We all have are own stories. Some long, some short. Some happy,some sad. Everyone's story is different but, we all have our own.
Mine like many others started out happy. A care free 10 year old living in a run down apartment with her single mother. Though our house was small and food was limited, we were happy. Until he came.
His name was John. At first he was the quite, gentle man who seemed to sweep my mother off her tired, over worked feet. He would stop by the apartment every day with gifts for both my mother and I. He had dark, stringy hair that covered his eyes. His thick beard starched my chin when ever he went to hug me. John was great in the begin but, that all changed after the wedding.
My mother and John married a week prior to my 12th birthday. The wedding was small with only immediate family invited. Johns parents and his only brother and his wife and their child and my mothers parents. Her sister had died of a heart attack a few years before I was born. The wedding was beautiful. I was the flower girl in a stunning pink dress my mother had picked for me. The only other child there was Johns 11 year old nephew Evan. Durning the after party Evan pulled me aside and said "Hey Amber, watch out for John he's not as nice as you think." I was confused in the past two years John had only been kind to my mother and I. " But why" I said questioning Evans remark.
He shrugged and started to walk away before muttering " Trust me ok, He's not as perfect as you think just watch out. It would take 10 months before I found out what Evan meant.
The first few months were just like the last two years. Simple and easy. We moved to a house. This one had 3 bedrooms. One for my parents, one for me and one for the baby the two had planed on having. That baby never came though, or at least while I was there.
Soon after we bought the house I started seeing less and less of John. He would leave before I woke for school and come home after I had gone to bed. The few times he did he was drunk. His drunkiness didn't bother me. As long as I didn't bother him I was fine. After a month or so of this. He started drinking at home. When he would drink at home he would get extremely angry. First he and my mom would get into screaming matches. During these I would hide under my bed covering my ears begging the fight to stop. When John learned that screaming wasn't enough he began to hit my mother. After the fights my mother would sneak into my room. Fighting back obvious tears and pull me out from under the bed. She would hold me and tell me that it was ok and John was just stressed and needed his space. She then told me that John would never hurt me because he loved me. I then made the biggest mistake of my life. I believed her.
One dark rainy day about a year after the wedding John came drunk. My mother had not been home since she was out grocery shopping. John screamed my name. " Amber where the fuck is your dead beat mother." I was too scared to answer him. I quickly dove under my bed. John stormed in a few minutes later and forcefully pulled me out from under the bed by my ankles. He garbed me from behind and whispered in my ear. " You look beautiful Amber". He started to kiss the back off my neck which made me feel uncomfortable. I told him to stop but instead he got angrier and pulled off my clothes, pushing me to the ground. I screamed but, he quickly clamped my mouth shut with with his large sweaty hand. What happened scared me for life. He told me it was my fault for being a bad child. Part of me seemed to believe him.
A this continued to happen about once a week for the next month and a half. every time he would tell me it's my fault. One day I finally told my mother. She had Started drinking along side John. When I told her she told me to keep quite and not bother her. I felt betrayed. I then decide to I would need to leave if I ever wanted this nightmare to stop.
I waited until everyone was in bed before I started. I grabbed my school bag and dumped it out into one of my drawers. I then refilled it with clothes, a hair brush, a blanket and a pillow which I carried along with me. I then changed into another pair of sneakers and held the other ones. Lastly I snuck into the kitchen and stole the money I was able to fit in my bag a few hundred dollars. I wrote my parents a note saying I was going for a early swim. I snuck out the back door as quietly as I could and made my way to the lake by my house and threw my sneakers into so it looked liked I drowned. I didn't want them looking for me. I then started my journey. I didn't know where I would end up but, I knew it wouldn't be there.
