Into your veins

NSW/QLD

As Tom's Dad drives us through Cameron Park my bipolar kicks in as a flashback hits me causing my eyes to tear up.
***
We were at karaoke night. Surprisingly, the first time I'd done karaoke. Mum met one the girls she served working for Aldi and told me to meet her two daughters. I instantly became friends with Katelyn, she was 14 and Emily, who was 10 just followed me around like a lost puppy. Tanya, Katelyn's mum asked if I wanted to stay the night. I said sure and planned to stay there a whole week.
Until.

I later found out that Tanya Jenkins had adopted 30 foster kids, none of them were raised by her, instead they just vanished. I dont even know if Katelyn and Emily were her children. Emily was a sweet girl, but Katelyn. She was a cruel nasty thing. One night Tanya watched my brothers as well as me while Mum went out. My littlest brother ate something and then started throwing up red and white foam. I later went on to find that she had poisoned him.
Tanya tried to brainwash me and kidnap me. You see, my Dad had just killed himself, and my mother had never raised me properly so I felt highly unloved. Tanya told me she loved me. She groomed me. She made me her princess, Katelyn knew it was all fake and gave me everything I wanted. Emily, the poor thing, was already used to being treated like dirt. And I hated that. But I never took notice for I was a stupid little girl just happy to finally feel loved. Tanya told me that my mother never loved me, how she always spoke of me in bad ways. How she wishes I was gone. And, of coarse I felt that way. It's like the pieces of the puzzle were coming together. But I was blind and didn't realise that someone had cut the pieces so they fit into all the wrong places. Tanya told me I would go to a foster home and be able to pick who I wanted to live with. She smiled as I said I wanted to live with her. That smile. God, I will never forget.
Dark purple lipstick, gapped tooth, coffee stained teeth and all.
Never.
Forget.
I sent my mum a message of how I didn't want to live with her anymore. She told me she was coming to get me. It was late at night. Tanya read the message. I didn't want to go back to my mum, I felt like she would kill me for wanting to leave. Tanya turned the house security on and told me my mum couldn't get in and that Tanya would never let me go.
Then the police got involved.

And a small part of me misses Katelyn and Emily.
But.
Their mother.
What she did to me.
I will never fucking forget.
Maybe I wasn't physically hurt.
But I lost a piece of my innocence. I swear I lost it.
And my trust.
And my confidence.
And my ability to be friendly.
She took that.
Tanya took that.
Stole it so professionally.
I.
Will.
Never.
Forget.
That.
***
Tom's Dad drives through Cameron Park.
And to everyone in the car, it's Cameron Park.
But to me.
It's Bellvista where Katelyn and I walked the streets taking photos and starting at cute boys.
It's Bellvista where I could have been buried somewhere in the ground along with those other kidnapped children.
It's Bellvista.
It's a nightmare.