My dad's new wife is crazy

My dad's new wife, Theresa, is crazy. I could just write that over and over again and it would be a completely accurate description of her. When I first met her, I thought she was alright. My dad and mum split up just after my fifth birthday, and he got a new girlfriend every few weeks. A few lasted a few months, but none of them ever stuck around for too long. I think I was about ten before he dated anyone long enough for me to meet them again a second time.<br><br>I was twelve when Theresa showed up. At first, she was really nice. My dad was always a fun dad, and she seemed like a fun mum. All the other girls at school had mums, so I guess I wanted one too. She was nice to me, and she made my dad happy, and that's all that mattered, as far as I was concerned. We all lived together in the house my dad owned, and things were okay.<br><br>My dad and I were a team, though. We talked all the time, and he would always tell me the truth. He told me how bad my mum was when I was little, and how he was glad he got full custody. He told me how my mum's new husband was a dickhead who didn't like me. He told me that one of his ex girlfriends was a bitch who had reports of being violent to her kids. I don't know if he was lying or not, but I believed everything he said. <br><br>Theresa was different though - she didn't like my dad talking to me. She would cough loudly whenever he told me anything, and she eventually got him to agree not to talk to me about the people in his life, past or present. She said that it was for my own good; that I didn't need to worry about all that when I was at school. <br><br>It didn't take me long to realise that she was a liar, and I didn't like her at all. She would smile and act all nice when my dad was around, and as soon as he left the house, she would turn nasty. She would snatch my phone from me and read through all my texts, then scream at me for chatting to boys. I wasn't even allowed to look at boys, let alone talk to them. I wasn't allowed to do anything at all. She was always watching me, and if I did anything she didn't like, she would drag me by my arm and lock me in my room. <br><br>But she was my dad's wife, and he loved her, so that was that. She was just something I had to deal with if I wanted to see my dad. <br><br>The first time I saw her do something weird, I was fifteen and I was going to school. It was a Monday morning, and my dad was driving me. Theresa was standing in the doorway as we left, waving goodbye. <br><br>"Why does she need to wave?" I asked my dad. "Does she think I'm going to die or something?"<br><br>"She's just trying to be nice," my dad said.<br><br>"No, she's not," I argued. "She doesn't like me." <br><br>My dad sighed. "Don't be silly, of course she likes you," he said.<br><br>"No, she doesn't. Sometimes I catch her looking at me and it's like... she hates me or something. You know how some people just don't get on with each other? That's how it is between her and me."<br><br>"You're just trying to wind me up," my dad said. He looked in his rear view mirror, then back at the road. "I thought we could go to the beach at the weekend. Just the two of us."<br><br>"Yeah, that sounds great," I said, smiling at him.<br><br>It was nice to have something to look forward to, and it took my mind off Theresa. In fact, I didn't think about her again until we got home that evening, when I caught her doing something really strange.<br><br>My dad was in the living room, and Theresa was in the kitchen. I walked in to find her waving a spatula in the air, muttering to herself. I couldn't hear what she was saying, but from the movement of her lips, it looked like she was saying the same thing over and over.<br><br>I didn't want to know what she was doing, so I crept out, trying not to make a sound, but she heard me. <br><br>"What are you doing?" She sounded angry.<br><br>"I was going to get a snack."<br><br>"Well, you can't have one now. I was in the middle of something." She turned her back on me and started muttering again. I crept out, feeling a bit spooked, and went to watch tv with dad. He didn't like it when I spent time with him and Theresa together. He liked to spend time with her on her own, and with me on my own, so I left them to it. <br><br>I didn't tell him what I saw, because I knew he would just call me a liar. <br><br>After that, though, I started to notice more and more things about Theresa that were a bit off. She would talk to herself, and she seemed to prefer being alone to being with my dad or me. She would stand in the kitchen for hours, staring at the wall, just twitching every now and then. I would see her out of the window, digging up the garden for no reason. Sometimes, she would even follow me when I left the house.<br><br>"I'm going for a walk," she would say.<br><br>"I'm going for a walk too."<br><br><br>"No you're not."<br><br>It was so weird. We lived in a small village, and everyone liked to have a chat. We would pass people we knew and they would talk to us, and Theresa would just stand there muttering. It was embarrassing. She seemed to not be able to cope with people at all. <br><br>I told my dad about it once, but he just got angry and told me to grow up. I was surprised he didn't accuse me of lying, but he looked really worried. <br><br>"You don't like Theresa, and you're trying to wind me up," he said. "I'm trying to be a good dad, but you're just pushing me away. If you're not careful, I'll resent you." I didn't want him to resent me, so I shut up and dealt with her.<br><br>My dad was working a lot of hours, so most of the time it was just Theresa and me in the house together. It was awful. One day, I decided to get revenge. I don't know why I did it. I knew it was a terrible thing to do, and it didn't even make me feel any better. I was just bored and angry and I wanted to make her suffer. <br><br>I started a fire in the living room. I was at my window, watching, as Theresa came out and watched it burn. She didn't look scared. She just watched it, and sometimes she even smiled. When the fire brigade came, she let them in and thanked them. I saw her talking to them and laughing with them, but when my dad got home, she was crying. He comforted her and then he looked up at my window and he saw me. I felt bad and I got into bed. <br><br>I thought about it for a while, then I must have fallen asleep, because I don't remember anything else from that night. <br><br>The next morning, my dad and Theresa came into my room together. "She knows what you did," was all my dad said. Then Theresa started talking, and I don't know whether she was joking or not. <br><br>"I was just about to clean out the attic," she said. "But now that you've burned down the living room, you're going to have to sleep up there instead."<br><br>"I'm sorry," I said. "The fire was an accident."<br><br>"I know exactly what you're capable of," Theresa said. "Don't try to lie to me. I'm going to make you a special bedroom, and then you can stay up there and play with yourself whenever you want." Then she smiled and walked off. My dad didn't say anything. He just followed her and left me to get dressed on my own. <br><br>I didn't end up sleeping in the attic. My dad told me I could stay in my room, and Theresa didn't argue with him. They were being nice to me again, and it was making me feel really uncomfortable. <br><br>That night, I woke up to the sound of footsteps outside my room. It was about three in the morning, and I could hear someone walking around. It was heavy footsteps, like a man. I got out of bed and opened my door. <br><br>My dad was standing there. "What are you doing?" I asked him.<br><br>"I could ask you the same thing," he said. "Why are you out of bed?"<br><br>"I could ask you the same thing," I replied, grinning at him. "What were you doing walking around my room?"<br><br>"I wasn't," he said. "Go back to bed."<br><br>I went back to bed. When I woke up, Theresa and my dad were in the kitchen. They weren't talking, they were just looking at each other. I stood there for a while, trying to figure out what they were doing. Eventually, my dad looked at me and smiled. Theresa carried on staring at him. <br><br>"You alright?" I asked him. "You look a bit weird."<br><br>"I'm fine, thanks. How are you?"<br><br>"I'm fine, thanks," I said. "What's up with Theresa? She looks like she's in a trance."<br><br>"She's just thinking," my dad said, looking at her. "But she's fine." Theresa twitched a little, but didn't otherwise react.<br><br>I ate my breakfast and went to school. My dad