The mind of a teenage girl is something very few people can understand. However, most parents try their best to make sense of their complicated teen. When something strange started happening around the McKinley household, Darren found himself unable to explain what was going on with his daughter. Before long, it wasn’t just Darren who was concerned. Doctors and social workers became worried and confused. No one could have known how serious things with the teenage girl were.
Darren McKinley lived with his new wife, Pam, and his teenage daughter, Natalie, in his parents’ guest house. While it was large enough to accommodate their living habits, it wasn’t the ideal place for them to settle down. Darren wanted to move his family into a much nicer house, preferably somewhere farther than the backyard of his parents’ house. He had been saving up to move out, but for now, they had to remain there.
Everything was fine until Darren started noticing something strange going on in the house. Darren’s daughter, Natalie, had just celebrated her 15th birthday. From talking with his friends, he knew this was going to be a difficult time for both of them. Girls at this age tended to think they knew everything, and they often had an attitude, especially with their parents. But it wasn’t something Darren couldn’t handle. However, he wasn’t prepared for the way Natalie was dealing with his separation from her mother.
He tried his best to support his daughter, but once Pam came into the picture, he had no idea how much everything was going to change. The father-daughter duo had always been close. Darren communicated with Natalie and supported her needs in whatever way he could. The two had a close bond, but their relationship began to change when he married Pam and had her move in with them. Although Darren ensured nothing would change, Natalie became more and more reserved. She didn’t interact as much at the dinner table and ignored Pam if she could help it.
At first, Darren thought it was typical of teenagers, but the quieter she became, the more concerned he grew. Pam had lived with them for less than a year at that point, but the change in Natalie’s demeanor was obvious. Instead of spending time in the shared spaces of the house, she ran upstairs as soon as she got home from school and would stay there as long as possible, only coming down for dinner.
“Maybe it had something to do with social media,” Darren thought to himself. He read articles about teenagers falling prey to bullying or other issues online. Little did he know that his concerns would pale in comparison to what was coming.
Confident in the nature of their relationship, Darren didn’t want to push Natalie too hard to share aspects of her life. He would share his own feelings with her to encourage her to come to him with her thoughts, but she didn’t take the bait. He finally decided to outright ask her what was going on, but all she told him was that she hadn’t gotten used to the rest of the house. He decided to drop it and trust that his daughter would come to him if something was actually wrong.
Darren would soon find that trust wasn’t enough. As the weather started to get warmer, the family packed away their winter clothes and started wearing shorts around the house. One warm morning, Darren was sitting at the table and looked up to see Natalie coming down the stairs. Immediately, his eyes were drawn to a big bruise on her leg. He couldn’t look away, but he tried to justify how it had gotten there. He asked her how she got the bruise, but she just shrugged and said she had no idea. However, her nonchalance didn’t shake the uncomfortable feeling that settled in his gut.
From the outside, the McKinleys’ life was good. Despite working extra hard to save up money to buy his family a new house, Darren was able to make time for his wife, Pam, and he hung out with his daughter whenever they had the chance. But in reality, Darren was growing more concerned. He couldn’t keep an eye on Natalie at all times, and it worried him. Then one night, he woke up to his wife out of bed and strange noises in the house. However, when he went out of his bedroom to investigate, they suddenly stopped.
What was going on?
Over the next few weeks, Darren started to see more and more bruises on Natalie’s legs. Before the bruises could fade to yellow and disappear, new ones appeared right next to them. Darren asked her about them once again, but she couldn’t make eye contact with him when she told him she had woken up to see them there. The dad was getting nervous. He had trouble sleeping soundly through the night. At first, he thought it was the stress over his daughter’s behavior, but when suspicious noises once again woke him up, he was determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.
In his confusion and concern, Darren found himself skeptical of the only other person in the house. In a fit of panic, he found himself accusing his wife of having something to do with the marks appearing on Natalie’s legs. Pam was in shock. She couldn’t believe her husband was blaming her for having any part in harming his daughter. She insisted she wasn’t involved and made sure he knew just how serious his accusation was. After a year of being married, Pam thought her husband would trust her more than this.
