I was only 5 years old. I was just like every other little girl. I had a loving mom, and loving dad. We were just a normal family, until it was late in December, 2000. I was in my bedroom playing with my Barbie dolls. I had never seen my parents get into such a huge fight before. I was terrified that my parents would probably get a divorce with how bad this argument was. My mom was crying, when I tiptoed to the top of the stairs to see what was happening. For the first time in my life I saw my dad slap my mom in the face. I watched as she fell to the floor, crying even more. I have never known my dad to hurt my mom. But that night… everything that I thought about my dad changed. When I saw him slap my mom, I didn’t know what to do. I was too scared to go downstairs and say something, so I quietly ran to my room, gently closing the door behind me. I hid in my closet. I sat there listening through the vent. I heard my mom yelling at my dad about something. Then all of a sudden I heard the front door slam shut. I was scared to find out what just happened. I heard someone coming up the stairs. The next thing I knew my dad slammed open my bedroom door. He started to yell at me for no reason. He grabbed me by my hair and pulled my up off the floor. He started smacking me in the face. I couldn’t help but cry. My face was stinging. Minutes later the phone started ringing. My dad hurried down the stairs leaving me on my bedroom floor curled in a ball crying. I couldn’t hear what all he was saying all I heard him say was okay. He sounded really upset. He came back upstairs. He walked into my room gently picking me up off the floor. He had tears in his eyes. He sat down on my bed sitting me next to him. He explained to me that my mom was in a car accident and that she didn’t make it. My eyes started to water up. My dad pulled me closer into his arms and hugged me tightly. But that was the last time my dad ever gave me a hug. After that night, my life changed forever. My dad never comforted me anymore. Every night I came home, I saw my dad sitting in his comfy blue chair with a beer bottle in one hand and a cigarette in the other hand, and he would get mad at me for everything, and he would beat me. But the whole thing with him trying to have sex with me was definitely new. He had never tried that before.
