In Episode 2 of Unseen but Not Untold: Overcoming Covert Narcissistic Abuse, Dr. Christine C. Zacharia MD, integrative covert narcissistic abuse recovery expert and board certified endocrinologist, continues exposing the reality of covert narcissistic abuse as it unfolded in her own life at the hands of two intertwined covert narcissists who uprooted the life she once knew.
Jessie's Full Unmasking
Dr. Zacharia starts off the episode highlighting the following:
“The Monday after the weekend I made my exit from the birthday dinner, everything changed.”
Before the workday had even started, she sensed Jessie walking behind her as she walked from the parking garage into the clinic. The experience immediately felt unsettling and intentional.
“Her footsteps matched mine perfectly, just inches from my heels. It was predatory, deliberate… like a predator stalking their prey.”
What disturbed Dr. Zacharia the most about that experience was the silence. Jessie did not attempt conversation or acknowledge her directly.
“She didn’t speak. Didn’t call my name. Didn’t even pretend to make conversation.”
To her, the interaction felt far from normal, even by Jessie's previous standards of interacting with her.
“It was about control—about intimidation.”
Given the proximity of their homes and the timing of the encounter, she could not shake the feeling that Jessie may have followed her to work that morning.
At the clinic, the atmosphere only intensified the discomfort. Most providers were away for the holidays, leaving the office unusually empty.
“It was quiet - too quiet.”
Jessie took advantage of that silence, allowing tension to fill the space between them.
When they finally entered the workroom together, Dr. Zacharia attempted to diffuse the atmosphere with a simple morning greeting. Jessie operated within hierarchical interpersonal expectations.
“Jessie had this power trip. She always had to be greeted first. Never the other way around.”
She recalls how Jessie routinely complained if trainees entered a room without immediately acknowledging her first, interpreting it as disrespect rather than normal human interaction. After Dr. Zacharia greeted her, Jessie muttered something under her breath, stewing in anger and silence.
“It was obvious she saw my choice not to attend the birthday dinner—even with Levi absent—as a personal offense.”
Looking back, Dr. Zacharia now sees that moment with Jessie clearly for what it is.
“I had stepped out of the line she expected me to stay in. A line she believed she had the right to draw. A line she assumed I would never question.”
Narcissistic Supply: The Covert Narcissist Never Viewed You as a Person, Just Property
At the center of this realization was a painful but clarifying insight about the nature of the relationship itself.
“Because in her mind, I wasn’t a person. I was property—something she could control, manipulate and keep in place. That’s the thing about covert narcissists—they are incapable of genuine human connection. They view relationships as transactional.”
Dr. Zacharia explains within these dynamics, people are not experienced as fully autonomous individuals with emotional needs or boundaries, but as sources of emotional extraction.
“The person on the other side isn’t seen as a human being with feelings or boundaries. They’re viewed as a source of supply.”
That “supply,” she explains, can take many forms.
“Supply of attention, validation, admiration, information, status, money and emotional energy the narcissist can extract.”
One of the most painful aspects of healing, Dr. Zacharia reveals, is confronting the emotional implications of that realization.
“For survivors, one of the hardest truths to accept is this: the covert narcissist never truly loved you or cared about you.”
Instead, what was valued was utility—what the relationship provided to the narcissist’s sense of self and control.
“They loved what you could do for them, what you provided. They loved the aspects of your life they could use to elevate themselves. To them, the connection was never about you. It was about the supply you offered.”
The Moment Everything Finally Had a Name
That night after work, Dr. Zacharia sat on her couch replaying the events of the day over and over in her mind.
“The silence. The footsteps. The coldness. The shift.”
Unable to shake the unease, she began a web search for answers using the following prompts:
“Two-faced personality.”
“Silent treatment after saying no to someone.”
“Personality shifts when no one else is around.”
“Stalking behavior.”
Dr. Zacharia was desperate to find an answer to explain what she had experienced that day in the office.
“I went down every rabbit hole I could find, desperate to understand what I had just experienced.”
Then she finally came across a term she never heard before.
“Covert narcissism.”
What struck her immediately was not only how accurately it explained Jessie’s behavior, but how seamlessly it also mapped into her experiences with Levi.
“It didn’t just explain Jessie’s behavior — it explained Levi’s too.”
The more she read, the more the past several years began reorganizing themselves into a coherent pattern. Behaviors that once felt confusing or contradictory suddenly carried a recognizable structure.
