PARTNER acted like she was ABDUCTING my child as a joke, I PANICKED

I hope you enjoy this story.

Partner acted like she was abducting my child as a joke, I panicked and phoned the authorities.

Now she's pointing the finger at me.

I, a 28-year-old male, have been in a relationship with my partner, Alyssa, a 25-year-old female,

for almost 8 months now.

We met at her cousin's wedding, who happens to be a coworker of mine.

I also have a daughter from a previous relationship.

My daughter, Isabelle, is 6 years old and her mother and I are still in touch.

We have a joint custody arrangement and we get to have her for alternate months.

Last month, I was the one who was supposed to look after her.

My ex-girlfriend, Meg, 27F, and I broke up two years ago because she wanted a break from

our relationship but that just turned into a breakup.

She'd said that things were going too fast for us and she wanted time to recent her and

focus on her work instead.

We were supposed to be apart for a couple of weeks but that turned into months and then

eventually, years.

Meg and I had met in college and we'd been good friends at first but started dating

around our second year.

We didn't intend on having a baby but when we found out that she was pregnant, she decided

that she wanted to have the child and I respected that.

I didn't plan on being a father at such a young age but I didn't mind it either and

now, I wouldn't change anything about my life.

My relationship with Meg, however, ended abruptly just a few months after the birth of our

daughter.

We've remained on good terms and have continued co-parenting our daughter but I'd say we

still have certain unresolved issues.

That was part of the reason why I hadn't allowed Alyssa to get very close to Isabel emotionally

because I didn't know how Meg would take it.

This was the first time either of us was in a relationship after our breakup and we didn't

really have any ground rules about partners.

She seemed chill about it when I told her though so I didn't think too much about it and

introduced Alyssa to my daughter three months into our relationship after making sure Meg

was okay with it.

The two of them hit it off well and I was pleased to see that.

Then, last week, towards the end of the month, I had a business trip that I had to go

away on.

I'd be away for three whole days so I needed someone to watch over Isabel.

Of course, I contacted Meg first but it was pointless because she'd been visiting home.

She wouldn't be back before this week as she was stuck in a snowstorm and no flights

or other modes of travel were going to be safe.

I tried to get my trip postponed but it was sort of an emergency and I absolutely had

to be there in person because this was a really important client that we were talking

about here.

I couldn't hire a sitter because I don't feel comfortable leaving my daughter home with

someone who's practically a stranger.

Whenever I have to leave for work and can't watch my daughter, I usually either ask Meg

or my parents so I don't have a sitter usually.

I couldn't ask my parents this time either because my mom was sick and still recovering

so eventually I thought that I'd have to cancel the trip.

I didn't ask Alyssa yet because I wasn't sure if she'd want to babysit my daughter for

such a prolonged period of time and she hadn't spent any time in person with her yet either.

It had always been under my supervision.

I trusted her in everything but I wasn't sure if she'd say yes.

I'd already prepared myself mentally to skip this trip but surprisingly, when I told

her about the problem, she offered to babysit Isabelle herself and even seemed very excited

about it.

She was happy about the one-on-one bonding experience she'd get to have with Isabelle and

I decided that it was the right thing to do.

Of course, I also made sure that it was okay with Meg as well and only then did I leave

for my trip.

The first two days went smoothly and I was able to finalize the deal that I'd had to

leave for so I was quite happy.

Alyssa also seemed to be getting along well with Isabelle and I'd been face timing

them every morning and every night before bed so I knew they were doing okay.

On the third day, things went south because Alyssa decided to pull a really stupid prank

on me.

For context, Alyssa and I have had a running gag about how if it were up to her, Alyssa

would run away with Isabelle because she adores her.

It's just a harmless joke really and we've never ever thought about it as anything more.

I know Alyssa isn't crazy and she won't actually do that.

But on the morning of my third day, I received a call from my daughter and she told me that

she'd found Alyssa in my bedroom just a couple of minutes ago and she'd been talking

to a red-haired man wearing suspenders.

I knew by the description that she was talking about my friend and my lawyer, Ruben.

My daughter also told me that Alyssa had packed all her clothes and toys and two bags and

had told her that they were about to go on an adventure without me.

So she'd called me to ask why exactly I wasn't going to be with them on this adventure.

At that moment, I was freaked out because if my daughter was telling the truth, there

was something really wrong that was going to happen.

Something about my lawyer being present there along with my daughter's claims that their

bags were packed and they were about to leave without me just didn't sit right with me

and I think every parent would have been freaked out by something like this.

