(If you are new to this blog, you may want to read the posts “In a Nutshell” or go to July and read “Sending out a Letter.”  Both of these posts give a brief description of what happened.  As Emma’s mom, I blogging my experiences with Emma and the things she did/does.  This is a child who made up a story about rape, accused a priest of molesting her, and then as her attorney was about to file a lawsuit against the priest and the church, Emma accused her mother of physical abuse to stop the lawsuit because she knew her lies were about to be discovered.  Emma is now attending Piedmont college in Demorest, Ga.  She has been telling people she is engaged to a young man named T.  Emma does not care who she hurts to get what she wants, and I hope for T.’s sake, Emma gets some help before she gets married. )

Why would a child make up a story about rape?   Let me give you some details of what was going on with Emma in Dec. of 2010, when Emma made up the rape story about on on-line friend she had never met in person.  Could all this have been over a boy?  Read on and see what you think.

On Emma’s 16th birthday, her dad and I went to pick her up at her church youth group.  Upon entering the parish hall, Emma ran up to me to tell me that her on-line friend from an English class pen-pal project had called her during her youth group meeting.  Emma claimed that the friend, whom I will call “Lacey”, called Emma from the hospital after being raped.  Emma was so shocked and shaken up, I really believed something had happened, but the whole thing seemed so bizarre.  Emma went off with her friends, and I talked to one of the youth group leaders for a few moments, sharing with her what Emma had told me.  One of the youth leaders had gotten a cake for Emma’s birthday, so everyone had cake and ice cream at the end of the meeting.  Later, when we got in the van to leave, Emma was very angry with me for talking to the youth group leader about what she told me.

Over the next few days, Emma claimed she tried to call Lacey several times, but couldn’t reach her. She said she spoke to her older sister. Over that week Emma changed the story and said that Lacey had been raped some time previously and was in the hospital because she tried to commit suicide. Emma said Lacey’s extended family had been over for a family gathering, when Lacey had taken some pills, laid down on her mother’s bed, was found unresponsive by a family member, and then taken to the hospital. I did not know Lacey or her family, so I was not going to call them about such a personal matter. This turned out to be a big mistake. Later on, Emma said that Lacey told her that the man who raped her threatened to kill her family if she told anyone who he was so Lacey was afraid to talk about what happened. Over the next couple of months , I asked Emma how Lacey was doing . Emma said that Lacey was in therapy and didn’t want to talk about what happened. Emma told me that Lacey also had been molested as a child and volunteered with a group at her church that counseled or supported other victims of molestation.
Sometime during the summer of 2009, Emma told me that Lacey’s mother had breast cancer. She said Lacey had been homeschooled, but was going to public school for 10th grade because her mother was too sick to homeschool her. Emma told me that Lacey had called or texted her to tell her that her mother was hospitalized several times that summer. On at least two occasions, Emma told me that Lacey’s mom was in the hospital and was so sick, that the doctors thought she might not survive.  Later, I was to find out that about the only truth to all the things Emma said was that Lacey’s mom did have breast cancer, but she was never hospitalized and never close to dying.  She did outpatient Chemo and was never on death’s door as Emma led us to believe.

What would make Emma create such a bizarre story about her friend?  Was it so she could get upset at youth group, feign concern about an emergency phone call, and let all her friends know how upset she was?

Over the summer and fall, Emma had been spending a lot of time around a young man in the youth group.  The two of them seemed to like each other, and it was all very sweet, but after a while the young man pulled away from Emma.  While it is my goal to get to the truth, it is not my wish to embarrass Emma as to why the boy lost interest in her, but Emma was still very interested in this young man.  She talked about him frequently, had told me that he said he loved her, and said that when his dad was visiting from Va., the boy wanted Emma to meet him.  I thought that seemed like a stretch considering the two had never even been on a date, but I just let it go.

I’ve spoken to a psychologist, a couple of social workers who work with problem children, and a Ph.D. counselor who told me that teenage girls often get so engrossed in young love, thinking that their love interest is “the one” whom they will spend the rest of their lives with, that these young girls don’t take it well when they are rejected.  Is that what happened with Emma?  She didn’t get the boy she wanted, so she made up all this drama?  Did she just want attention, or was she hoping all the drama would get this boy’s attention?  Kids lie all the time.  We all know that, but wasn’t this a bit extreme?  All this over a boy?