Life Go's On

[Darcy Delaproser]

What's it like be stalked? It's like living in darkness and someone else, a stranger has the light, they know where you go, what you do, and eventually they press the pause button, you find the strong creative woman becomes timid, frightened and alone.
Once I was active in the community, building a network of friends and associates, making a difference in not only my life but more importantly to others.
It was through my Advocacy on a social networking site that my path crossed with Mary, we became allies with common goals and dreams, united in our desire to better the lives of people in dire need of assistance, over the months to come her friendship became more intense.
She would force herself into my life, further than I would of liked, dominating my time, constant emails and calls, in the end I had to withdraw from her.
This resulted in a barrage of abuse, threats and intimidation, I became cautious to open emails, to post anything on my page, the moment my presence was shown online the abuse followed.
The effects on my self esteem and confidence began to overflow into my private life and working life, my paranoia grew, insecurities destroyed my personality, until I could no longer feel safe using my own name, alias's became my safety net, with images of strangers as a profile picture.
If my identity was discovered by Mary she would make false claims to close down my sites, harrass my blog pages, attempting to destroy my credability in the process.
This stalking has not ceased, I just became adept at concealing my activity, I introduced characteristics to my behaviour once alien but now second nature, vetting new friends, searching for information to assure myself this new contact was genuine, life will never return to normal for me, the effects will permanently embedded in my mind, will I ever escape Mary? I don't know, but the fight to regain myself is ongoing, Stalking is a serious crime, even with police complaints and filing of police reports little happens to end this nightmare, but I will regain my life, who I was and who I should be with or without Mary in the shadows watching and waiting.