Even though he apologized to Pam, his suspicions didn’t go away. Darren knew Pam and his daughter weren’t on the best of terms, but he’d hoped they would be able to mend their relationship over time. However, Pam’s lack of concern about the situation threw Darren off. He considered the facts before him: Pam said she had no part in the bruises, and Natalie herself had said she had no idea where they were coming from. The teenage girl stayed in the house, not interested in parties, sports, or dating, preferring to read or craft in her room during the summer vacation. So, where on Earth did these bruises keep coming from?
Throughout the next few weeks, Darren realized the bruises weren’t the only odd occurrence going on with his daughter. She was always tired, and her sleep schedule was off. She entered her room at 8:00 p.m. and wouldn’t come out until noon the next day. The bags under her eyes were getting worse, and she began to lose her appetite. None of this helped her attitude, which began to show up at every opportunity. She snapped at both Pam and her dad. Darren was at a total loss about how to explain her behavior. He didn’t recognize the girl in front of him now. Even Pam was concerned—no longer did this seem like typical teenage behavior.
Darren began to wonder if Natalie was developing a health condition before their very eyes, and Pam agreed that they should take her to the doctor. Darren scheduled Natalie an appointment and told her they were simply going for her yearly checkup so that she wouldn’t suspect anything. However, the appointment was about to leave the family with even more questions.
After conducting regular tests and a few extra ones at Darren’s request, the doctor called the worried father into his office to go over the results. Darren’s heart was beating fast until the doctor told him he had nothing to worry about. Every test the doctor conducted came back with completely normal results. Natalie was a healthy teenage girl. While Darren was relieved to hear there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with his daughter, he couldn’t help but feel something was off. In the absence of any medical explanation, the bruises implied a significantly more ominous origin.
Caught up in his thoughts about the results, Darren didn’t even notice the suspicious look on the doctor’s face. With a lack of answers, Darren and his daughter left the office and drove home. When they entered the house, Natalie immediately went upstairs, and Darren sat with his wife, explaining what the doctor said. They had been deep in conversation for a few hours, brainstorming other possibilities, when their chat was interrupted by a firm knock on the front door. Darren opened the door to find a small lady on his doorstep, complete with a clipboard and a stern look on her face. She introduced herself as Ms. Wood, and she was appearing on behalf of Social Services.
Already tired from the day he’d had, Darren tried to wrap his head around the reason a social worker would be visiting his house. He managed to ask what her visit was about.
“I’m here to speak with your daughter, sir,” she told him and asked to come inside.
Miss Wood said she was there to look into a possible situation involving Natalie McKinley and her parents by their family doctor. Darren couldn’t believe the doctor had called Social Services on him. He thought the doctor knew him well enough to know he’d never lay a hand on his child. Still, he knew what the bruises looked like to an outsider. Ms. Wood would have to talk to Natalie herself to find out the truth.
As Ms. Wood began to make her way toward the stairs, Pam came into the hallway and was shocked to see a social worker in her home. Natalie had come down to see what was going on as well. The social worker introduced herself to the women and gave a brief explanation before asking to talk to Natalie privately. Pam was furious at this intrusion and stormed out of the room. Meanwhile, Darren found himself pacing in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs, anxious for Ms. Wood to speak with Natalie in private. He wondered if the social worker would finally be able to coax the truth out of his daughter.
Time moved at a snail’s pace as the social worker and Natalie talked. Finally, Natalie’s door opened, and Ms. Wood walked out. Her expression hadn’t changed, but Darren was upset to see Natalie follow behind her out of the room, tears streaming down her face. Darren swallowed the yell that was threatening to come out at the social worker and asked her as politely as possible if there was anything else she needed. She told them she’d be in touch before leaving without another word
.
Darren turned to his emotional daughter, his head racing with questions. The only thing on Darren’s mind as he embraced Natalie was why his daughter was crying and what she had told Ms. Wood.
Natalie tried to explain their conversation through her tears.
“I told her what I told you, Dad,” she cried. “Every morning I wake up with marks, and I don’t know how they got there,” she continued.
Although he was relieved to hear that she hadn’t told them anything he didn’t already know, Darren realized they weren’t any closer to finding out what was going on. It was clear something strange was going on. Darren vowed not to give up, and suddenly he had an idea.
