Sound Files

Chapter One

AUGUST 9, 1995

I was born nameless in a back alley of Cincinnati, Ohio. My mother had drunk wistfully through the better years of her life until she realized the vomit was no longer from the day-to-day hangover. My father was unbeknownst not only to me but her as well. At just 23, she had no ambitions to raise a kid and knew that she could never afford the medical bills for an abortion, much less the birthing process. To combat the problem that was me, she not only continued to drink heavily but also decided to try some harder drugs in the process.

Anything for the high of your life, right?

During one of the most insane trips of her life, my mother stumbled from her dump of a home into the alley to pay for more heroin. As she got to the usual spot, she realized she never actually contacted the man. She screamed in frustration and pain, sobering in the fact that no drugs meant more of the constant pain erupting from her lower back.

And so the contractions began.

As with most idiots who have no idea what pregnancy is, the woman guessed this pain was cramping from needing to release her bowels. She took off her bottoms and pushed hard in this alley, unsure of where a real bathroom close by would be located. Rather than seeing what one would usually see using the bathroom, a child was in its place. This predicament wasn't how life was supposed to be. Terrified, she ran. I screamed like any baby would when experiencing the world for the first time. My body tensed, unable to move even my small arms.

I should not have survived.

Luckily, a beautiful woman by the name of Anne heard the screams of what she assumed- correctly- was an infant. She took me in her arms and rushed to the hospital.

The lights were bright, and the life monitors hummed methodically. Anne patiently waited for me to be released. She waited for minutes, hours, left for work, came back. Waiting was a week-long game for recovery. At the end of it all, they asked Anne some questions.

"What is your name?"

"What is your relation to this baby?"

"Where did you find this child?"

They told Anne that the police would be in for questioning, but I would survive. My body was addicted to heroin, and the recovery process for that alone would be a struggle for anyone involved. Not only that, I had a stroke immediately upon being born, leaving me deaf in both ears as well as losing some function in my right hand.

They told Anne that I was lucky she was around.

This beautiful woman- a complete stranger- consulted with her husband and decided to take me in as their own. Obviously without a suitable mother, and hesitation for sending me to deal with an over-crowded orphanage of children, Anne knew deep down that she needed me as much as I needed her.

After considerable legal struggle for Anne and her husband, Dave, she was able to receive custody over me on December 20th officially. My new parents formally named me Mary Elizabeth Coldright

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a super short introductory chapter, but I will be slowly working on this! Chapters will be longer and less boring, and written better, but I needed to get this piece out of the way.

Thanks to anyone who reads this :)