I (F22) and my sister (24) have always had a very complicated relationship, as she’s always been jealous of me for unknown reasons. We fought a lot when we were younger, and she already has hit me on several occasions, especially when our parents weren’t home.
On October 29th, we had an argument in the kitchen for something really stupid, and she started almost screaming at me and poking at my chest. I started feeling threatened and slightly pushed her back, and that was when she completely lost it. She yanked me by my collar and started hitting me with her fists. I screamed for help and my younger sister came running to separate us. After that, we both ran to the living room and blocked the door so that she wouldn’t come. I was uncontrollably shaking, crying, and called my mother, who didn’t pick up. My older sister was on the phone with her, saying I had attacked her and that if my mother didn’t show up fast enough, she’d kill me.
My mother is a childminder and was taking a stroll outside, and it was her friend and neighbor who had to come running so that nothing would happen to me. She took my sister to her place for a few hours.
I told my father I wanted to file a complaint, he said it was useless. I told my grandmother, who started finding excuses for my sister (as usual, since she’s her favorite). After that event, I barely left my room because I didn’t want to see her. And to worsen it all, she announced the same evening that she was one month pregnant, and my parents were absolutely overjoyed. It apparently excused what she had done, since it was her « pregnancy hormones » who had done that. That attack left me with scratches and bruises on my right arm (I took pictures and fortunately still have them).
I was determined to file a complaint and took an appointment to the doctor a few days later, for them to see the bruises I had on my arm and provide a medical certificate that I could show to the police when I would go to the station. But before I could do any of that, my sister came into my room one night and apologized, before "crying". As I’ve always been too nice with people, I forgave her and cancelled both my appointment to the doctor and the police station (which I deeply regret today).
A few weeks go by, my sister is acting as if nothing had happened, we sometimes talk and that’s it. But tensions quickly reappeared, as her boyfriend and father of her child (who’s in his forties btw), started living with us. What annoyed me the most was that they both work (as nurses), both have a salary and none of them helped my parents with the rent. When they bought groceries, it was only for them, and my sister would get mad when my mom cooked and there was no food left for them. I must precise that I’m still a student with no part-time job, therefore I can’t help my parents financially, but always make sure to help cleaning around, folding the laundry, cooking and washing the dishes.
Things escalated when one evening, my older sister got mad at my mother because there apparently wasn’t enough quiche left for her boyfriend and her, which made my mom very sad. Just a few days later, my mother tried to talk to my sister to mend things, but she got mad again and started screaming at her, telling her mean and horrible things. She said she was cutting my mother off, and that she would leave this place. She also said we were all hypocrites, who kept playing family and pretending everything was fine. She later apologized to my mother, but since that argument, she went back to completely ignoring me. I haven’t done anything to her, but she just acts as if I didn’t exist, which leads me to think she never felt bad for what she’s done to me, and only apologized because she was scared of losing her job if I filed a complaint against her.
I told my parents I decided to still file a complaint, and my father quickly tried to discourage me, saying it was pointless because the complaint would be dismissed anyway. It really hurt me and I realized no one in my family supported me. That attack left me feeling constantly anxious, to the point I have trouble sleeping at night. It deeply impacted my studies, because of the lack of sleep. I also had s*icidal thoughts on many occasions, and feel like my sister has to pay for what she did. I don’t care if she loses her job, I just want justice for what I went through, both mentally and physically.
Should I file a complaint against her ?