“The gaslighting. The guilt-tripping. The blame-shifting. The triangulation with mutual friends. The constant walking on eggshells.”
She started reading about the tactics and dynamics related to covert narcissism she had previously normalized or minimized.
“The weaponized ‘good deeds.’ The performative generosity. The insulting gifts given behind closed doors. The dog-whistled insults.”
Even familiar phrases she heard from Levi and Jessie on various occasions resonated with the material she read online about this category of narcissism.
“‘Nothing I do is ever good enough.’”
“‘No good deed goes unpunished.’”
“‘I feel like I’m a villain in your story.’”
For the first time, she had language for an experience that had long felt emotionally impossible to explain. More importantly, she no longer felt trapped in self-doubt.
“Finally, I had the validation I’d been searching for. Proof that I wasn’t imagining things. That there was a name for what I had been enduring.”
Once Dr. Zacharia recognized what she was dealing with, she knew she had to get out of these relationships right away.
“One thing became unmistakably clear: I needed to get out of these relationships—and fast.”
Over the next two weeks, her focus was singular. Every evening after work, she immersed herself in research—not casually, but intensely and methodically.
“It felt like I was studying for a board exam—but this time, it wasn’t for medicine - it was to help me reclaim my life.”
Dr. Zacharia wanted to understand not only the behaviors themselves, but the broader psychology framework available to describe covert narcissism.
She sought to understand why these individuals were difficult to identify, why their abuse often remained invisible and why survivors stayed entangled with covert narcissists for years and even decades.
"I read articles and I read books on the topic—anything that might help me make sense of the patterns I had just lived through."
But one of the most impactful moments came when she discovered survivor stories online, particularly on TikTok.
“People describing the exact behaviors I had experienced in my friendships with Levi and Jessie.”
What affected her most was the consistency across their stories.
“Different people, different relationships… yet the same patterns. The same cycle. And in fact, nearly the same script.”
That realization became a profound turning point in her healing process.
“For the first time, I felt understood. Validated. I realized something I genuinely needed to hear at the time: I wasn’t alone in this experience.”
New Year’s Eve: The Night Dr. Zacharia’s Life Changed Forever
Then came December 31st, 2022 — New Year’s Eve. A night that permanently altered the trajectory of her life.
“Archangel Michael appeared to me for the first time.”
What struck her immediately was that the experience did not resemble the imagery she had previously associated with angelic appearances.
“He wasn’t what I expected. Instead of a figure with wings, he appeared as a brilliant blue light—a captivating presence.”
At the center of the light, she saw his shield marked by a gold cross, followed by a single bolt of gold lightning.
“His energy was commanding, unmistakable and alive with divine power. The energy in the room shifted and stillness settled over everything. A peace so profound it quelled the fear inside me.”
Archangel Michael provided her with the strength necessary to begin reclaiming her life.
“That night, Archangel Michael gave me the strength I needed— the strength to reclaim my life, protect my peace and walk away even if it meant losing everything.”
“And from that moment on, nothing in my life was the same.”
Gray Rocking: Why It Backfired With a Malignant Covert Narcissist
When the office filled back up after the holidays, Jessie behaved as though nothing had happened.
“She was happy—because her supply was back. And just like that, her mask snapped back into place.”
Dr. Zacharia explains how she approached the relationship different now that she knew she was dealing with a covert narcissist.
"But this time, I was different. Armed with everything I’d learned—and knowing Archangel Michael was by my side—I didn’t react the way I used to. I started gray rocking immediately: neutral tone, minimal emotion, no fuel for the fire. For the first time in our friendship, she wasn’t in control. And she felt it."
Gray rocking is a recommended strategy for survivors of narcissistic abuse to protect themselves.
“It means becoming boring on purpose—neutral, emotionally flat and unreactive.”
The theory behind the strategy, she explains, is straightforward.
“If you don’t provide emotional fuel, they should, in theory, lose interest.”
But in her experience with Jessie, the strategy produced the opposite effect.
“With Jessie, gray rocking didn’t work. It provoked her even more.”
“I realized she wasn’t just any covert narcissist—she was a malignant covert narcissist.”
Dr. Zacharia goes on to explain in this episode that malignant covert narcissists are individuals who combine the subtle manipulation and victim-oriented presentation of covert narcissism with a stronger undercurrent of cruelty, vindictiveness and dominance.