Darren’s household was falling apart in front of him. His daughter was distraught and still experiencing random bruises and intense exhaustion. Not to mention his relationship with Pam had felt strained since Darren had accused her of having a part in the recent happenings. He had to figure out what was going on. He decided to purchase a night vision camera and set it up secretly in Natalie’s room to see what was going on. Maybe then he’d understand where the bruises were coming from, and the noises as well. But nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to find.
The dad set up the camera on top of Natalie’s dresser, hidden behind a lamp with a clear view of the entire room. There had to be an explanation for what was going on, and Darren was determined to find out what it was. This seemed like the only option. The bruises had to be coming from somewhere, and with no evidence, Darren still couldn’t help but feel suspicious of his wife. But the camera was about to expose the mystery that had been haunting their lives for months now.
When Natalie came down to breakfast with yet another huge bruise, Darren was frantic to check the footage from the night before. When she returned to her room after finishing her breakfast, he took a look at the video footage. The dad stared intensely at the video and watched as his daughter lay in her bed reading a book. Without even putting the book aside, Natalie had fallen asleep. She stayed in the same position for about 30 minutes, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until suddenly Darren saw something that made his heart stop.
He watched as his daughter, who had been sleeping peacefully just a second before, suddenly jerked up. He couldn’t look away as he watched his daughter act very differently than normal. Darren was having trouble believing what was happening in front of his very eyes. Natalie was still unconscious, but her body began thrashing. She stayed laying on her back, but her body was moving as if she was crawling around. He had never seen something like this. Surely his eyes were playing tricks on him. The movements continued.
Now Natalie was thrashing in her bed, slamming her legs into the wall and the bed frame. It looked unnatural and deeply uncomfortable. Darren yelled for Pam to come into the room to look at the footage with him. The two stared at the footage, horrified, as Natalie continued to flail and jerk around. They couldn’t believe this had been happening under their roof for so long without them knowing. While Darren thought he’d feel relieved once he knew how his daughter was getting these marks, instead, he felt more fear.
Then he rushed to his daughter’s room. The door slammed open to find Natalie simply sitting on her bed, reading her latest book as normal. She told her dad she had no recollection of what had happened while she was sleeping. That’s when Darren rushed back to the doctor to show him the footage.
If the previous tests showed nothing out of the ordinary, maybe this footage would inspire some tests they hadn’t thought to try. The doctor watched the footage, perplexed. He had never seen anything quite like this. He called a few fellow doctors, who all told them the same thing—they’d never seen anything like this before. Unable to provide answers, the doctor sent them to a neurologist.
The neurologist performed a comprehensive neurological examination and prescribed a complete polysomnogram to assess the electrical brain activity in her brain. Darren’s head was running wild. He was considering everything from sleepwalking to demonic possession. This footage shook him up. He was too far gone to consider what was realistic and what was not.
Meanwhile, the neurologist ruled out any tumors or brain traumas. Then she saw something unusual. The specialist looked closer at the monitor, which from the EEG was showing some indication of abnormal brain activity coming from Natalie’s temporal lobe. The doctor made a note of this, ruling the possibility of temporal lobe epilepsy. However, the doctor was not necessarily convinced. Natalie’s unconscious behavior was not typical of this kind of epilepsy. So, what exactly was causing this kind of seizure?
After looking at the EEG and MRI results, as well as studying the video footage of Natalie, the doctor decided to diagnose her with tonic-clonic seizures. These used to be known as grand mal seizures and are made up of two phases: a sudden stiffness of limbs followed by a phase of repeated jerking movements. The specialist prescribed anti-seizure medication and offered other resources to help Natalie deal with seizures in the future.
With a medical diagnosis, Darren finally felt himself breathe for the first time in months. He put his arm around his daughter and walked out of the doctor’s office, finally feeling a sense of relief.
When Darren noticed strange bruises on his daughter, his family was at risk of falling apart. Even though he didn’t get the answers he needed from his daughter, he wasn’t willing to give up on her. There are few things as powerful as a father’s love, which Darren McKinley showed for his daughter.
We’re glad the mystery plaguing the McKinley household has finally been solved, and Natalie got the help she needed. We wish nothing but the best for the McKinleys as they navigate Natalie’s diagnosis in the future.
