All Comments on 'Conversations 03 - Ghosts'

I think KRD19254 is right. The problem is Hailey. Yes, she had justifiable issues, but she had no concern for her Husband's equally justifiable issues. Going for a legal separation was cold, cruel, and totally unjustified. Leaving without caring enough to explain, AFTER serving a legal separation, is unforgivable. The author has potential, but this story is only a two star effort due to the above unresolved reasons.

I once had a counselling client who had spina bifida. When he was 17 his mother abandoned him and his 2 younger sisters. He never mentioned his father.

When she took the phone go to store manager and have him call the police.

A good story, enjoyed it very much.

.....another good one. Loved it.

Yeah, she can go live with Aunt Becky, and they can be man hating spinsters together!

ZK

Nope. She took the phone. Report it stolen. Get a new one. She did not trust the man who sat by here through thick and thin.

Divorce her.

A really good and thought provoking story. Trauma like that can really mess a person up for future relationships. She was not thinking clearly when she regressed because of the college intern incident. Then she got awful, awful advice from the armchair psychiatrist, Aunt Becky (ignoring her father). It just brings to light that she had severe PTSD and thr idea of kids triggered the abortion guilt on a regular basis. In hindsight the husband looks to have been uncaring and rough with her, but who can blame him based on what he was told, her mysterious evasions, her family that blew him off, and the incident with the unknown car. He was also set up to leap to dark conclusions based on his personal history. After all theynwent through to get to a marriage, he should have been more self confident in her fidelity to him, but again he has serious baggage. Thankfully they met at the Safeway. I bet she purposefully rammed his cart that morning. Great characters!

Interesting that you wrote her as consistently manipulative. Sure, she had good reasons. And she's still manipulative and unsafe. All of that therapy. Inpatient counseling. And she learned to steal his phone to manipulate him. Well written, but it really can't end well until she owns her own controlling pile of manure here. I'm not sure you meant for her to be this well written, since you seem to have it ending happily ever after.

What a turn around from the usual plotline. I liked it. It read like real life. Thank you

I stopped reading after she stole his phone. That level of manipulation is a red line that your reconciliation tag shows is going to be crossed by a cuck.

Good story,

keep writing and thank you.

If

If Becky had not listened to her aunt, had not asked for the separation, there would be no story.

Sigh. So many commenters just want to bitch about how she stole the his phone. Oh no! That is the worst thing anyone can do yo someone m, right? Please, just stop. She couldn't find him, he had blocked her, his company wouldn't tell her anything. She had no way to reach him or to believe he woukd meet her at the restaurant in an hour. I am sure that after they talked in the restaurant, the husband was happy that she manipulated him by taking his phone, because otherwise he knew darn well he would have bailed. Even if she or her parents had hired a PI, they woukd have had to keep the coverage up for many weeks because he was constantly trialing, never coming back to town after he got the wrong impression that one Friday night, two weeks after she came back home. He ad only finished his travel stint recently. She was desperate to fix things. They were married. She realized she made a huge mistake listening to Aunt Becky (the moron) and ignoring her father's advice. They got through it, have been happily married for years and with two kids in their teens. Ready the story. The risk was way worth the reward. Great story, unique plot.

This supposed to be made up.

Yuall act as if you can change this.

Just_Words got it’s rite.

LOVE slap-hapy-papy#9

To the guy who stopped reading after she took his phone- You missed a great story.

Carrots don't get ripe. They are ripe at every stage of their growth. Just a point. Four stars. JPB

Great story. Poignant and moving. Aunt Becky was a moron. I would never have invite her over for Thanksgiving. Uggh.

So many things don't make sense in this story and I think that is why there are so varied reactions to it.

I have so many questions.

Did she not tell her original therapist about the fact it was a gang rape or that she had an abortion?

If not surely a decent therapist would know she was holding back something?

If the therapist was told why wasn't it brought up at sessions when the husband attended.

And if Aunt Becky knew from the start about the rape and how supportive Scott was during the time they started going out together i would think she being a nurse knowing how supportive Scott had been would have hardly told her to keep him in the dark, it would have more likely gone the other way, I think mentioning she was a nurse was a mistake by the author.

So many of these things paint the professionals (therapist, Aunt Becky the nurse) in a bad light, bordering on incompetent, which most would find hard to believe.

The fact Scott was so supportive through the counselling don't really match his reaction to the idea of the separation, I would be inclined to think he would be making an appointment to talk to her therapist /councilor to see if she knew what was going on.

While they might not be able to tell him much with the confidelity thing i imagine they would be able to tell him as husband that she is fighting some demons from the rape and to continue to be supportive etc while they help her fight the demons

I thought the story was good, and it highlights some of the demons that would affect a rape victim that most of us wouldn't think about trying to move on and I think that is a good thing, just the professional's reactions didn't fit what most of us/I would expect,

Which I think accounts for the varied reactions

NFW would I believe anything she had to say. I'd get the divorce papers served on her ASAP, and then move on with my life, as I did before.

It’s understandable why he would react the way he did. It’s understandable that she reacted the way she did. Both of them felt the consequences of trauma. The real problem was miscommunication and lack of communication from both parties. No one was at primarily at fault.