“These individuals have all the manipulative traits of covert narcissism—passive aggression, subtle emotional control—but with an added edge: relentless vindictiveness, extreme sensitivity to rejection and an insatiable need for power.”
“With a malignant covert narcissist, staying quiet or suppressing your reactions doesn’t calm them.”
Instead, she explains, emotional withdrawal is perceived as resistance and loss of control.
“It often fuels their cruelty, because any sign that they’re losing control is seen as defiance.”
Dr. Zacharia emphasizes that recognizing this dynamic can help survivors better understand why attempts to avoid conflict sometimes intensify the abuse rather than diffuse it.
“Recognizing this distinction is crucial—for understanding their behavior, protecting yourself and realizing why typical ‘avoid conflict’ strategies can backfire.”
In her case, Jessie interpreted emotional neutrality not as disengagement, but as rebellion.
“To her, my neutrality wasn’t detachment—it was a direct challenge to the authority she believed she had over me.”
Dr. Zacharia explains gray rocking is a temporary coping mechanism rather than a long-term solution.
“Gray rocking, while sometimes useful, is only a temporary strategy—not a solution.”
The safest and most effective form of protection is complete disengagement.
“The most effective way to protect yourself from a covert narcissist is no contact.”
She defines no contact in practical and uncompromising terms:
“No texts. No phone calls. No explanations. No attempts at closure.”
Essentially cutting off access to the emotional reactions narcissists rely on for control and validation.
“It’s a firm, clear boundary designed to cut off the narcissist from the one thing they crave most—your emotional reaction.”
Without emotional engagement, she explains, there is nothing left to manipulate or weaponize.
“Without your words or responses, there’s nothing left for them to twist, provoke or manipulate.”
She also cautions survivors to approach no contact carefully and intentionally, particularly when dealing with malignant covert narcissists
“When you’re ready to go no contact, prepare carefully.”
Dr. Zacharia encourages survivors to confide in trusted individuals or seek professional and community support before making major transitions.
“Confide in someone you trust, or connect with a social worker to access local community resources.”
Such preparation matters because covert narcissists will go to great lengths to preserve their carefully curated image.
“Covert narcissists will go to great lengths to control the narrative and protect their reputation—they do not want the truth to come out.”
No Contact: Walking Away From the 23 Year Friendship with Levi
Dr. Zacharia was able to go no contact with Levi first but could not do so with Jessie due to a shared workspace environment.
"I spent days thinking about how to do it. Going back and forth in my mind, imagining every possible reaction. In the end, I made the decision to send him one final text… and then block him—on my phone, my email and every social media account."
"I didn’t want to talk to him, because I knew exactly what would happen. He would try to pull me back in. He would gaslight me, blame-shift, convince me—as he always had—that I was the problem.
In her message to him, she chose clarity over confrontation and finality over continued emotional negotiation.
“After much deliberation, I have decided to walk away from our friendship. I will look back fondly on the good memories we have shared over the past twenty three years but this friendship is no longer working for me. I wish you nothing but the best and want to part ways amicably.”
After sending the message, she blocked him. What followed was not just relief, but a profound internal shift she describes as immediate and unmistakable.
“And for the first time in YEARS- I felt freedom.”
The emotional weight she had carried for years began to dissolve—the constant hypervigilance, the emotional self-monitoring, the internal editing.
“The weight of—constantly anticipating his moods, constantly shrinking myself—suddenly lifted.”
She reflects on what life had felt like inside that dynamic, naming the patterns that had become normalized over time:
“No more… overexplaining every thought and action. No more… dismissive remarks about my career. No more… invalidation. No more… blame-shifting. No more… walking on eggshells. No more… trying to prove to him I was a ‘good person’ because he implied otherwise. No more… ruined milestone events or celebrations."
"No more...him.”
For Dr. Zacharia, the silence that followed was sheer relief
Although one covert narcissistic relationship ended, another dynamic still remained unresolved—Jessie. At that time, Dr. Zacharia was not yet ready to leave her job. Professionally and emotionally, she was still trying to hold everything together, hoping that persistence might somehow stabilize what had become increasingly unsustainable. But God had other plans.
“God had other plans. Even before I was ready to face it, He was quietly clearing the path I was avoiding. Guiding me toward the very decision I refused to make… the one I had been running from, even as reality screamed at me it was the only way forward.”