I'd also only given Isabelle a spare phone that she knew she was supposed to use only

if she felt like she felt weird or uncomfortable in any situation and if she'd taken the trouble

to call me then there was definitely something odd going on.

At least that's what I believed at the time.

I called Alyssa first but she didn't answer it and that freaked me out even more so without

thinking much.

I decided to call 911 and CPS both at the same time because I was panicking really hard.

I tried to call my daughter back to tell her that she was not to leave the house but

she didn't answer my call.

So then I called my dad and told him to get to my house ASAP after explaining the situation

to him as quickly as I could.

Luckily my mother was feeling better so she could take care of herself for a while and

my dad left as soon as he received my call.

For about 20 minutes or so I sat there in my hotel room trying desperately to get to

either my dad or my daughter.

I had no idea what was going on and I was too scared to even leave the room to head towards

the airport because what if they finally got back to me but I wasn't able to receive

their messages or calls because I was on a flight back home.

So I stayed where I was and continuously kept praying for some news from them.

Finally, I received a call from a cop saying that they'd only found Alyssa and my daughter

at my house playing with blocks and there was no red-haired man or packed bags in sight.

He told me that Alyssa insisted that it was all just a prank and that I just reacted

out of panic.

There was nothing strange happening at home and everything was just fine.

My dad had arrived at the scene just a couple of minutes after the cops and had been there

to inspect the scene along with them.

Apparently Alyssa was the one who'd even made that phone call to me and made Isabelle

say all that to me just to freak me out and mess with me for a bit.

They hadn't answered the calls on purpose because they'd wanted to carry on the prank

but unfortunately it had backfired pretty badly.

I thought that story checked out because Alyssa did think of herself as a funny person

but she often wasn't.

I didn't speak to Alyssa directly and got to know the truth from the cop who'd been sent

to my house so after he cleared it up for me, I thanked him and apologized for the inconvenience

and then hung up.

After that was done, I called my dad and told him to take Isabelle home with him.

I was going to take the flight home that evening so it was just a matter of hours.

I didn't call Alyssa because I didn't feel like talking to her and I had nothing to

say to her anyway.

What she'd done had been extremely immature and stupid and I didn't feel like talking

to her at all.

She texted me to tell me that she'd locked the house and kept the spare keys under the

fake plant like I usually do and also mentioned that there had been no need for me to overreact

the way I had because it was just a prank.

She said she felt insulted that I'd even insinuated that she was going to run away with Isabelle

and that I thought so less of her.

I didn't respond to those texts at the time because I was really mad at her for a stupid

prank and had no intention of talking to her before I'd calmed down enough.

I came back about a week ago from the trip and spent the next two days with Isabelle

at home until Meg returned and took over.

I told her all about the incident with Alyssa once she'd come back because I didn't want

her to worry and panic the way I'd had to when I was on my own in the hotel and surprised,

she seemed a lot more relaxed than I was.

She told me that what I'd done was reasonable enough and she definitely would have reacted

the same way but now that I knew it was just a prank.

I should at least talk to Alyssa and try to make things right with her if I want this

relationship to last.

Meg believes that my reaction was natural but now that it's all done with, we should

try to talk to each other.

I don't agree and I think if anyone owes the other an apology, it's Alyssa who should

apologize to me first.

She hasn't even tried to talk to me after I ignored her texts and even in those texts,

she didn't mention a word about being sorry for what she'd done.

She just told me that she felt insulted that I'd called CPS on her and blamed me for

reacting in a way that most parents would have.

It's also unfair to put it all on me when she was equally responsible for this because

she's the one who thought it'd be fun not to answer my calls afterward.

I had tried to call her first thing after Isabel called me but she didn't pick up so

I panicked and did whatever I thought was most necessary at the moment.

I'd always known she'd been joking about running away with Isabel but I still didn't

think it was worth taking that risk.

She'd even taken the trouble of teaching my daughter to mention Ruben so what was I to

think.

She'd created a hyper-realistic situation for me to worry about just to prank me and

because her prank backfired, she decided to blame me for all of it without thinking

even for once what I might have been going through.

I don't think that's fair at all.

I like Alyssa a lot and I think that after Meg, she's probably been the only woman whom

I've been so close to so I don't want to lose her.

I also don't think it's my fault entirely that this happened but then again, I'm the

one who hasn't responded to her texts yet.

I'd had for calling CPS on my girlfriend while she was babysitting my daughter after

she tried to prank me and made me think that she was really going to run away with her.

Update 1

So first things first, thanks to everyone who commented on the original post.

The response was overwhelming in eye-opening, to say the least.

