This is How She Will Be Remembered by Her Loved Ones

"Bethany McKee is a young woman with a past that would haunt anyone who had to live it. Many don’t understand her, and in all honestly I don’t believe anyone ever fully will. She is a caring, passionate, loyal, and bluntly honest person with a heart of gold. She has suffered more than anyone else I know. She has been raped, abused, scarred, manipulated and abducted. She has faced many challenges, but it shows just how resilient she is. Growing up her friends introduced her to many bad habits, some that have stuck with her and others that she had given up to ensure the safety of her daughter.

I was in the seventh grade when Bethany was abducted, I remember what it was like to lose her; I understand loss. But I also remember how she was when she came home. She was damaged and broken. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to her crying and screaming because her dreams haunted her. I remember finding her sleeping under my father’s desk because she was terrified that the men that took her would find her and hurt her again. Bethany may be very well acquainted with fear but no one ever becomes used to fear.

Our father used to tell us when we were little that if we were scared and put in a bad situation to call him, she did that. While yes, she did run, she still called my father, and even though she was upset that he called the police and didn’t tell her, I fully and wholeheartedly believe that she knew that if she called him he would call the police. My sister is not one to ask for help, she believes in working through her problems on her own, because she doesn’t like opening up to people, but when the time came she reached out for help because she didn’t know what to do. And like she has said, if she didn’t get away there could have been three or four people dead instead of only two.

However, I know that her past doesn’t excuse her from her mistakes and actions, but just like anyone else, the past defines people, and it can haunt anyone. Is it any wonder though why she ran? She was scared, once again her friend, Alisa Massaro, had put her in yet another bad situation. The problem Bethany has is that she doesn’t trust many, but the ones that she does trust are the ones who make her feel normal and safe. Alisa was good at manipulating her into feeling that she didn’t need her bipolar and depression medication. Bethany isn’t the best judge of character but should that define the rest of her life?

Bethany has always been there for me, and no matter what stands in her way I know that she will always be there for the people that she cares about. It is simply the person she is. She defends anyone who needs defending, she is naturally protective; it is the motherly instinct in her. Even when she was young, she acted like a mother, because that was all she ever wanted to be. I remember one day during a family counseling session she was asked why she wanted a baby so bad at such a young age. Her response was, “Because a baby will always love their mother, no matter what.”

The day she found out that she was pregnant was a day I will never forget because she became my inspiration that day. For weeks I had been joking telling her she was pregnant because she was always feeling nauseous. So my mother and father made her take a pregnancy test, I was upstairs in the bathroom with her at our parent’s friend’s house at the time, and she was freaking out. As soon as the pregnancy test had shown that she was positive, she started crying and grabbed a bottle of alcohol that was in her purse. She opened it, and she poured every last drop down the sink. She hated herself for drinking while she was unknowingly pregnant. Her baby changed her for the better, once again my sister had hope.

Right now the world sees her as a monster, but no one really knows her. They only know what they have read, seen on the news, and have come up with on their own from their ignorant opinions. The truth of the matter is that if anyone were to sit down with her long enough to have a conversation you would see all of the potential, all of the hope and passion, and love that she has for the world. The system has failed her throughout her life. School officials, counselors, therapists, and the justice system has failed her at some point in her life, and it is because no one cares to get to know a misunderstood individual. I want to make the point that an eye for an eye will make the world blind. And a life for a life is not justice, but rather cruelty.

No matter what happens, my sister has made positive impacts on the world and the people in it. She has taught a young girl with dyslexia to read, she helped kids with disabilities play baseball, she helped other girls who were abducted come home and find a sense of peace, she gave hope and inspiration to many, and she would sit for hours on end listening to people who needed someone to be there for them. No matter what, the people whose lives she has helped touch will always know and remember the person she is, even if the rest of the world will always view her as something she is not, there will always be people who have complete and utter faith in her and the person that she has become, because that kind of love is unconditional.

One last thing I would like to share is that the morning after this horrible event took place, my sister picked me up and drove me to school like normal. She wouldn’t say a word, and I didn’t understand why until Alisa had said something. I hadn’t even realized that Alisa was in the car. But at that moment, while I didn’t know what had happened, you could see the pain in Bethany’s face. It was clear something had been wrong, but I had only assumed that it was because Alisa was back in her life once again. "

                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                       -Trisha McKee