute defense. He'd admitted on camera
21:58
Speaker 1: that he'd made me, that I was his blood, confirming
22:00
Speaker 1: everything we'd said about him. The packages stopped. The fake
22:03
Speaker 1: social media accounts went quiet. The pornographic videos disappeared. Christopher
22:06
Speaker 1: had lost his network, his supporters, his ability to hide
22:09
Speaker 1: behind the grieving father narrative. He was exposed as what
22:11
Speaker 1: he'd always been, a rapist refusing to accept his crime.
22:14
Speaker 1: Christina reported he'd gone completely dark. No social media, no phone,
22:17
Speaker 1: no forwarding address. For six months, we had peace. He
22:20
Speaker 1: resurfaced on the anniversary of the assault. Not in person.
22:37
Speaker 1: but through a suicide note sent to every major news outlet.
22:39
Speaker 1: In it, he blamed me and mom for destroying his life,
22:41
Speaker 1: claimed we'd driven him to his death with our cruelty.
22:43
Speaker 1: He detailed his location at a motel in Nevada. By
22:46
Speaker 1: the time police arrived, he was unconscious from an overdose.
22:48
Speaker 1: He survived, barely, and was placed on psychiatric hold. The
22:51
Speaker 1: media attention was overwhelming. Some painted him as a victim
22:53
Speaker 1: of cancel culture, a troubled man driven to desperation. Others
22:56
Speaker 1: saw through the manipulation, recognizing the suicide attempt as one
22:59
Speaker 1: final effort to control the narrative. Mom and I refused
23:01
Speaker 1: all interviews, but our silence was interpreted a dozen different ways.
23:04
Speaker 1: We were either heartless or wise, cruel or protective, depending
23:07
Speaker 1: on who was talking. Christopher recovered and was transferred to
23:09
Speaker 1: a psychiatric facility for long-term treatment. His diagnosis was updated
23:12
Speaker 1: to include borderline personality disorder along with the narcissism. The
23:15
Speaker 1: psychiatrist said he was fixated on me as his only
23:17
Speaker 1: connection to meaning, that losing access to me had triggered
23:20
Speaker 1: a complete breakdown. They recommended indefinite hospitalization, which the court
23:23
Speaker 1: approved given his suicide attempt and history of violence. I
23:25
Speaker 1: thought that would be the end, but institutions can't hold
23:28
Speaker 1: people forever. After 18 months, Christopher was released as stabilized
23:31
Speaker 1: and no longer a threat to himself or others. The
23:33
Speaker 1: no-contact order remained, but we knew how little that meant.
23:36
Speaker 1: He moved to Maine, supposedly to start fresh, but packages
23:38
Speaker 1: started arriving again within a week. This time, they were
23:40
Speaker 1: all baby items. as if he was expecting me to
23:42
Speaker 1: have a child he could claim as a grandchild. Christina
23:44
Speaker 1: called with worse news. Christopher had been on dating sites,
23:47
Speaker 1: specifically targeting single mothers with daughters my age. He'd already
23:50
Speaker 1: moved in with one woman who had an 18-year-old daughter
23:52
Speaker 1: named Annie. He's replacing you, Christina said, creating a surrogate family.
23:55
Speaker 1: Patricia immediately contacted authorities in Maine, but without a crime,
23:59
Speaker 1: they couldn't intervene. The woman didn't know his history. He'd
24:01
Speaker 1: used a fake name. I made the hardest decision of
24:03
Speaker 1: my life. I contacted Annie directly through social media, sent
24:06
Speaker 1: her the livestream video, the news articles, everything. Within 24 hours,
24:10
Speaker 1: Christopher was homeless again. Annie's mother kicked him out and
24:12
Speaker 1: filed a restraining order, but now he blamed me for
24:14
Speaker 1: this loss too. The emails started coming through anonymous servers.
24:17
Speaker 1: You cost me my second chance. Annie could have been
24:19
Speaker 1: your sister. You destroy everything you touch. By my senior
24:21
Speaker 1: year of college, I'd changed my name legally. Not just
24:24
Speaker 1: my last name, but first and middle too. I became
24:26
Speaker 1: someone Christopher couldn't Google, couldn't track through public records. Mom
24:29
Speaker 1: did the same. We moved one last time, to a
24:31
Speaker 1: state we'd never been to, where no one knew our story.
24:33
Speaker 1: Patricia helped us create new identities legally. Completely above board,
24:36
Speaker 1: but invisible to someone searching for Anna or Rebecca. Christopher
24:39
Speaker 1: spent the next two years in and out of psychiatric
24:41
Speaker 1: facilities and jail for various violations. He'd approach young women
24:44
Speaker 1: who looked like me, get arrested for harassment, serve a
24:46
Speaker 1: few months, then repeat. Christina kept me updated from a distance.
24:49
Speaker 1: She'd legally changed her name too, wanting no connection to him.
24:52
Speaker 1: We became sisters in survival rather than blood, bonded by
24:54
Speaker 1: the chaos he'd created in both our lives. On what
24:56
Speaker 1: would have been my 25th birthday, Christopher died. Heart attack
24:59
Speaker 1: in his cell while serving six months for violating another
25:01
Speaker 1: restraining order. Christina called me immediately. He's gone, she said.
25:05
Speaker 1: It's over. But I couldn't feel relief or sadness or anything, really.
25:07
Speaker 1: He'd been dead to me since the day Mom told
25:09
Speaker 1: me the truth. His physical death just made it official.
25:11
Speaker 1: Mom cried when I told her, but not from grief.