I guess I really wasn't the problem here and the comments made sure I knew that.

Now I don't even think that I overreacted because when it comes to my daughter, I'd rather

be safe than sorry.

She wanted to prank me and make me think that she was running away with Isabelle and

she succeeded.

So what exactly did she think was going to happen after that?

She's the one who didn't think her plan through and she's lucky she got out of this without

any legal trouble.

I explained the same to Meg and Well, she seemed pretty nonchalant about it because apparently,

the only reason she'd even told me to get back to Alyssa and talk to her was because she

thought I liked her.

I could sense that there was a hint of some jealousy while we were discussing it but that

might just have been my imagination.

I don't know for sure but there was something about the way she said it to me.

Either way, she told me that at the end of the day, it was my decision what I wanted

to do about my relationship and I agreed with that.

So I've decided to break up with Alyssa and end things as politely as I can after what

has happened.

It's been three days since I posted here in 10 days in total since my last conversation

with Alyssa so I'm sure things are going to be awkward.

I've decided to do it at my house instead of some cafe or restaurant because under no

circumstances do I want it to feel like a date and give her false hopes.

I've already texted her and called her over so she's going to be here in a couple of

hours after work.

The reason I'm on Reddit right now, sharing everything, is because I'm nervous and don't

know how this is going to go.

I've never broken up or dumped someone in almost a decade and it's a stupid thing to

be nervous about yet here we are.

I'm just hoping that I'm able to end things with her and don't end up taking her back

or something.

Update 2.

We broke up.

She left two hours ago after almost one and a half hours of arguing about whose fault

this whole thing was.

I'm not a very confrontational person usually but I couldn't just let her put all the blame

on me and then act as if she was a saint who could do no wrong.

She had to own up and take accountability to at least some degree because she'd actually

scared me with her stupid little prank.

At first, she told me that she was glad I'd invited her because she said she wanted to

end things with me and was looking for the right opportunity to do so.

I was relieved because at least we were on the same page about breaking up and so I

told her I agreed and that we should indeed break up.

When I said that, she got mad and started telling me that she'd expected me to at least

apologize for my behavior before coming to this conclusion and that's where our argument

began.

She kept saying that I'd insulted her by calling the cops on her because that meant I thought

she was crazy and would run away with my daughter which she never would.

I tried to explain that the only reason I'd done that was because I couldn't get through

to her and I was stuck in another city so I was naturally worried about my daughter.

She kept arguing with me endlessly and called me paranoid, saying that I always overreacted

and that I was the one who owed her an apology.

After a while, I finally realized there was no point in trying to explain the situation

to her because she was so self-involved that she couldn't even bring herself to think

about my feelings about the situation and only cared about herself.

Since I was getting exhausted from arguing with her and I had no intention of letting

her sit on my couch in my living room and then yell at me for doing something normal.

So I told her that I was done with her and this relationship and she could leave because

I wasn't interested in talking to her anymore.

She took that personally and then stood up and screamed a bunch of curse words at me

then told me that I'd never been good enough for her anyway and she could find someone better

than me within a week of being single.

I told her she was welcome to do so but right now, she had to leave because she was giving

me a migraine and I couldn't tolerate the sound of her shrieking anymore.

She then left in a really foul mood and kept mumbling under her breath.

I'm sure she was cursing at me but I didn't care.

I was just glad that she was finally gone now because she just wasted one and a half hours

of my life with her nonsensical arguments.

I don't know how I'd ever even considered giving her a second chance at this relationship

because she definitely doesn't deserve to be a part of my or my daughter's life at all.

Update 3 so it's just been a day but the repercussions of the breakup have already started

taking its toll on me.

Alyssa didn't talk to me directly after she left but late at night, she decided to text

Meg instead.

She didn't have her number so she sent her a message on Instagram instead.

It wasn't a very nice message and it accused Meg of trying to ruin the relationship I had

with Alyssa by poisoning me against her.

This is just so stupid because while we were arguing yesterday, Meg didn't even come

up even once.

Like we didn't even mention Meg so I don't know where that came from out of the blue.

Throughout the eight months that we dated, Alyssa must have met Meg three times and has

never spent one time with her so I don't know where she got that from.

She didn't even know that it was actually Meg who had tried to encourage me to speak to

her again and if she'd known, I don't think she would have said the things she did.

She called Meg a lot of things including home wrecker and the beaward several times for

no real reason apart from meeting a scapegoat.

I was furious when I found out in the morning because when Meg had tried to inform me, I was

already asleep.

