I was never this quiet. I had never felt so alone, so hideous, so insecure, till now. I used to be so happy and everyone was my friend, I had no reason to be sad. My family was so close, it was my mom and dad and then there was me. A 14 year-old, freshman at Watsonville high school. My friends were amazing, everyone got along so well with me. My name is Sally, the girl everyone knew as a strong girl with an amazing personality. The one who was always smiling.
Then it changed. Twenty-three years of marriage, all for nothing. My dad came home really drunk, as they started to argue. I heard my dad shout , “Get me something to eat B***h!”

My mom gave him the surprised look as she shouted, “ Why don’t you go ask one of the B*****s I have caught you with!”

It made my father furious. My dad growled , “ It’s your fault, this would have never happened if you would have taken better care of yourself! You said we would have no kids! But you’re so stupid! I should have known all you wanted was to have a kid , so that you could stay with all my money!”

As she was about to say something, he furiously flung a base of flowers at her. The vase knocked her like a bowling ball as it knocks down the pins. She fell into an unconscious mode. I wasn’t sure of what was going, but I knew that this was wrong. That’s when I realized this wasn’t normal arguing, it was arguing with aggressiveness. It wasn’t something that they could fix so easily. My mom was hurt so bad that she ended up at the hospital. I thought to myself, “this is all a nightmare, my dad would never, ever put a hand on my mom, he loves her, and it’s just the alcohol. Everything will be fine, it’s not a big deal, and it was probably her fault.” I couldn’t believe what I was thinking in that instant. Every day it was the same thing, my parents wouldn’t get along anymore; it was just disputes and fighting. I no longer had the attention of anyone; they were both filling themselves with drugs and alcohol. My dad started to hit my mom more and more every day, and then she would take her anger out on me.
At school I was no longer the girl with smile, I was the girl who would hide and avoid everyone else. The one with the frown yup that was me. The days passed, every one of my friends started talking behind my back. Even the ones who I truly trusted. Those who did “care” came up and asked if I was okay. My answer would always be “I’m fine” when in reality all I wanted to do was scream to the whole world, I couldn’t keep all of this in my chest. It really hurt. Those so called friends betrayed my trust. I could no longer trust anyone. Everyone knew my family was having problems, and that my dad was hitting my mom. And that then she would take it out on me. I couldn’t take it.
It was one of those days were everything seemed so dark, even the clouds were dark. I was walking downstairs when all of a sudden I heard the door close. My dad abandoned us, he left just like that. All I could hear as I came down was the loud cry of my mom as she shouted, “It was your fault!”
As my eyes got watery I stayed frozen just in front of her. I felt like my life had just ended, I was my parents everything, and now I’m nothing to them.
“You’re the reason why he left! You should have never been born! I don’t deserve any of this; we loved each other before you came into our lives!” she sobbed.
My mother was no longer that sweet woman anymore. She hated me or at least she showed she did more than ever now. Every single day she would tell me, “I don’t even know why you were born? Why aren’t you normal? Can you get any stupider !”
Would you trust me if I told you suicide crossed my mind? It did, I came so close to attempting it. I figured out that the only way to get away from all of this was to run away. My mom was more into drugs now, so really there was no point of living. On the other hand I was being hurt constantly; there was no place that I could call home. I didn’t have a safe place any more. And so I did. I ran away, but everywhere I went people would talk behind my back. As I was walking through Riverside St. I heard someone say , “ Isn’t that the daughter of Mrs. Morales?”
Someone else replied, “The alcoholic? The one who was left for another women? The one who didn’t know how to take care of her husband?”
Now the first person voice seemed more familiar it Julia, the store manager , of a store that was three blocks away from my house.
Julia mumbled, “Yea ,that’s Mrs. Morales.”
As I kept walking the lonely street I looked back , I was about to say something but the words didn’t come out. I felt as if I had suddenly gone mute. I couldn’t even move , I tried running but I failed. It was all so true, there was no way of denying . A few minutes passed, I was a bit calmer by then. I checked my pockets for money. I found 5 dollars, I decided to give a call to my aunt Lourdes. The only person who cared about me. She picked me up that afternoon, from there on everything changed. I seriously don’t know what would happen if it weren’t for my aunt. There’s a lot to live for, don’t let someone destroy you with their false statements. Never regret your life; you were born for a reason. And always remember if you’re having problems at home , no matter how insignificant the problem is you should always believe there’s some place where you’re wanted. Don’t let things get out of control, you should never have to go through abuse.