My brother tortures me ever since I was four.

My (younger) brother has always been a sick fuck. When I was four my parents moved to a new house with a backyard and a small garden. Our dad had this little metal bucket he used to dump the dirtbag from the vacuum cleaner. It was red and had a metal lid. My brother put that bucket on my head and I was not able to get it off. It was so fucking scary, I had severe tunnel vision and was so disoriented I couldn't even get out of the house and my little brother's evil laughter. I had to pull the bucket so hard that it was really painful in order to get it off and was shaking for the rest of the day. My parents were too lazy and inattentive to help me and told me it's just a prank. <br><br>He did this for years. Putting a bucket on my head. In school I was already a target for other kids and the situation at home was also so stressful that I always hated going home. At one point he begun locking me into the basement, closing all the doors and windows, turning the key and keeping it. I had to stay there for hours and if I wasn't "behaving" he'd go get more of his friends and they'd bully me there in the basement.<br><br>He'd also put the trashbag over my head and tie it with a rope, the same rope he used to beat our dog. His justification was that the dog was too lazy. He beat him so bad that he was limping for days. I never saw an animal so stressed in my life. Whenever I helped him he'd hit me and say I'm a useless woman and should do all of the housework. I had to do that anyway because my mother was a total slob. He broke my toys and collected knives. I've never seen anyone with so many knives in their room. <br><br>When I was 14 years old he said he's gonna rape me. I was so in shock that I locked myself into my room and didn't come out for weeks. I was afraid to even go to the restroom because he was waiting for me and when I came out he'd hit me and said he's gonna rape me. I was so stressed out that I had heart issues and my period never came for months. Once my period started coming again I don't remember, maybe I was 16 or 17. <br><br>One day he tried to set my hair on fire. He went into my room, stood behind me and put a lighter into my hair with the flame on. Luckily, he failed and only burned a tiny part of my hair, but it was really traumatic. My mother saw this and said "stop it" like she was talking to a child throwing a temper tantrum, but didn't do anything else. It got to a point where he tried strangling me multiple times and said he's gonna kill me. I had so many sleepless nights because I was afraid he's gonna get into my room and strangle me. I locked the door but he'd break the lock if he wanted.<br><br>At some point I had enough. I pressed charges and my parents were very angry. They said they're gonna kick me out and live with him. I got a restraining order and my brother had to move to another city. My parents don't talk to me anymore. I don't care, I'm better off without them.<br><br>I cannot believe how many ignorant people there are who don't take this shit seriously and blame parents for not doing anything. I've been to therapy and other mental health services for years but no one takes a person who has been abused seriously. <br><br>It's always "it wasn't THAT bad" or "call the police". Often times they don't even do anything. They just take a report and do nothing. Just filing a report is in itself so mentally exhausting, but no one believes you. It's not just "not taking it seriously", it comes with a history of gaslighting and the abuser manipulating people into believing you're mentally ill or exaggerating and you will get nowhere. I've been called a psycho because I didn't know how to express my feelings and needed a little bit of help. I wasted so much of my life on therapy and useless people who always said I had to "let it go" and "forgive and forget" like my brother's actions were just pranks. They never understood me or took me seriously. <br><br>The biggest problem is that people don't believe you. They say you're exaggerating or overreacting even when you're being severely abused. No one ever asked me how I felt and no one cared about how it affected me. No one ever took the time to really help me.