Why I Did It

Brooke

So... there is this girl.

Her name is Brooke.

This happened about three years ago.

Brooke was the kind of girl that everyone liked. She was nice to everyone. She so generous, and smart.

But, there was a dark side to her. Whenever someone insulted her over the smallest things, she would become the meanest girl in school.

She would yell at people, throw everything, she would threaten to hit people. Yet, she never did.

I always wondered why. Whenever someone asked about her life at home, she would say that everything is fine. That is all she would say.

She never said that her dad tried to kill her mom. She never said that her brother got killed. And she NEVER said that her mother... abused her.

Let me start from the beginning.

I have always been curious about why she acts certain ways. I wondered what REALLY happens at home. I wanted to know more.

I was already best friends with her. So, I asked if I could sleepover her house one night. She neglected to say yes. She was very nervous for some reason. I needed to find out why.

I got to her house and I knocked on her door. Her father opened the door and he ran out screaming at Brooke's mom. I hesitated to walk in. And when I did. I wanted to run out of there. But, I needed to find out what was going on.

I looked around. There were holes in the wall. Burn marks almost everywhere.

I started to talk to Brooke's mother. She seemed so victimized when she was talking about her husband. And she seemed to angry when she was talking about her children.

Then I went to go talk to Brooke. She was sitting on the edge of her bed in a daze. I asked her what was wrong. She said that she was just thinking.

I asked her why she never talked about her family. I could tell she didn't want to talk about it. But she knew she had to.

She said,

"When my parents got married, they had a baby before me. I had an older brother. My dad is an alcoholic. My mom was at work one day and my dad was having more than a few drinks. My brother started to walk around. I guess the door was open. He started to walk out and by the time he was on the street, it was too late. My dad saw my brother get killed by a car. My dad was always angry after that. He blamed it on my mom for leaving the door open when she went to work. He tried to kill her. That is why there are burn marks and holes everywhere. My mom doesn't like to talk about it so I don't REALLY know for sure how it happened. But you can kind of guess. And now... she has been starting to hit me... and kick me... I don't really know why. But, I mean, what can you do."

She then started to cry.

"I always try my best to be nice you know. And, when someone insults me about anything I just lose it. I think about how I get hit at home and how my brother died and how my d-dad tried t-to kill my mom... I don't know. I just... if someone was always nice to me at school, maybe I wouldn't be so sad about my family. I just never had someone like that."

I encouraged her to get help for herself and her family. I saw her a year after and I asked her how her family was. She said it was going great but I could tell she was lying. I hadn't seen her for two years now.

I asked someone if they knew where she was and if anything happened. They looked at me and said...

"You don't want to know..."