Let's just call him "Al".

My sister has been seeing this married guy who's seriously a crazy person (let's call him Al, for the sake of this post). Al got angry at her son once (7 yrs old) and carried him out of the house by his arm. He could have pulled the kid's shoulder out of socket easily. She threw him out for it, but took him back later. She's broken up with Al many times because he won't leave his wife, but she always takes him back. Al is a fireman and has high security clearance at a military base, and because she's in serious debt, Al informed her that his boss was going to begin a federal investigation of her. Apparently because the boss knew she & Al were sleeping together, this could compromise Al's security clearance. He could one day decide to sell government secrets to the highest bidder to pay off her debt. So he said. So she gave Al her social security number, because he asked for it. No one called her and she got no documentation saying she was under federal investigation, Al just said so and she believed him, got all scared & gave away her identity to this crazy person. Probably not the wisest choice. So that whole situation just faded away somehow and life went on. Every time my sister gets back together with Al, she vanishes from my life again for weeks or even months. She knows I don't approve and only comes to me when she wants me to support her leaving him again, or listen to her vent about his latest antics. Then recently, she posted on FACEBOOK of all places, that Al was waving a loaded shotgun in her FACE. After much prodding, the "truth" of the whole situation seemed to be that she went to his house (she was probably intoxicated somewhat, if I had to guess) and caused a big scene. Screaming at him, etc. His wife too, was home. My sister was told to leave many times, and refused. Now, if I were him, I'd have called the police at that point, or carried her out of my house, since he's very tall & strongly built, and she's tiny! But no, he went and got his shotgun, loaded it in front of her, waved it around and told her he could blow her brains out right here and now if he wanted to. Oh, and by the way, he was drunk. She tried to play this new insanity off like it was no big deal, but the friends and family of Facebook, thank God, would have none of that. She was basically peer-pressured into reporting him & filing for a restraining order, which she was granted. Because they'd been sleeping together for an extended period of time (regardless of him being married, living primarily at his wife's house, etc) the cops considered the situation domestic violence. Therefore, her choice to press charges or not later on was taken from her hands. Once reported, the police run with the complaint even if she backs down later and tells them not to. His guns were taken from him, as well as any permits he had to own firearms. I am not privy to if anything happened in regards to his job or security clearance there in relation to these criminal charges. And the restraining order was granted. Al (or someone acting like him) tried to contact her via Facebook. She told the police who then warned him to stop. So last night she calls & leaves me a bizarre voice mail. (I was sleeping and got it this morning) Someone texted her phone (from his WIFE'S PHONE, fishy....) saying Al left a note in her shed (on her home's property). She assumed Al sent the text himself. She could not find said note but called the police. The police did find the note, in her shed. It looked to be from Al & said he wanted to marry her, among other things. They arrested Al. This new situation sounds fishy as hell to me! If you were the wife, and knew your husband kept having this on-again off-again affair with some woman he knew from high school (Al & my sister first dated in college), and this woman showed up at your home freaking out in front of you, to the point your husband pulled out his gun, and then had the police brought in and all that nonsense, and then had a restraining order against him and everything, wouldn't you maybe be angry? Wouldn't you maybe want him out of your house, but if he's the type to pull out guns when drunk and confronted with girlfriend drama, you might be scared of him... What better way to get him out of your life once and for all, without actually standing up to him or ever being blamed for kicking him out, than setting him up to be arrested? I don't know, but I do know women who would be fully capable of this kind of ploy, and would do it guilt free if they were handed this exact situation. But back to it. So now my sister is regretting her choice to file for the restraining order, wishing she could just hold Al in her arms again because she "loves him". She's upset & crying & can't seem to rectify that they aren't meant to be, no matter how insane the situations keep getting, even though criminal charges are swimming around them, even tho he's physically threatened not only her, but also one of her kids. She seems to not care that she should be focusing on how her kids are dealing with the fact that she left their father for Al to begin with. That maybe they need their MOM. She's been flipping out on family members who won't support her "enough" through this, to whatever extent she seems to think she's entitled. And the only ones in all this who are faultless are her & Al. It leaves me drained, confused, and wanting to "destroy something beautiful", to quote Fight Club. It's odd to be SO angry yet so worn out and yet so worried all in one millisecond. It feels like I'm in a giant pool of water, that's churning viciously around me, sucking at my legs to pull me under. And I see her standing by the edge of the pool, holding a stick that could reach me to save me. And yet, she's looking away, playing with her hair. Waiting for someone else, even though she hears my cries for help. I feel myself slipping under, and can see her warped image, still on the edge, safe and able to come to my aid, but not noticing anything but herself, her own waiting, her own impatience, my drowning not even on her radar. But then, in this waking dream I can see, my instincts show me there is more to this scene at the pool and my drowning. As I sit with the image, I feel it change. I see her, from below the clear water, and then feel myself pulled upwards and backwards swiftly. I feel the cold water part behind me, and feel the arm around my waist, though I have no idea how it got there. I turn over my shoulder (turning over my shoulder is a weighted image to me, I've had many dreams were that feeling was massively important) and see. I see them. One holding me, barely staying above water himself, holding a thick rope in his other hand. The rope pulls us both to the opposite shore that my sister is on. Pulling the rope are my women, my sisters of the extreme, the family I chose instead of the one I was given. They are pulling with all their might, with no question in their eyes as to whether or not they will be able to save me, with no question as to whether or not they should. They are fierce, they are strong, they are flawless in their might and unstoppable in their determination for one thing - me. The arm around me is the non biological brother I had lost, without truly knowing his loss until he was refound. He leapt into the heaving freezing water, trusting the women on shore to save us both once he'd ensnared me in his arms of protective aid. They pull, together, one goal, one soul, one love. Once the two wet bodies are safe on land, all eyes turn to the woman across the shore, still holding the stick that could have saved, but didn't. All eyes rest on her lack of notice, still. With all the grunting and "Pull! Pull!" to unite the strength of those who saved me, she is still waiting for another to come over the rise, still playing with her hair, until that arrival. We let her wait. My Family lifts me to my feet, wraps me in warm dry comforting blankets, and walks, one on every side of my weakened body to catch me should I yet again fall, and we turn away from the pool. We leave the despair, and the woman, and go back to our path to travel, together. For you, my friends, I will hold on. But only for you.