Alone in the Dark, Volume II Part IV: Stop Underestimating People

It takes time to get there, but eventually you do.

You stop underestimating people.

“I never thought you would do that” are words I used to say often.

I don’t say them anymore.

Today, I put nothing past anyone.

If they can cheat, they can kill you.
If they are jealous, they can kill you.
If they switch up, there is a reason, and you need to step back long enough to figure it out.

You don’t have to announce it.
You don’t have to confront them.

You just subtly create distance.

You learn them enough to know what to say to get away.
You take mental notes.
You store information not to retaliate, but to connect dots later.

Pay attention to their silence when others are celebrating you.

Notice how when something good happens for you, they don’t congratulate you. They say words, but never congratulations.

Whatever others admire about you?
That’s what they target.

Their advice never quite makes sense. It feels off. It often sounds hateful, but it’s delivered under the guise of concern.

“I’m just looking out for you.”

In the same breath, they mirror you.

And that’s not flattering.

Hearing someone regurgitate your thoughts, your language, your insights as if they came up with them is not admiration. It’s information gathering.

I’ve had someone invite me to an event and lie about the dress code so they could shine.

And the sad part?

No one noticed.

Because they needed my essence.

People like this are empty shells. They require the energy of others to feel whole. So they attach, love bomb, and pretend to be in your corner just long enough to study you.

Then they apply you to themselves.

They become you right before your eyes.

Do not take this lightly.

Once they feel they’ve drained you, the devaluation begins.

Shots at your appearance.
Sabotaged plans.
Narratives spun to make others think you’re the problem.

Everything they siphoned from you will eventually be weaponized against you.

This is why you must be careful when people put you on a pedestal.

Do not accept it.
Check it immediately.

Because the pedestal is never admiration it’s preparation for the fall.

They will push you so fast and so hard you won’t see it coming.

It’s sickening how well some people can play a role. They can sit in your presence daily, pretending to love you, while secretly resenting you.

Some are overt with the hate.

Others are covert.

The covert ones are the most dangerous.

They mask well.

They’ll buy you a lamp for your birthday because you casually mentioned yours was broken. You never asked for that. You would never give someone a lamp as a birthday gift. But they do, and make you believe it was thoughtfulness.

They’ll make jokes at your expense in front of others.

Everyone is laughing except you.

Because you don’t find it funny.

These people also weaponize your trauma.

Sharing becomes a liability.

I once told my ex how traumatizing it was when my grandmother would come home from work cursing, turning on all the lights, waking us up. I told him I hated being awakened from my sleep.

He listened.

And when the opportunity came, he used it.

If it wasn’t turning on the lights, it was making unnecessary noise. Or giving me a kiss before leaving, never a quick peck, but just enough to wake me.

It may sound sweet to you.

It wasn’t.

He never did that before the conversation.

These people will take a gesture that appears to outsiders as love and adoration, when in reality it is a dagger designed to provoke you. They are not offering affection; they are fishing for reaction. Once you respond, they collect that reaction and use it to launch a smear campaign against you.

To everyone listening, the story sounds harmless.

“I try kissing her before work, and she just flips out.”

Of course, outsiders assume something is wrong with you.

That is the objective.

They already know their enablers will believe every word they say. The goal is isolation to make sure that when you finally need help, there is nowhere safe to run.

You become the outcast.
And the narrative spreads quickly.

After my mother attacked me, called the police, and put my newborn and me out in the rain, this is exactly what she did.

What she did not tell anyone was that she struck me several times before I defended myself. She saw blood, and that became the headline.

Because my family already had a predisposition against me, they accepted her version without ever asking for mine.

Years later, when my daughter was nineteen, I learned that my mother had told relatives she “saw the devil come out of me” that day.

An entire bloodline accepted that narrative.

That is how powerful a smear campaign can be.

It assigns identity.
It rewrites history.
It brands you permanently in rooms you are not in.

My mother is the reason character assassination no longer shakes me. I have endured it too many times from her, from others who adopted her narrative, even from the very aunt who has done the same.

So when my ex attempted to do this with his family, I did not collapse.

He expected me to.

He thought I would break under it.

But when your power activates, their tactics lose their grip.

And once that shift happens, they realize they can no longer control the outcome.

Again, be careful with expressing what brings you joy and what does not. I learned that whatever I said I loved, he would stop doing.
And whatever I said I hated, he would do more.

So I adapted.

I began telling him I loved the things I needed him to stop doing.

And if you have to play the game until you can get out, this is how you survive.

Learn their tactics.
Then do the opposite.

Pay attention to their work stories, too.

They tell on themselves there.

In their minds, speaking the truth aloud clears the slate. That’s how they justify what they do.

If you study elite behavior, ritual abuse, or even the psychology behind satanic symbolism, you’ll notice something unsettling:

They don’t have new methods.

They all read from the same playbook.

If you’ve met one, you’ve met them all.

The only difference is how long they can hide behind the mask.

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To be continued in Part V of Alone in the Dark, Volume II