The Life Of Danielle Carpenter

Catherine

At this point, I would say that I some what had a normal childhood, but at the age of 5 I still had my baby crib. That was my bed. I got my foot stuck in between the bars all the time, and my parents would always have to help me get my foot out. I was petrified of the dark so I always slept with a night light, but as I got older I hated sleeping with lights on. I couldn't even sleep with the television on. I found it annoying, and it kept me from falling asleep.

Every kid had a favorite toy, or stuffed animal right? I had a stuffed dog. I got her for Valentine's Day one year, and I named her Valorie. She was my favorite. One night I wet the bed, and when I say wet the bed, I mean I soaked the bed, and when I woke up in the morning my parents had to strip down my bed, and they threw Valorie away. She was covered in pee, and couldn't be saved. I was so sad.

There was this one time when I went to Canobie Lake Park on my birthday. I went on the dragon rollercoaster, and everyone on the ride sang happy birthday to me. I was so happy.

My mom did a lot with me. We went on bike rides, and went to the park all the time. She was the best, until I started to grow up.

As I got older I began to realize that there was something wrong with my mother. She didn't do things with me and my dad like she used too. She would say, "I already went there before, I don't need to go again."

I would ask my dad why she always said that, and he would just say something like "I don't know," trying to change the conversation.

My dad didn't have a car anymore because it broke down, and he never got a new car because he needed to get his license renewed, but he hasn't done that yet, so every weekend my mother would drop my dad, and I off at the bus station close to our house that goes all the way to Boston, then we would have to take a train to my aunts house where she would pick us up to stay at her house for the weekend. I would hang out with my cousin Ayana.

One time I was in the backyard with Ayana, and another one of my cousins, when Ayana stormed away heading towards the back door to head inside. I think it was because she was jealous I was hanging with my other cousin instead of her. I followed her towards the door, and she slammed it right into my face. I went inside crying to my dad and told him what happened, even though he was right there in the kitchen. Now we act like best friends.

As I got older, my mother got worse, and worse.

She did these weird hand motions, and would sing along with songs on the radio, the volume all the way up, but it wasn't singing. She would yell the lyrics. My best friend who lives right next store said that her sister said that she sounds like a dying cow. She was that bad.

I met my friend when she was still diapers. Even though we didn't really start hanging out for a while we knew each other for such a long time. She knew everything about me, which meant she knew all about my mother.

As I grew up my mom talked to me about things I shouldn't even know at my age. I learned what sex was, and the truth about Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, and the Easter Bunny at a very young age.

She would always yell and cause a scene about horrific things like everyone in the world is no good, and that they are all scum bags, and she would scream very bad cuss words while saying it.

I remember the first time that Ayana came to my house with just my dad and I. When we left Penny's house, we took Ayana back on the train with us, so she could spend some time at our house, BUT she didn't know the truth about my mother until the very last second. When we were at the bus station, we stood in front of the terminal waiting until we spotted her car. When we saw her car pull in, I said "By the way, my mom is psycho." She was like "WHAT," right before we stepped off the curb, and got into my moms car.