The rookie

Introduction

Hi, yeah as you could guess I'm Julia. I guess some would feel sorry for me because of the life I've had but to me, other people have had it worse. This will make no sense to you right now so let me take you back to the start.

I was born on the 23rd February 2003. At least that's what my birth records claim. I was sent to the NICU for a couple of weeks because I was born early and had something wrong with something, to be honest I can never remember all the details. Both my parents fled the day after I was born, leaving me with just a name and a blanket.

As you guessed I went straight into the care system. Here you would think that I was lucky, I'm a baby, they always get adopted. Ha not me. I stayed in care for 11 years until I was adopted. Moving around from house to house, I didn't really complain, I was never at a house long enough to make friends but at least I had a roof over my head and food in my mouth right? I didn't need friends. Why would I? Of course I would talk to the other kids in my homes but we both knew that either me or them would be moving into a different house sooner or later.

One thing that I could always rely on though was football. I loved it. Any where I went I always took one. The first thing I would do after moving into a new house was find the closest field or football nets. This made me get a lot of funny looks from all the other kids. A couple comments like "girls can't play football" "you must secretly be a boy" you know, all the real sexiest stuff. But this just made me want to prove them wrong.

As I said I got adopted when I was 11. I was just as shocked as anyone. Never did I expect to be adopted. I mean I was 11, almost a teenager. Who in the right mind adopts a teenager? We moved to a small city in the north of England, in Cumbria. The Lake District. It is still one of my favourite places to this day.

The people who adopted me, Helen and David, were also so kind to me. They treat me like one of their own. As soon as they noticed I loved playing football, they immediately started looking for teams for me to join around where we lived. Of course, being a girl there is only a very limited amount of female teams, also being 11 with no football experience other than being self taught, let's just say it's not that easy to join one. I remember Helen use to drive me to the team practice after getting rejected over email, and they wouldn't even let me try for a session. They claimed "we have enough in the team" or "she has no experience, she probably doesn't even know the rules" to say Helen went mental is an understatement. I had to drag her away from the situation.

I think I was at my happiest with Helen and David. Family game night Thursdays, David use to always play football with me in the humongous back garden. He even showed me YouTube videos to improve on my skills. I also started at an actual real life school. Not some online lessons. It was crazy to begin with, and I actually made some friends. Once again the girls were not aloud to play football in P.E. It was either netball, dance or rounders. Never football. Despite all that I'm just grateful to attend lessons, I couldn't thank Helen and David enough for all their support, time and money they put into me. They literally became my mam and dad. But as we know, nothing last forever with me.

I had the best 4 years of my life with them. Until I was 15. Helen got cancer. Me and David made trips to the hospital everyday. We brought her flowers and told her stories about our days. It became a ritual, David would pick me up from school, and we would go straight to the hospital until 9pm, where we would have tea and talk and play board games. We tried to make the best out of the shitty situation.

2 months later she died. I was heartbroken. This woman has literally became a mother to me. And then she was gone. Just like that. I think I cried for two weeks straight. And of course David was worse than me. She was the love of his life. A month after she died that's when I found him. In the bedroom. A rope around his neck, and a note in his hands, addressed to me. Just like that I was alone again.

I was sent back to live from house to house. To say goodbye to the friends I had made back in Cumbria. To say goodbye to the family I never had.

A year later, when I was 16, I was adopted again. This time it wasn't so sweet though. Andrew and Charlotte adopted me. It was great. I had food on the table and a bed to sleep on. Until the adoption checks stopped. A couple months in no one came to check up on me. That's when it began. The violence, the hunger, the abuse. That's when my life started to turn to a misery.

Football use to be a hobby, something I would do for fun, because I loved it, now it's just an escape.

Now I'm 18, and I still can't escape from Charlotte and Andrew. Technically I could leave and find my own place. I have one problem. I have no money.

And that brings you here. To today. Another normal day filled with abuse. Or was it?