Smear Campaigns in Full Swing: Coordinated Control Between Two Covert Narcissists
By the end of February 2023, the smear campaign as fully activated within her personal and professional life—no longer subtle, but coordinated and sustained between Levi, Jessie and Beth.
“It was relentless and devastating.”
Levi started reaching out to people in her professional and personal circles under the guise of concern.
"Levi began reaching out to my social and professional networks, claiming he was 'worried about me.' Friends who were loyal to me confirmed he had contacted them with that line. Other people long out of touch—suddenly wanted to reconnect.”
“The pattern was clear: he was making a calculated effort to control the narrative and manipulate everyone around me.”
Dr. Zacharia immediately recognized what Levi was doing.
“Thanks to the research I delved into on covert narcissism a couple of months earlier, I immediately recognized their role as flying monkeys.”
Covert narcissists rely heavily on flying monkeys to carry out relational aggression and spy on their victims more than their overt counterparts.
“A covert narcissist will recruit anyone who might share a mutual dislike of you—including other narcissists—to do their bidding.To the covert narcissist, their public, pristine image is everything—and using flying monkeys enables them to spy on you and abuse you without getting their hands dirty.”
Despite recognizing this dynamic, Dr. Zacharia chose to engage selectively with certain individuals in order to understand the extent of what was unfolding.
“Curious to see what these flying monkeys had to say, I agreed to ‘catch up.’”
One interaction involved a friend who reached out under the pretense of reconnecting after a recent move, but made it a point to shift the conversation toward Jessie and Beth.
“So what exactly happened with Jessie and Beth?”
She recognized the underlying intent immediately and chose not to engage.
“I set a firm boundary, telling him I would not discuss it. I knew he was already entangled and anything I said would be relayed back as fuel for the smear campaign.”
Another similar interaction occurred with a mutual college friend closely connected to Levi. She agreed to meet but set explicit boundaries at the outset.
“I told her I ended my friendship with Levi and I didn’t want to talk about him.”
“During our lunch, her intentions were palpable. She was scanning, probing, searching for anything she could use to reinforce his narrative. She left with nothing, able only to conclude that I was neither depressed nor mentally unstable.”
In the week that followed, Jessie deployed Beth to gather more information. She wanted to meet for coffee after work.
“I agreed—half hoping for an apology, though I knew she was already Jessie’s flying monkey.”
The conversation shifted into a structured mental status assessment.
“Once we sat down, she launched into a rapid-fire series of questions— similar to what we ask patients to screen for depression or suicidal ideation. Once she confirmed I wasn’t suicidal, the conversation wrapped up fairly quickly.
“Beth would go on to become Jessie’s most loyal and abusive flying monkey—and, eventually, my boss.”
Workplace Psychological Warfare and Triangulation of Students
“Every day in the office felt like a psychological war zone, where I had to navigate carefully, strategically and silently just to survive.”
At the time, Dr. Zacharia was serving as the endocrinology course director for a physician assistant program. She was responsible for structuring clinical learning experiences for students rotating through the practice.
Part of this role included assigning students to different attendings in order to expose them to a variety of clinical styles and teaching environments.
However, she began to notice a pattern of disruption whenever she assigned students to Jessie.
“Anytime I tried to assign a student to Jessie, she would tell the student to work with someone else—overriding my authority and putting the student in an uncomfortable position.”
To her, this behavior was not incidental or logistical—it represented a deeper interpersonal dynamic playing out in a professional setting.
“It clearly showed how far she was willing to go to regain control, even at the expense of uninvolved students.”
“Jessie started using these student assignments as a power play, an attempt to provoke me now that she no longer had direct control over me. Her goal was to elicit a reactive abuse to support the smear campaign.”
Rather than engage in the direct confrontation Jessie wanted, Dr. Zacharia had to alter her approach entirely.
“My solution? I stopped assigning students to any of the attendings—letting them work with whoever was open to teaching. Because of my research into covert narcissism, I knew exactly what Jessie was doing.”
Although this strategy withheld the response Jessie was looking for, Dr. Zacharia reflects that it came at a significant personal and professional cost.
“Even though I relinquished my authority as course director at the time—my silence preserved what I could of my career at the time—but it came at a cost to my health.”
During this period, her physical health began to deteriorate further. Her existing Graves’ disease worsened and she developed thyroid eye disease, a complication she continues to manage.
“My Graves’ disease worsened and I developed thyroid eye disease—a complication I still manage today.”
