Michael Fleischmann:  

Life I lived in Michigan until I was nine, then my life changed for the worse. Cult life. Long story short? My parents got involved with a woman, she lied to us, we separated ourselves from our natural family and lived with the woman's family in Florida for 12 years, from 1985-1997. After we left in '97, and after reading up on the subject.. I discovered that we had been living a cult lifestyle. It was a very crazy time. There was chaos. Sometimes we had fun, Jodi (our leader) was always good at getting you on her side, she's a good speaker. But other times, if you're in trouble.. watch out. If it's really bad, then you have to be in the "hot seat." You sit in a chair. Jodi and everyone else sits around you. You are interrogated, grilled on every detail. If you don't respond, then you have a spirit. If therapy and questioning failed, you might get shoved (or slapped). And if you still did nothing in reply, then it was time for "deliverence." That was just another word for exorcism. They supposedly cast out demons from you, after a long ordeal of finding out which ones they are. It could last for hours. I had this "deliverence" done to me so many times, more than I could count. The adults had to give Jodi their money for stuff. She claimed that it was Gods will, that HE told her this was the way. Whenever us kids got home from school, we had to take naps. Every day. And if I couldn't sleep, but kept my eyes closed, I was in trouble for "being deceiving." Oh yeah, and they liked to burn books about Arthur because they thought I was getting into witchcraft. And if that wasn't bad enough, there is the matter of suicide. No... nobody did it. But we all thought about it. I know I was suicidal a lot, almost all the time, from age 10-17. And I wasn't the only one. Every one of us thought about committing suicide.. everyone except Jodi and her family. That's how bad it was to live in that house. She controlled everything in that house. Couldn't do anything without approval. We could not have friends unless they were religious like us. Same with girlfriends, Jodi had to approve of them as well.. not like we had any. I had one, but I kept it secret. We were also kicked out a few times. First was about a few months after we moved to Fort Lauderdale. Chores weren't done. So me (age 9), my brother (age 7), my sister (age 6) were kicked out. We wandered the streets.. and when we came back, we were in trouble. It was a test. That's another thing; everything was a test. The second time was when me, my siblings, and my parents were kicked out. But then the leader apologized, saying she was sorry and wrong.. and as usual, we got sucked right back in, moving right back into Hell. The third eviction was when my brother got in trouble. It was sometime before he went to Rogers. He lived on the streets for a month. It was not something a person should experience. Then he was allowed to come back. My dad was kicked out later in 1991 (after the hot seat). And when I drank Jodi's milk, I was kicked out to his apartment. After leaving the cult in 1997, I moved around a bit in Michigan, visiting my family that we were cut off from while in the cult, got some more jobs, made friends. If I had the opportunity, I would tell me friends, co-workers, and managers about the cult. Usually because my sister would call us and chew us out for something, mostly because they knew we talked about them. So naturally, I had to explain things to my bosses since my dumb sis kept calling my workplace. I made several websites about my experience (ask me if you want the link) and plan to do a book as well. I was always the quiet type in schools, kept to myself, liked to read. Unfortunately, this also made me a target for bullies back then. I'm a lot better now. Sort of. I mean, my life is a lot better with being free with my real family again. Except that some of my relatives have been dying the past 10 years and it might not be long til it comes for my parents.... or me. School I had fun at Alcott in Michigan. But when I went to Florida in 1985, it wasn't as good. I went to Croissant Park Elementary in Fort Lauderdale. I was a loner. On the plus side, I really enjoyed the creative writing classes taught by Mrs. McGinnis. I was also a bit of a class clown. Due to my home situation, I believed certain things that were far out, sort of like religious extremism. Counselors had talks with me. They thought I needed therapy, but I never went into detail about my home life. There were times when kids messed with me, but I usually brushed it off. Really, whatever can happen to school on the worst day was nothing compared to home. I was going to attend Rogers Middle School, but didn't. Two reasons for that. One, several kids joked about beating me up on the first day. Second, the leader of our family cult.. Jodi.. she was worried. During my 5th grade, we would be sent home with questionnaires from the school. How many people lived in the home, what are they like, who punishes you when you do bad and how (details), what are the beliefs of the home, etc. Too many questions. Jodi didn't want people to know, so she decided that me and my two siblings would be home-schooled. We were taught that public school was atheistic and dangerous. Good side, I wasn't bothered by anyone and could study in peace. Bad side, it didn't leave much of any chances to make new friends. After a blowout (something about me "stealing milk", so I'd have to be kicked out again), I was sent to live with my dad at his apartment on the other side of town. It was cool. I could go where I wanted. But once again, they had to control me. I wanted to go to Stranahan High, but Jodi and my sister meddled and decided that I'd go to Whiddon Adult Center instead. It was okay. I made a few friends there. I wrote a couple things for the paper. I had fun doing a story where a Terminator (Arnold type) gets sent to a fairy tale world (Cinderella, 3 Pigs, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, etc), has to destroy a magic rock, ends up killing everyone in the end. But it was too violent. The teacher said that although he found it comical that a cyborg blew away the three pigs, the principal might not want it in print. Oh well. I got involved with the security program that was created by a former cop. Whiddon Patrol. It was fun. I walked around for a half hour, used a radio, reported if anything was wrong. Nothing was, usually. He praised me on it; they got new recruits and I was chosen to train one or two of them, he said I was "really good" at the job. Easy for me, just keep eyes open and looking around when you walk, be quiet and out of the way while observing, etc. After a few years, I got a GED in 1994, same as a diploma. I was so excited. School was finally over. My brother had went to Rogers, so I became friends with a lot of the kids he knew over there. I even worked with a few of them. When not in school, I took a course at the local police department. I was interested in a career for law enforcement. The course was CPA: Citizen's Police Academy. It was an 11-week program. A group of citizens would meet in a room and be taught about various ways the police work. They covered every aspect and department. I found it very interesting. In the end we were given police patches and graduation certificates. But it wasn't the end. I, with several other citizens, would meet in designated areas (like a restaurant) to discuss further plans. Bylaws, rules, regulations, strategies, basically paper stuff so they could go further and increase community policing. It was very interesting. Unfortunately.. this had to end because we were moving to Royal Palm Beach. I never wanted to leave. I had no intention of moving out of Broward, and yet.. there Jodi was again, making decisions for everyone. So, I missed out on that. Had I stayed, I probably could have gone very far... College I really liked college. I went to the downtown campus of BCC, located near E Las Olas Blvd. It was so much better than my time at the elementary school. I liked the classes. I took a few English courses. I did very well in those, writing research papers and discussing stories we read in literature. I kinda sucked at General Biology. It just wasn't my subject. I took Spanish, interesting language. I got a C. But my favorite class was World Religions, taught by James Colvert. He was a great teacher. He was cynical, funny, witty, could tell a good story. Each week, we would study a different religion; there were twelve major ones. The fun part was ...Expand for more