Showtime!

Now that we know when our episode will air, we were free to talk openly about it.   However we were still somewhat hesitate to do so.  We were still somewhat gun shy about discussing our experiences openly for fear of being judged.  However, with the encouragement of people we trust, we decided we should be open about what happened and talk about it.   We went through so much hell.  We hide within the walls of house and didn't talk about what had happened.  In hindsight, that was a mistake, all it did was make the things tormenting stronger and us weaker.  It turned our situation into a living nightmare.   Our hope in sharing our story was that it would encourage others to come forward and get help if they were experiencing something similar.  No one should suffer in silence for as long as we had.

The other reason we were hesitate to talk about the show was the fact that we hadn't seen it yet.  We had no clue on how it turned out.  Would it make us look like fools?  Would it raise more questions than answers?  Would it be believable?  Would it tell our story accurately? Our whole 8 year ordeal was about to crammed into a 45 minutes television show.

As promised by Painless Productions, our episode was going to be the season premiere for season 8.  That kind of gave us a mixed bag of emotions.  Our first thought was, it had to be at least a decent episode or they wouldn't set it as the premiere. All that did was raise our anxiety level a bit because now we felt some pressure in being in that situation.   Expectations are always high for a Dead Files season premiere and we hoped we would live up to that.

Anyway, the show was going to air and we needed to get ready.  Our whole lives where going to brought out into the open.   We knew that people would ask questions and some people may even try to come to the house.   I felt we needed to beef up our security so we installed cameras throughout the property.   We talked to the girls on how to answer questions regarding the show and our experiences. School was still in session and we knew they would become very popular (good or bad) very quickly.

Friends mentioned we should have a watch party.  Even our favorite restaurant, Rancho Grande, suggested it and offered the use of their private dining room.  We briefly considered the watch party idea but after thinking about it, along we the fact that we would be watching the episode for the first time like everyone else, we decided against the idea.  It would have been just too much for us.

We started talking openly about our experiences and letting people know about the show.   We didn't go into any detail about the show, only the fact that when it would air.   As you can imagine, we got ton of questions and were really surprised about the support we got.   People also started sharing their experience with us.  All the support and the fact that people believed us helped more than we could have imagined.  For the first time we actually felt normal. 

As the air date got closer, Painless Productions encouraged us to share the social media posts which included clips of the show.   Even though we talked about Amy's walk, we hadn't seen any of it yet.  The clips were the first time we saw glimpses of the episode.

We decided to watch the show at home with a small group of people.  They all knew the hell we went through and they were by our sides during all of it.  Their help and encouragement never wavered despite the craziness of our story. 

May 6, 2017, showtime!   We were kind of in a daze the whole day.  Excited, nervous, anxious and every other emotion you could imagine.  8:00 PM finally rolled around and we were about to watch our episode for the first time.

We were asked to do a live Q&A session with one of the Facebook Dead Files groups after the show. Since we had adopted the philosophy of sharing our story in order to help others, it seemed like the right thing to do.  I also knew there would be a lot of questions that would be coming our way, I thought I would be able to answer them all at once.  I must admit that was unprepared and overwhelmed by the response we got during the Q&A.  I honestly didn't think it would be a huge as it was.  Everyone in the group was absolutely amazing and over the years have been a tremendous source of support for us.

Anyway..more on that later.  Now back to our show.

The show turned out great!  We were so happy with how they told our story, it was amazing how the were able to that in such a short time frame.  The emotions we felt as we watched were all over the place.  It was like reliving 8 years in 45 minutes.   We all teared up as we watched the reveal.  It was so emotionally powerful when Jennifer broke down.  Even to this day, we still choke back tears when we see it.

We never told the girls about the reveal, so this was the first time they had seen it.  It was upsetting to them but we assured them that the evil which was once here is now gone.

I remember hugging Jennifer after the show.  Holding her tightly and thinking to myself, our ordeal is finally over.