Strangers

Prologue

Hi my name is Liz and this this story is about my life and what happened before I was adopted by my other parents:

My birth dad left me and my siblings when I was two years old. Then my mom got remarried to a man who beat her. Everything seemed so horrible; it felt like whenever I did something good I get beaten until I was brused or bleeding and that whenever I did something bad I got a reward from my birth parents. When I went to school I was bullied and when I went home I was afraid to tell my parents what happened in school. I got into lots of fights with a lot of guys because they told me I was nothing and I was stupid and I believed them for that. To me, life was hopeless.

There was no food in the fridge because all that was ever in there case of beer and a case of soda. We went hungry for days, even for months without food. My older brother did what he could for us until child protection came and took my older brother away. It was hard knowing that I wasn't going to see him anymore and I had to step up even more, with no end in sight. I was the only kid to help my siblings survive from all of the mess that was happening and I did that by stealing things to make sure my sister and I had food and things to survive in life.

My grandma saw what was happening; she pulled us aside and told us to keep it a secret and she would give us breakfast before school and a lunch so we can take to school. All this because we didn't have the money to pay for a lunch at the school. So that's why she gave us home lunch from her house. We were so grateful for that and we were so happy because she always left a message in there telling us how much she loves us.

My grandma was like a second mom to us because she did everything to make sure we belong and treat us like family. We would go over at night to read scriptures and say our prayers with her because my parents didn't like it when we prayed. I love my grandma dearly and I wish there is more people like her. She is what I am today because she risk her life to make sure we were loved.

My mom and stepdad, one day, had a fight and hit my mom. I remember how scary it was and that I had to call the cops to save her life. The cops came not that long afterwards and took my dad to jail and my grandparents took us to their house so we can be safe from what happened.

Three months passed away and it was time to get my dad from Court I didn't want to but my mom made us. When the Child Protection finally saw what was happening with us they sent my younger sister and I to Foster families. And they weren't any better either as the kids bullied us and we never got to go to church. Because of that I have been in seven different foster families.

But of course, that's where my story begins...