Dr. Zacharia now views her thyroid eye disease as a reminder of what she will never tolerate again. What once bothered her, she now embraces.
“Now, I see it as a permanent reminder of what I will never tolerate again.”
The Flying Monkey, MD is Born: How Social Media Became Part of Dr. Zacharia’s Healing Journey
“As 2023 wore on, I decided to take to social media to educate fellow victims and survivors about covert narcissism.”
It was during this period that The Flying Monkey, MD was born.
At the time, Dr. Zacharia was navigating deep personal insecurity and fear surrounding her eye appearance.
“I was self-conscious about my thyroid eye disease and didn’t want to reveal my face online.”
She also feared retaliation if Jessie or Levi discovered the account, particularly because both were active on social media. Her workplace atmosphere was already hostile as it was.
“I also feared retaliation at work if Jessie or Levi discovered my posts.”
To protect herself, she created an animated version of her face rather than appearing on camera directly.
“So what did I do? I created a cartoon version of my face to hide my identity.”
Looking back, she recognizes the irony in educating others about covert narcissistic abuse while simultaneously concealing parts of herself out of fear and survival.
When she revisits those early videos now, she says she can hear the emotional toll woven throughout them.
“I can hear the sighs of frustration, the exhaustion threading through every word.”
At the time, she was carrying the constant pressure of the smear campaign while simultaneously trying to maintain professionalism and emotional restraint.
“The constant weight of the smear campaign pressing down on me, knowing falsehoods were being spread, defaming my character.”
She understood that defending herself publicly would intensify the attacks rather than stop them.
“I knew any attempts to defend myself would fuel the smear campaign further.”
What began as an educational platform gradually transformed into something much more personal and restorative.
“What began as a platform to inform and educate survivors of covert narcissistic abuse quickly turned into something more—it became a lifeline to my healing journey.”
At a time when she felt profoundly misunderstood in her immediate environment, social media gave her an outlet to process her experience openly and authentically.
“Speaking openly online gave me a voice, a space to process - a visual record of my journey.”
Over time, the account became more than documentation—it became evidence of endurance and connection.
“It became proof of survival and resilience—a beacon of light for other survivors walking a similar path.”
Alongside her online work, she also began developing more intentional healing practices offline.
“During this time, I began journaling and cultivating a daily gratitude practice.”
“Journaling became a catharsis—a way to confront triggers in real time, with no judgment, no critique—just blank pages ready to hear my truth.”
Her gratitude practice grounded her in small moments of meaning and stability during a period otherwise dominated by emotional turbulence.
“My gratitude practice helped me notice the small, intentional blessings that remained in my life.”
Spiritually, she also found herself reconnecting with God in a deeper and more personal way than she had earlier in life.
“I also returned to reading the Bible—something I hadn’t done since college.”
That spiritual reconnection with God was foundational to her healing process.
“This connection became a source of strength, guidance and comfort—an unwavering anchor in my life.”
At the same time, life outside of what she was dealing with in her workplace brought another devastating emotional blow. Her father’s health began declining rapidly after he was diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder.
“The news was devastating.”
Dr. Zacharia carried this grief privately out of fear it would be further weaponized against her at work.
“I didn’t want to give Jessie any more ammunition for her abuse.”
Meanwhile, the workplace dynamics continued escalating.
“Jessie and Beth’s tactics only intensified. Our shared workroom became a battlefield of daily provocations.”
Maintaining composure required constant vigilance and emotional suppression.
“I had to consciously maintain my composure while gray rocking, even as the provocations grew sharper and more personal.”
Eventually, the environment became so unbearable that she began retreating into patient rooms simply to regain a sense of stability and privacy.
“I began hiding in patient rooms after encounters, finishing my notes in the only space where I felt safe.”
The emotional toll also began affecting her visibility and engagement within the educational aspects of her role.
“I became less accessible to students, residents and fellows—but by that point, surviving the workday had become the most important thing.”
Dr. Zacharia reflects on what she was forced to balance at that point in her life, the effects of which were compounded by her uncontrolled Graves disease.
"Balancing the relentless psychological games at work with the emotional weight of my father’s illness tested me in ways I had never imagined. Every day was a fight to preserve my sanity, my composure and the pieces of my life I still had control over."
90 Day Notice
In November 2023, Dr. Zacharia's boss announced he would be leaving for another hospital. She suspected Beth would step into vacant role as she had the seniority and experienced to do so.
When that suspicion was confirmed, she understood the situation with painful clarity.