Never mind the crap from the soulless morons that are only here to masturbate while fantasizing about gratuitous cruelty and abusing women.

Unfortunately would have followed though with the divorce, she trusted her aunt more than her husband, I like reconciliation stories but this one, she kept telling him he ran off when in reality she pushed away thanks to her aunt which was totally off her rocker for telling her not to tell her husband. Shows some disrespect.

Victims of rape and abuse very often take the path of least pain. I don't like that she excluded him, but I understand her motivation. She thought in her mind it would be less painful for him. Unfortunately, she forgot to take into consideration his past experiences. I can see this happening. I think the Tinman produced a well thought out, yet sad story about a bad time in a marriage. The MC showed great strength of character to be able to deal with it. For those of you that take the "divorce the bitch" route, I wonder what in your past makes you so unforgiving. Perhaps an "Andrea" could help you.

No offense but look, this is a rather realistic premise but the subject matter is way too emotionally intense for a sinple conversation style plot. This doesn't work and cannot work in this format because the amount of rage present cannot be shown with such thin dialogue. He would feel betrayed by the secrecy which causes him tremendous pain. He would feel such unbelievable conflict over those feelings because of what his wife was going through. Her family cut him off and left him with no emotional support system. That would feel like a further betrayal. The dude was traumatized by his mother and further perceived betrayal by his wife. She may have been blocked but no one else was. Why did no one try to call him? Call his employer?

You see? There are just so many plot holes that you didn't consider. I'm not shitting on you. This is just way too heavy to be handled in such a flash format. I do believe you have the skill to handle it but a rework would need much much more from you. The setting would have to change.

I love a happy ending thankyou 5*****

The author's best story hands down. Quite emotionally taut.

Sorry he was her husband. If you do not lean on your spouse as best friend most important person then it is not a marriage. Her leaving like this showed he was not that important. Continue to divorce and find someone else. She will do this again guaranteed.

Well written. Great story. Yes mistakes were made. Poor communication. Lot of trauma from her rape and the recent story reawoke that. Her aunt was a bitch with her bad advice.

Me, I'd of divorced her when she handed me the separation papers. Then she could go find herself without any reservations.

Her explanations for the separation "sounded" reasonable. But so do some other explanations that aren't quite so reasonable, and formal separation documents don't quite jibe with hers. It might have been wise to check things out a bit further.

To use the words of Reagan, "Trust, but VERIFY!" (in other words, "don't trust blindly")

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Obviously, each of them have their own "issues" ... but

Hey, if they both ended up happy, more power to 'em!

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I'm not sure what the "carrot" reference is meant to convey, but it's really easy to tell if carrots are ripe. Just use the same method that you do for potatoes!

The writing itself was excellent. But talk about meaningless self-flagellation on the husband's part, and his making excuses for her emotionally abusing him:

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"Wow, how big of an ass am I for thinking she was banging some dude?" Err, it;'s a perfectly reasonable thought since SHE told you NOTHING to dispel that. She LET you think the WORST about her. Stop making excuses for her.

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"Now it made sense why Charlotte was staying over. I've been such a fool!"

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No dude, you're not a fool. SHE asked for the separation, kept the supposed "reason" hidden from someone whose mother did the same shit (brutalizing YOUR feelings in the process), ignored her own father's advice, and generally fucked with your head. Some "wife" she is. Textbook emotional abuse, whatever her rationalizations. He'd already been there for some earlier counseling sessions, and now she pulls THIS vanishing act ? Stop making excuses for her.

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Charlotte herself put it best:

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". . . you fell in love with me . . . And I repaid you by not fully trusting you"

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Actually, she repaid him by brutalizing his feelings, treating him with an utter lack of respect, and putting him through the grinder. She demonstrated that Scott was the LAST thing she was thinking of. And that she never really trusted him at all. No reason to think she ever will. Long since time for him to realize that and serve the papers himself.

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"For better or for worse" goes BOTH ways, or it is meaningless. That she would not share the supposed "reasons" for her actions before leaving -- actually MOVING OUT -- says it all. I've been married over 30 years, I know what "love," "trust," and "respect" are. Her actions were the opposite.

Not sure I could get over that. I’ve been in situations where a partner acted unilaterally without any kind of communication beforehand. I think this story wouldn’t happen in real life. People that are that damaged simply do not possess the fortitude that it takes to make those kind of amends. Sure, it’s possible… but very unlikely.

Wow, there are some real unforgiving fuckwits in these comments here. Stay classy Literotica.

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Asides from that, excellent story. I liked the parallels between Hailey and Scott, right down to the fact that both of their traumas produced a distrust for the opposite gender. Chef's kiss bro.

Wow this one hit close to home 😔

That she was able to overcome her trauma enough to fall in love and get married but not enough to tell her husband that she needed to go for treatment while taking her aunt's advice to stupidly separate and thereby risk losing him forever makes no sense to me. IMO this is far too unrealistic to form the basis for a story.

The part about the phone didn't make any sense either. He's fully entitled to forcefully take his phone back, but telling her he's reporting her to the police should be enough to get his phone back.

If she had been honest, there isn't a story, a betrayed trust, or a rejection.