Things are...

...NOT going well.

WARNING: This is going to be one long rant about the worst kid I've ever encountered...And she's only 8...

Holy hell, this is a fucking nightmare! The kid (A) is the Devil's spawn, I swear... She arrived here at about 6.15 pm on Tuesday and we're now still only half way through our ordeal. I'm not sure how many of us are going to get out of this alive...

To say that she's difficult is like the understatement of the century. She answers back, doesn't listen to what you say, doesn't obey, complains about just about every meal we put in front of her ("Oh! That's disgusting! It looks like it's gone off! I can't eat that! I'm going to be sick if I eat that!") and has caused a lot of hurt and misery in our humble little home.

Both C and L are totally out of their depth. A will be really nice (but watch out! Don't trust her!) to one of them and start being really mean to the other. Resulting in tears. And then, on a whim, she'll start doing the opposite. C and L aren't used to manipulation like this and, though I've told them they really shouldn't let A see how much she's getting to them, they're only little, and such basically good little girls, that they cry and are very visibly upset.

But it gets worse.

Since last night (Friday night), A has broken the main structure of L's bed (A is sleeping in L's bed and L's sleeping in our room on a blow-up bed. The bed frame can still be used, but there's now a risk of splinters and the under-bed drawer jams), stopped D's almost brand new, state-of-the-art Mac computer from working (she was "playing with it" without our knowledge and it hasn't worked since), stolen a bar of soap from our local chemist's and almost broken C's neck (I may be exaggerating a little, but the two girls were running and C was in front, so A grabbed C's hair and pulled so hard that C spun backwards and almost fell over). I'm terrified of what might be in store for us in the next 5 days... And can only be thankful that at least 3 of them are all-day-at-school-days.

I swear, this kid is evil. She's a compulsive liar, a trouble-maker, she's two-faced and even more scary when she's being nice.

The only plus point is that perhaps C has figured out that A is probably not the best friend she could have. C went to bed tonight with a sore tummy, which I'm pretty sure is pure stress and tension. She looks pale and drawn, and spent much of today at loggerheads with A (except when A was bitching about L and saying how nasty she is).

I still have a mountain of work, our money worries are getting dire beyond belief (6,000 Euros to pay to get the roof fixed - we don't possess that kind of money, even if you add all our accounts together), I've been doing endless laundry (because of course A cannot ever wear the same clothes two days in a row, including pyjamas, jumpers, jeans...) and my tax form nightmare is looming. But all I can think about is Thursday evening, when this monster will finally go home, never to come back if I have anything to do with it.

I'm thinking that Friday could be a day of celebration chez nous... Assuming we're all still alive, not in a mental institution and not in jail.