I made a (probably incomplete) list of traumatic things Petra has been through as a refresher for myself, and it requires a cut because itâs so long. Like, buckle up, buttercups. Also, campaign to get Petra back into therapy, y/y?
she grew up in extreme poverty with no familial support system
she was raised by an emotionally abusive (and sometimes physically abusive) mother that exploited her artistic talents for money
her first boyfriend turned out to be an abusive violent criminal
she broke up with the criminal boyfriend because her mother lied about him cheating, and then she saw him throw acid in her motherâs face and spent years thinking he meant to attack her
she saw her mother get hit by a car during the acid attack, and her mother constantly told her the injuries were ALL HER FAULT as a manipulation tactic
she fled her country in fear under a false identity, and a henchman of her scary ex threatened to reveal her location unless she continued to pay him off
she arrived impoverished to a new country with a (pretending to be) wheelchair-bound mother, who convinced her she should basically pimp herself out to rich men to get them out of poverty
she had multiple miscarriages, including one that was late-term
her husband was diagnosed with cancer
her husband emotionally checked out of their marriage and fell out of love with her following the late-term miscarriage and cancer
she went through the messiest of messy divorces full of mutual emotional abuse, manipulation, and blackmail
she got physically assaulted when she tried to end a clandestine relationship
because of the divorce, she wasnât able to pay the henchman keeping her location hidden anymore, so he turned up to threaten her with a gun in her face, and she had to defend herself and hold him hostage because she couldnât go to the police about it
she lived in fear and anxiety her violent criminal ex would find her, so she rekindled a relationship with another ex for safety, but he gaslit her and left her as revenge for leaving him
her violent criminal ex turned up, and she discovered her mother had been lying to her for years about being wheelchair-bound in order to manipulate and guilt trip her
the ex that physically assaulted her faked his death and kidnapped her to the everglades, and she had to distract him with âplease donât feed me to the alligatorsâ sex, and she accidentally killed him in self-defense when he tried to kill her
she allowed her abusive mother back into her life because she had no one to turn to for emotional support in the aftermath of her kidnapping and almost murder, but then she found out her mother almost killed another woman, and her mother blackmailed her into covering it up
her violent criminal ex turned up again, had surveillance on her, and forced her to marry him so he could smuggle weapons into the country
she allowed her abusive mother back into her life again because she needed help dealing with the forced marriage/smuggled weapon situation, and the first thing her mother did upon seeing her was shame her for going to therapy
she watched her mother get a hand blown off by a grenadeÂ
her mother killed her exâs henchman and coerced her into covering it up and burying the body (all while sheâs pregnant with twins!), which forced her to sabotage her first almost-friendship and also led to her having a temporary psychotic break of stress/guilt hallucinations
just as she finally came clean about everything to her ex-husband, her mother framed her for the murder and had her arrestedÂ
she had postpartum depression after her twins were born, and when she visited her mother in prison to see if it ran in the family, her mother told her she was going to be a shitty parent and the best thing she could do was give the children away
her long lost twin sister suddenly appeared in her life and gained her trust and made her feel like she had family in her corner, but her sister was actually plotting with their mother, and she was forcibly drugged into a paralyzed state while her sister pretended to be her (which included sleeping with her ex-husband and assistant, sabotaging her friendships, and raising her children), and nobody noticed any of this FOR THREE MONTHSÂ
when she lashed out at her ex-husband for not realizing someone was pretending to be her, he responded by gaslighting her and making her doubt her reality, which further enhanced her trauma and paranoia
her ex-husband went to prison, and she was left to raise baby twins on her own for three years without any familial support and while dealing with postpartum depression and post-traumatic stress disorder
she had reason to suspect her gross hate fuck buddy was a murderer and thought he was kidnapping her (and honestly, just dating him in and of itself was probably itâs own trauma because he really was that ick, and it was definitely a sign her self-worth was in the pits and she was just desperate to finally be somebodyâs first choice while dealing with years of her ex-husbandâs boomeranging affections)
her sister held her at gun point and almost drowned her in the ocean (with the original plan being to tie her up, lock her in a storage container, and pretend to be her again)
her mother and sister set up shop in the room across the hall from her to terrorize her, plot against her, and use their proximity to her children as a threat
she accidentally killed her sister when her sister threatened to harm her children (evidence also suggests her sister and mother might actually have been intending to kill her that same night), and she covered it up and claimed it was 100% self-defense, but a blackmailer kept working to dig up the truth and get her arrested, constantly keeping her on edge
the blackmailer broke into her home to murder her and nearly succeeded in shooting her... just minutes after the love of her life broke up with her and said she never wanted to see her again
