Throwaway for obvious reasons. I post regularly on my other account and I’ve made friends here.
When I was about 7-9, I was living with my mom and stepdad. I’d always be curious about learning to cook and help her pack his lunch for work etc.
One morning, I noticed she tried to hide a dropper she used in a bottle to put something in Barry’s (not his real name) coffee. I didn’t really pay mind to it but every morning she did it and would hide it and smile at me if she caught me looking. So one day, I innocently asked what she was adding to his coffee and she was like “shhhhhh it’s my secret love potion for Barry to make his coffee taste better” so I was like “Oh I want some tooo” and she was like no, you’re too young and it’s only for adults but it’s a secret and don’t ever tell Barry or else he will want it all to himself and won’t share with anyone 🙃
To 8 year old me, this made perfect sense and I didn’t want to ruin her special recipe.
Unfortunately, my stepdad passed when I was 9.
Fast forward to today, I am 26 years old. My son is into mice and he left their cage open and they got out so me and my husband went to buy a rat trap at the store and something caught my eye and made me stop dead in my tracks. Writing this now still has me trembling because I am replaying stuff in my head. Sitting at the bottom shelf was a bottle, just like the one my mom used the dropper from. The same bottle, same colored label and same everything. But what I never got to see was the label. It was RAT POISON.
I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t breathe, I am frozen. I truly don’t know what to do with this and I don’t know who to tell. I just don’t know.
TLDR: my mom used rat poison to kill my stepdad and I found out accidentally about 20 years later
Comments
Are you going to confront her?
What is the official reason for stepdad’s death?
I think you should go to the police and wear a wire when you talk to her. Buy a bottle of the rat poison to confront her with, too. Be like, “I saw this at the store and it reminded me of that ‘special love potion’ you gave to Barry when I was a kid. Do you want to explain that to me?” But go to cops FIRST.
Was his death investigated? How did he die? What is your mom doing now? Does she have a criminal record? More information needed.
So, is that out of character and something you would ever expect your mom to do? Is she a psychopath? Was your stepdad a bad guy and she was trying to protect you? If you confront her do you think you will safe? If you have siblings I would talk to them and tell them what you know.