“I knew I had to leave on my own terms. If I didn’t, Jessie and Beth would have built a case with HR to force me out.”
Reflecting back on this, Dr. Zacharia is grateful her boss' departure ultimately forced a decision she may not otherwise have made.
"Looking back, I’m grateful my boss left when he did. If he hadn’t, I would have stayed trapped in that toxic environment, risking both my health and my mental well-being even further."
When she submitted her required 90-day notice, she chose her words carefully.
“I gave a reason for my departure that was true—but not the full truth. Speaking the entire truth risked more than backlash; it could have irreparably damaged my career."
"The medical community is already small. Endocrinology? Even smaller."
"I stayed silent to protect the career I had spent decades building, the career I had sacrificed my 20s and early 30s to create."
Jessie’s Unveiling: The Moment Dr. Zacharia Realized Covert Narcissism Runs Deeper Than a Personality Disorder
After Dr. Zacharia's departure was formally announced at the meeting, she made eye contact with Jessie for the first time since gray rocking her nearly a year earlier.
"After my boss announced my upcoming departure at the meeting, I finally looked Jessie in the eyes for the first time since I started gray rocking after the holidays—curious to see if there was even an ounce of remorse."
"Of course, there wasn’t. What I saw instead was even more disturbing."
She recalls the moment vividly, describing Jessie’s expression and eye contact as profoundly inhuman and psychologically chilling.
"When her gaze locked onto mine—her piercing black eyes darted into a fixed, unnatural position - a gaze that was anything but human."
The moment left a permanent impression on her memory.
“It was like a scene out of a horror movie come to life—an image I will never be able to unsee. In that moment… I witnessed the full weight of the danger I had been facing.”
What Dr. Zacharia perceived behind the outward humility and social facade was deeply unsettling.
“What I captured in that moment was nothing short of demonic—an unmistakable darkness lurking behind a facade of humility.”
Following Beth stepping into her new leadership role, Jessie’s behavior escalated even further.
“And true to form, Jessie weaponized my remaining 90 days in the office to her full advantage - turning each day into a calculated display of control, fear and psychological manipulation."
"With Beth as our new boss, Jessie felt untouchable. She finally secured the ultimate source of supply—a flying monkey with the power to destroy my medical career."
"It was a bitter pill to swallow: this was the person I had allowed to follow me from our old job, something I could have stopped with a simple, 'Don’t hire her—she’s not professional.'"
"And yet here she was - the shadow I didn’t want, turned worst nightmare."
As the weeks progressed, Jessie's malignant behavior intensified.
“Each day, Jessie’s hatred poured out from the workroom, echoing down the hallways as I moved between patient rooms.”
The environment that once nurtured her passion for endocrinology no longer felt emotionally safe.
“I felt unwelcome in a place where I first fell in love with endocrinology.”
What hurt almost as much as the direct behavior from Jessie herself was the silence surrounding it.
“My colleagues were painfully silent, paralyzed by fear or complicity.”
Even trainees witnessed the tension and dysfunction unfolding openly.
“Students, residents and fellows watched, uncomfortable, as high school level bullying unfolded in a space meant for professional learning.”
The isolation became overwhelming.
“I felt utterly alone—and that isolation cut deeper than the abuse itself.”
Near the end of her 90 day notice, the office manager insisted Beth organize a farewell lunch for her departure.
"Beth reluctantly agreed as Jessie had already orchestrated a formal farewell dinner for my other two coworkers—deliberately excluding me. I only learned of it when one of the departing coworkers extended an invitation to me I wasn’t meant to receive."
"Through it all - God and His angels stood by me."
Dr. Zacharia's Last Day in Academic Medicine
By January 2024, Dr. Zacharia's final day in her position arrived.
“Those 90 days after my notice felt like an eternity.”
The office made no effort to acknowledge her departure in even the smallest customary ways offered to people who had barely been there a few weeks. It was yet, another calculated move from Jessie and Beth.
“The office didn’t bother with a farewell card on my last day. Yet another calculated move from Jessie and Beth.”
But the moment she walked out of the clinic doors for the final time, something inside her shifted.
“A wave of relief surged over me. FINALLY, I was able to go no contact with Jessie.”
Yet relief was accompanied by grief.
“Along with that wave of relief came sorrow.The academic career I once imagined for myself slipped out of reach, like a door drifting shut behind me while I stood on the other side.”
