I am familiar with abuse. I was abused physically, sexually, mental/emotionally, and spiritually. Today I witnessed abuse happen to another person and I was terrified.

I witnessed my stepfather

The moment it started I jumped out of my chair to defend my sister. But I froze. I knew there was no way I could fight him off of her, even if I was in good health (I'm not, I'm in dire need of neurosurgery). I feel so guilty for not stopping him. I'm her older sister. I'm supposed to protect her.

Our mom took my stepfather's side. She even attacked my sister herself because in cleaning up the mess from everything my sister apparently didn't treat a basket with enough "respect." Both of them said multiple times to her that they weren't abusive and this was all her fault. My sister did nothing wrong. I was right there. They wouldn't let her leave the house. They told her that if she drove away in her car that they would sell the car asap, since it's still in their name. They also told her that she had better not pick up her son from daycare. They said that if she moves out now with him it will be super selfish and make her a bad mom. It was all so manipulative and controlling. My sister did drive away, so they're going to sell her car. That will make it even harder for her to get away from them.

I'd never witnessed something like this before. I don't know what to do. It was terrifying. I told my husband when he got home from work. I was shaking. He's surprised that I didn't have a full blown PTSD episode after seeing that. I'm just scared and I don't know what to do.