Esmeralda

Part 1

My deadbeat foster father is a horrible, no-good lazy man who lays around in the living room drinking beer and doing got-knows-what drugs every day.

I work as a dishwasher in a small family-run restaurant. They honestly didn't care how old I was they just needed someone as a dishwasher. They pay me in cash every 2 weeks. I get paid minimum wage, I started working there when I was 9.

I head down to the restaurant around 2 and leave around 10 at night. It takes me around an hour to walk back to my house. At this point in my 11 years of living, I didn't care if someone kidnapped or even tried to kill me, I was done with this hell called living.

After an hour-long walk, I was tired and just wanted to go to sleep.

I slowly opened the front door to my house and poked my head in first to see if I could see if my foster dad was awake. He likes to sleep in the living room.

He was knocked out with beer bottles and needles around him. I got closer to him trying to see if he was still breathing. Sadly, I saw his chest rising, he was still alive.

I went to my bedroom upstairs trying not to make too much noise I didn't want to accidentally wake him up. I went in and turned around to lock the door. You never know with my foster father.

I sat down on my bed just staring at the blank wall. I took at a deep breath letting myself relax a little but with everything that has happened to me, I had to grow up and take care of myself .

My mother died a year after she took me away from my family.

She used to be this amazing mom that I used to love with all of my heart, but died to soon.

I still don't know how she died.

God how much I missed her.

When my mom left my biological father she was sad at the time after she found out something about my father. I still don't know everything that happened but I just remember crying to Mom to please let me stay with my siblings I didn't want to leave them especially my older brother Enrique.

He was my favorite brother I loved him so much, don't get me wrong I loved all of my siblings but I just felt attached to him more because he helped raise me.

I miss my siblings a lot. Life was a lot less complicated and I was able to be a kid, but I had to grow up the moment my mom died.

I never saw any of my siblings at her funeral. Even though it was a small funeral from the minute my mom died I was put into foster care.

I had hoped my father would have gotten custody of me but I guess he didn't want me back. I don't know his part of that story but, long story short I was put into foster care and I was stuck with a horrible man as our foster dad.

Tears were running down my face remembering my past and present. I quickly wiped them with my dirty long-sleeved shirt.

I didn't even realize that it was already one in the morning I guess I was so lost in thought that I didn't realise what time it was. Just thinking about everything made me want to curl up in a hole and never come out.

Damn, I don't know how I'm going to wake up if I have to wake up at five in the morning to make breakfast for my foster father before he has to go to work.

I decided to go change real quick in my bathroom that's connected to my bedroom and do my night routine.

As I was changing I could still see the nasty bruising on my ribs mixed with I'm pretty sure are infected cuts that my foster father decided to do.

My foster father took out his anger on me. When he's either drunk or on drugs or even possibly on both he likes to blame me for the shitty life he has.

He's a real piece of shit.

I changed into some pajamas that didn't fit me anymore because I had outgrown them but, these were the only good ones I still had. My shirt was dirty too, so I decided to just put on a simple black hoodie since I didn't have any more clean shirts.

I guess I'll have to do laundry tomorrow.

I got out of the bathroom before turning on a little night light in the bathroom before heading to my bed, if you could call it that.

I'm still scared of the dark., I guess it's one of my fears as a child that I was never able to outgrow.

I laid down on my bed that would barely even be considered a bed it was just two blankets under me that were lying on the floor in a corner, it honestly made me feel like a dog.

I snuggled up with a blanket and with my little bear named Mr.Sprinkles. It was given to me by my older sister sofia. It still kind of smelled like her.

I laid down trying to fall asleep but, for some reason, I had this gut feeling that something was going to happen I just didn't know what, but when I have this feeling I'm usually right.

I decided to ignore it for once since I was tired and there was always a slight chance that it could be nothing but, boy was I wrong.

I woke up to the smell of smoke. I got up fast to open the door and I regretted it. I felt like I was in a sauna that just kept getting hot. I quickly closed the door.

I started coughing a lot to the point where I felt like I just couldn't catch a breath, but I knew I just had to get out somehow.

I quickly grabbed whatever blankets and sheets I had and tried to tie them together to hopefully use to climb down the in my bedroom window as safely as possible.

Thank god I had paid attention to the firefighters who used to go to the town events in our town hall they had shown us what to do in case of a fire emergency, but I already failed by opening the door to my bedroom.

The house was catching on fire faster than I had thought because I turned to look at the bedroom door and I could see the flames starting to burn the door.

I quickly opened the window that was in my bedroom that looked over the backyard.

I could hear the fire engines and sirens but, I knew they wouldn't get here on time to save me so I had no other choice but, to jump out the window and hope for the best.