By that point, also much of her social network had dissolved.
“Nearly 90% of my social circle was gone.”
Some of these individuals were entangled in the coordinated smear campaign between Jessie and Levi. Others, Dr. Zacharia walked away based on angelic prompting and guidance.
“Archangel Michael revealed who carried hidden motives and could not be trusted with my spirit or my peace.”
What remained afterward was a complicated mixture of liberation and loss.
“It was a strange kind of freedom—beautiful and devastating at the same time. A clearing of my life that felt both divinely orchestrated and painfully human.”
This was not random. It was a deliberate clearing of Dr. Zacharia's old life as she once knew it.
Aftermath, Collapse and Divine Protection
The day after leaving her job, Dr. Zacharia describes her complete physical and emotional depletion.
Her body was exhausted—bearing 120 days of sustained tension since learning about covert narcissism. A state of perpetual fear and hypervigilance.
"The day after I left my job, I could barely move out of bed. My body ached, heavy with the weight of 120 days worth of tension, fear, and relentless vigilance. My mind was a storm, replaying every betrayal, every calculated slight, every word twisted to hurt me. I was still trying to catch my own breath, still searching for a moment of calm in the chaos of my thoughts."
"Around me, my world mirrored the turmoil inside. The sink overflowed with dishes I hadn’t touched. Papers and clothes were scattered across the floor—my home transformed into a silent witness of my exhaustion."
Yet even in that state, she describes something quieter beneath it:
“Even in the mess, I still felt the quiet pulse of freedom beneath the fatigue—the liberation I had fought so hard to claim, stark against the wreckage of everything left behind.”
Shortly after this period of collapse, her father experienced a sudden medical emergency and was hospitalized for nearly a month.
"And then.. overnight, my mom called me. My dad fell out of bed and couldn’t get up. He ended up in the hospital—for nearly a month. When it rains… it pours."
"I felt completely helpless, trapped in the middle of a storm I couldn’t escape. But I was so grateful it happened after I was no longer working. It was God’s protection."
Predatory Behavior During Her Father's Hospital Stay
During her father’s hospitalization, Dr. Zacharia observed a vehicle with dark tinted windows following her near the hospital where her father was admitted and near her home during the course of the week.
"One day, after leaving the hospital, I stopped at my parents house to put the trash cans out on the curb for pickup. The moment I got out of the car, the same vehicle slowly drove past the driveway where I was standing."
"My eyes stayed locked on it. I knew—whoever was inside had malicious intent."
"Then, in a moment of divine intervention, Archangel Michael appeared. The car suddenly swerved into a few trash cans a couple of houses ahead and drove off immediately, clearly spooked by what had just happened."
"I’ll never know the full intentions of the person behind the wheel, but I can’t help but wonder if it was connected to Jessie. The timing of the incident, so soon after I left my job, felt far from coincidental."
"What I do know with certainty, though, is God protected me that day. Through God’s providence and Archangel Michael’s intervention, I emerged unscathed from that incident."
Spiritual Grounding, Awakening and Reclaiming Clarity
It was not until April 2024 that she describes finally having space to pause, reflect and begin processing the full scope of what she had experienced.
"Fortunately, after about a month in the hospital, my dad pulled through. The time I had hoped to spend piecing myself back together was spent taking him to appointments, managing his care and making sure his health stayed on track."
"It wasn’t until April 2024 that I finally had space to breathe. To be still. To start untangling the mess of what had actually happened to me."
Singapore, Surveillance and the Slow Return to Self
After leaving the toxic workplace environment behind, Dr. Zacharia felt an overwhelming need to put physical distance between herself and everything she had survived.
“I booked a trip as far away from Chicago as possible—I went to Singapore, for a week. Honestly, I’m still shocked I actually went.”
The trip at this point was about decompression and stepping outside the psychological weight she had been carrying for over a year.
“I needed to put distance between myself and everything I lived through, to step into a place so far removed from home, even if only for a little while.”
Emotionally and physically depleted from the preceding months, much of the trip was spent simply resting.
“I spent a lot of the time sleeping in the hotel room but it was totally worth it.”
Still, she immersed herself in parts of Singapore that brought moments of joy and curiosity back into her life.
Dr. Zacharia explored the city’s renowned food culture, sought out celebrated local eateries and visited destinations made famous through travel and culinary storytelling. She also embraced the city’s culture and beauty through guided experiences and quiet exploration.