I told her that I was going to call Alyssa and talk to her but Meg told me not to because

this was an attempt to get a reaction out of me and after thinking about this for a while,

she didn't think it was a good idea for me to contact her at all.

I'm not happy about it but she's right so I decided to block her instead.

If she tries anything funny then I'll probably just speak to my coworker about it and try

to get him to put an end to that because from what I know, they're kind of close and

share a good relationship.

So he might be able to help me.

We haven't had the opportunity to discuss any of this yet but I plan on talking to him

soon enough.

The issue is that he works in a different department and we don't get to see each other often

but I'm sure that Alyssa must have told him something or the other.

His behavior towards me hasn't changed in the past week or so but I'm sure now that

Alyssa and I have broken up for good, she'll leave no stone unturned to disrupt my life.

I'm stunned I never realized she had this crazy side of hers during our relationship because

this is something I should have been able to tell.

To think I'd left her with my daughter for ages just feels weird now but at least I was

able to end this relationship before it went too far.

I hope she leaves this alone now.

Update 4, hey everyone.

So this update is not going to be about Alyssa even though she hasn't left me alone at all.

In happier news, Meg and I have decided to give things another try.

It's been two weeks since the last update and five days ago, Meg visited me with Isabel

and said that she had something important to discuss with me.

Turns out my hunch about her feeling a tad bit jealous of Alyssa had been right and

she confessed that she'd been feeling confused about her own feelings and so she pretended

to be alright with me going back to Alyssa even though that's not what she wanted at all.

She regretted ever asking for a break and then breaking up because initially it had just

been the stress of work in our relationship and our future that was getting to her but

after she sorted out the work front, she was too embarrassed to come back to me and just

ended up letting me go and I never asked her about it either so she figured I didn't want

to come back.

It had just been a misunderstanding on an epic level and we regret it now.

Looking back, we were both really just young and stupid and had no idea what we were doing.

We let our pride get in the way of our happiness but hopefully, that won't happen again.

Meg and I have decided to go out on a few dates in the coming weeks to test the waters and

if it all works out well then we might move back in together.

That'll work out well for Isabel, too.

Honestly, I'm excited because I've missed Meg and I'm sure she's missed me too even

though we were too proud to admit it.

I'd feel bad for Alyssa but I tried my best in that relationship.

She's the one who screwed it up so I'm not going to sit here and feel guilty for moving

on with Meg after that.

Speaking of Alyssa, she's still harping on about my supposed overaction and tells everyone

she knows about the same.

My coworker actually stopped speaking to her over this because he believed that my reaction

was completely justified.

I've spoken to Rubin and even he thinks that she went too far.

Rubin and I are close and he's met Alyssa a couple of times but for her to bring him up

in her so-called prank just to freak me out annoyed him too.

I mean, of course, he did because, in a way, she was trying to make me doubt him and

his intentions as well.

My coworker and I talked about Alyssa just a week ago and he told me that she's been

insufferable since the breakup and has been painting herself as the victim of some great

tragedy which she isn't.

When he called her out on her BS, she got mad at him too and that's how they ended up

not speaking to each other at all.

She's still sending me texts through multiple accounts but none of them are cute ones,

only ones that call me crazy in psycho.

Like, yeah, we can all see who's crazy now.

I hadn't responded to her yet but I will speak to Rubin once he's a little less busy so

that we can start looking into protective orders because I don't want her loitering near

my house at any point if this escalates.

Not because I'm worried for myself but because of Isabelle.

I don't like to think about it but with people like Alyssa, there's really no telling

what she'll do just to get back at me, especially once she finds out that Meg and I are getting

back together once more.

Update 5

Some of you guys weren't happy that Meg and I were getting back together and were actually

sympathizing with Alyssa but back when she pulled that insensitive prank on me, Meg and

I were just friends and nothing more.

I've always been respectful of boundaries and there has been no cheating at all, emotional

or otherwise so I don't think anyone should jump to conclusions unnecessarily.

That being said, now Meg and I are properly back together and she's even scheduled to move

in this week.

It's been a month since the last update and Alyssa has since apologized to me in an

email because apparently she'd been diagnosed with BPD a couple of years back but she stopped

going to therapy because she felt like she was getting better.

It explains the weird behavior because she says she's more prone to anger issues now

than before which is what caused that reaction and there is just a lot of other messed up

stuff going on with her which I didn't know before.

Her father passed away a few weeks before we broke up and she had a strained relationship

with him which is probably what triggered her very inexplicable behavior.

Not the prank, that was very much her, but whatever came after.

I wish her the best but we're not in touch anymore.