25:13
Speaker 1: All those years of fear, she said. All that energy
25:15
Speaker 1: spent watching over our shoulders. We'd shaped our entire lives
25:18
Speaker 1: around avoiding him. And now that necessity was gone. It
25:20
Speaker 1: felt like removing a cast after bones had healed wrong,
25:23
Speaker 1: painful and strange and uncertain. Who were we without the
25:25
Speaker 1: threat of Christopher defining our choices? We attended the funeral secretly,
25:28
Speaker 1: sitting in the back row as strangers. His mother was there,
25:31
Speaker 1: the grandmother I'd never met, looking broken and old. A
25:34
Speaker 1: few men from his various jobs attended. The pastor spoke
25:36
Speaker 1: about redemption and forgiveness. clearly not knowing the full story.
25:39
Speaker 1: When they opened the floor for memories, no one spoke.
25:41
Speaker 1: Christopher died as he'd lived after prison, alone, delusional, and
25:44
Speaker 1: denying his crimes to the very end. Christina met us
25:46
Speaker 1: at a diner afterward. We sat in silence for a while,
25:49
Speaker 1: processing the strange anticlimactic end to our shared nightmare. He
25:52
Speaker 1: never admitted it, she finally said. Never once took real responsibility.
25:55
Speaker 1: That was the worst part. not the stalking or packages
25:57
Speaker 1: or even the pornography, but that he'd gone to his
25:59
Speaker 1: grave believing he was the victim. Mom had never gotten
26:01
Speaker 1: that acknowledgement, that validation of her truth. I'm 28 now,
26:04
Speaker 1: married to a wonderful woman who knows my entire story
26:06
Speaker 1: and loves me, not despite it, but with it. We
26:09
Speaker 1: have twins through IVF, no genetic connection to Christopher whatsoever.
26:12
Speaker 1: Mom is their grandmother in every way that matters, just
26:14
Speaker 1: like Richard was my father in every way that mattered.
26:16
Speaker 1: We rarely talk about Christopher anymore. He's become a footnote
26:19
Speaker 1: in our larger story of survival and love. Sometimes I
26:21
Speaker 1: dream about him still, nightmares where he's not really dead,
26:23
Speaker 1: where he finds us despite our new names and new lives.
26:26
Speaker 1: I wake up gasping, and my wife holds me until
26:28
Speaker 1: the panic passes. Dr. Harrison, who I still see occasionally,
26:31
Speaker 1: says these dreams may never fully stop. Trauma lives in
26:33
Speaker 1: the body longer than the mind sometimes, but they're getting
26:35
Speaker 1: less frequent, less vivid. Christina and I remain close. She
26:38
Speaker 1: has a daughter now, and we joke darkly about breaking
26:40
Speaker 1: the cycle, about being the family Christopher could never create.
26:43
Speaker 1: She looks nothing like him, thankfully, all her mother's features,
26:45
Speaker 1: but sometimes she'll make a gesture or expression that's eerily familiar,
26:48
Speaker 1: and we both see it. DNA is strange that way,
26:50
Speaker 1: carrying echoes of people we'd rather forget. The legal system
26:52
Speaker 1: has changed somewhat since our ordeal. Patricia helped draft legislation
26:55
Speaker 1: in our state making it easier to terminate parental rights
26:57
Speaker 1: in cases of rape. It's called Rebecca's Law, though Mom
27:00
Speaker 1: insisted on using her maiden name rather than our new ones.
27:02
Speaker 1: She testifies sometimes, telling our story to lawmakers who need
27:05
Speaker 1: to understand why biology shouldn't automatically equal rights. Unremarkable and unnoticed.
27:08
Speaker 1: It's the greatest gift Christopher's death gave us. the ability
27:35
Speaker 1: to be ordinary, to be forgotten, to live without looking
27:38
Speaker 1: over our shoulders. Mom keeps one photo from before, tucked
27:41
Speaker 1: in a safety deposit box. It's her and Richard on
27:43
Speaker 1: my fifth birthday, all three of us covered in cake
27:45
Speaker 1: and laughing. Christopher never appears in any of our photos,
27:47
Speaker 1: never was part of our real family. Richard was my dad,
27:50
Speaker 1: Mom is my hero, and I am not Christopher's daughter.
27:52
Speaker 1: I'm the woman my mother raised me to be, strong, loved,
27:55
Speaker 1: and free. The last package arrived a week after Christopher's funeral,
27:58
Speaker 1: probably ordered before his death. It was a music box
28:00
Speaker 1: that played You Are My Sunshine. The card said... forever
28:02
Speaker 1: your father i threw it in the garbage without opening
28:04
Speaker 1: it fully some gifts are too poisoned to keep some
28:07
Speaker 1: connections too toxic to acknowledge christopher went to his grave
28:09
Speaker 1: believing i was his sunshine but i was never his
28:11
Speaker 1: i was always my mother's daughter richard's daughter my own
28:14
Speaker 1: person that's the truth he never understood and never accepted
28:17
Speaker 1: children aren't possessions dna doesn't create love and rape doesn't
28:20
Speaker 1: make you a father it makes you a rapist everything
28:23
Speaker 1: else the stalking, the packages, the years of torture, was
28:26
Speaker 1: just Christopher refusing to accept that simple, unchangeable truth. He
28:28
Speaker 1: was never my father. He was just the man who
28:30
Speaker 1: raped my mother. And now, finally, he's gone. I love
28:33
Speaker 1: hearing your opinions, so drop a comment on what you
28:35
Speaker 1: would have done. And don't forget to subscribe for more.