“I went on a ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Vespa tour, wandered through the stunning Singapore Botanic Gardens and tried Peranakan cuisine for the first time.”
“That included the infamous black nut dish… I was scared to try it at first, but it ended up being amazing. If you know, you know.”
Coming Full Circle: Dr. Zacharia Returns to Her First Endocrinology Position
By May 2024, she was preparing to return to work as an endocrinologist. She returned to her first job out of fellowship. The decision was rooted in safety, trust and proximity to family during her father’s illness.
“Even though I knew Jessie had a few flying monkeys planted there, the benefits far outweighed the risk.”
Two weeks before her official start date, Jessie made her continued surveillance of Dr. Zacharia's activities known.
A former coworker from her academic job unexpectedly texted her:
“Hey! I heard you’re going to be working at X in June!”
Until then, she had intentionally kept her next professional move private.
“I intentionally kept my next steps completely private—out of fear that Jessie or Beth would try to sabotage them.”
There were very few people who could have known.
“The only person who could have known was Jessie.”
So she asked directly where the information came from.
“Where did you hear that?”
The answer confirmed her suspicions.
“It was Jessie.”
Even after she had left the workplace months earlier, Jessie was still monitoring her movements and discussing her life with others.
“She was still talking about me and watching me. Still tracking my life. Still keeping tabs.”
Her behavior confirmed the broader pattern seen in covert narcissistic dynamics.
“Their obsession doesn’t fade when you walk away. They watch. They stalk. They manipulate. They keep tabs through mutual contacts—anything to maintain a sense of control.”
“With a malignant covert narcissist, those behaviors run even deeper, darker and more dangerous.”
When she returned to work in June, the psychological aftermath remained profound.
“Every shadow, every passing car sparked a flicker of fear.”
Jessie’s fixation on her life had left her in a chronic state of hypervigilance.
“I couldn’t shake the worry that she could appear anywhere—at the office or even in the building where I lived.”
Even parking her car became part of a safety ritual.
“Each day, I parked deliberately in view of the lot’s CCTV, a silent witness in case anything happened.”
Faith Over Fear
Over time, however, fear slowly began giving way to faith.
“Eventually, as I had with past traumas in my life, I started to lean on faith rather than fear.”
“God ignited a fire inside me at a young age that gave me the courage to persevere.”
As her spiritual life deepened, she says that sense of divine support became even more tangible.
“That fire grew even stronger as I nurtured my relationship with Him.”
She describes the continued presence of Archangel Michael as a stabilizing force throughout her healing journey.
“Archangel Michael’s presence remained a steady reminder that I was not walking this path alone.”
Evolution of The Flying Monkey, MD: Transmuting the Pain
She also shares she experienced the presence of Archangel Gabriel and Archangel Raphael as well during this season of transformation and recovery.
“Each guiding, supporting and strengthening me in ways I could feel but could never fully put into words.”
For her, that spiritual connection became foundational. As the months passed, she continued actively working on her healing while documenting her experiences online and connecting with other survivors.
“I kept showing up for myself.”
She processed emotional triggers in real time and continued creating educational content about covert narcissism.
“Sharing my story, offering insight and connecting with other survivors.”
Gradually, the constant mental rumination began to loosen its grip and with that shift came a growing sense of reclamation.
“I was starting to heal and reclaim my life, my voice - my power.”
Eventually, she began recognizing broader patterns connecting her childhood wounds to the narcissistic relationships she encountered later in life.
“I finally clicked why I had been a magnet for narcissists and other toxic people throughout my life.”
She came to understand those relationships as attempts to unconsciously heal unresolved formative pain.
“They were tied to wounds from my formative years, wounds I was subconsciously trying to heal through my adult relationships.”
The recurring nature of those experiences eventually revealed what she now sees as a deeper life lesson.
“The same lesson kept resurfacing, each time through a different person, each time louder and more painful.”
These experiences ultimately became transformative rather than defeating.
“And while Satan may have sent these covert narcissists into my life to destroy my light, God allowed it—because He knew that in the end, I would understand the lesson hidden inside the suffering."
"He knew I would rise and transmute the pain into purpose, power and unshakable light that no level of darkness can extinguish."
That realization has become central to the message she now shares with other survivors.
“That’s why He lit a fire inside me—and that’s why He lit it inside all of you. You were never meant to remain a victim of the circumstances the covert narcissist set out for you."
"Use that pain as your FUEL.”