Personal Narrative: My Divorced Family

I come from a divorced family. I have hateful parents, not toward me, but towards each other. I can’t stand it, the way they look at each other, the way they talk or act towards each other, it just irks me. I go to my father’s apartment on the weekend. I don’t blame my mother for ditching my father, who could. He was a dirty old, good-for-nothing, scumbag. Since he has left us, he hasn’t even given my mother and I a second thought. The only reason I visit him is because my mother thinks that I need a father figure in my life. My mother isn’t all that good of a mother anyway. I know she tries to be a responsible adult, but she acts like an immature little twit. She is constantly going to nightclubs and every night she has a different male companion at our house. I feel sorry for my mother’s

delusional mind, her breath is constantly reeking of alcohol and her body encompassed with the horrible odor of tobacco.

Ever since they separated my life has been difficult and when they got divorced, my life got even harder. I have been to five different schools within two years. Every school that I went to, someone would always find out that my family has issues and that I don’t have the best life style. My so called friends would disown me and spread horrible rumors about me and my parents. They would tell everyone that my mother was a lady of pleasure and that was how she had lured my father. My “friends” also spread the word that I was just like my mother. My last school was the worst. I only had two friends because I didn’t want to let anyone else into my life. Everyone except those two girls. I didn’t want to let them in, but I was under my guard and they slipped through

my cracks becoming my closest friends. I was in the bathroom crying because some girls in my english class were accusing me of being a harlot. They saw me run in the direction of the bathroom after class, almost in tears and followed me to see if I was ok. They witnessed what had happened in class and they reassured me that she was a shrew. We all laughed about how much we despise her as a person. My time at that school didn’t get any easier. They still harass me on a daily basis. Constantly making sexual jokes towards me and making inaccurate assumptions about my life. Some ignorant classmates of mine had decided to pull a little prank on me one day. As I was walking into my class, all the guys were mounted to girls while others were yelling, “You guys aren’t doing it right” and “ Sam show them how it’s done.” For me that was my breaking point, I couldn’t deal with their unnecessary and horrible humor any longer.

The next year I was enrolled in my fifth school. I told myself that this wouldn’t be like the rest, it would be better. Nobody knew anything about me that I didn’t want them to know. I was a closed book. I started to enjoy school and once I was there I didn’t want to leave and go back to my house. Most of the time when I came home from school, I would find my mother passed out on the couch and the house would be a wreck from the night before. As soon as my mother wakes up, she leaves and goes back to the club. I am left home to clean the house and take care of myself. When my mother gets home, she is typically wasted and with a random guy. Occasionally he will stay the night and leave the next morning. I have never met any of my mother’s “acquaintances”, as she calls them, but I always see them. This has become a constant routine now, that I come home and wait for my high mother and her “acquaintance.”

Today was a day like no other. I went to school and regretted coming home. I made the long walk home because my mother would have been too drunk to drive. As I walked through the door I found my mother passed out on the couch, that was no surprise.. I did my homework and when my mother left, I got to work cleaning the entire apartment. It’s not like she noticed a difference anyway. As usually when she walked into the house, a man followed closely behind her. I could tell that was one of her “acquaintances.” That night I waited for him to leave, but he didn’t. Since he didn’t leave I figure that him would spend the night. I finally got to sleep and woke up the next morning. He was still there, he was actually awake and sober. As I ate breakfast, we held a decent conversation about who I was. As I walked to school I thought about the random man and how no guy my mother has ever brought home has even said a word to me. I thought to myself how disappointing it was for my mother, that she is passing up such a nice guy. That he will probably be gone by the time she wakes up.

When I got home, to my surprise, he was still there. Also my mother was awake and the house was spotless. This was beyond normal. In my mind I thought to myself “Wow, this guy is really turning my mother’s life around.” This continued for a few weeks and it felt like I was part of a real family again. Although something felt off about the whole situation. Maybe it was because my mother’s male acquaintance wasn't my father, but he was acting like he was. I set my unusual feeling aside and just enjoyed my time being part of a family.

Today when I got out of bed my mother was gone and it was only me and her “acquaintance.” I wondered where she went, but I didn’t stress where she was. As I was getting ready for school, mother’s “acquaintance” came into my room and grabbed my arm. It was a strong grasp, but it didn’t hurt. I asked, “What are you doing?” but he didn’t answer. He sat down on my bed, still holding my arm, and pulled me down onto his lap. His eyes were fixed on me, scanning me up and down. He then started to whisper something, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. He then leaned forward and whispered in my ear, ”You would be so much better than your mom.” I tried to get out of his grasp, but as I tried to escape from his arm, his hold became stronger. Before he could disturb me anymore, I heard the door open. It was my mother carrying a bag of groceries. He eventually let me get up, but before he let go of my arm he told me not to tell my mother anything of what just happened.The next few days nothing happened and it was back to normal.

The weekend finally came and I was suppose to go to my father’s home. My mother’s “acquaintance” offered to take me so that I didn’t have to walk. I wasn’t all that comfortable with getting in the car with him. When we got into the car, we said nothing to each other. We were about thirty-minutes into our trip and we missed our exit. I asked,”Do you know where you are going?” He responded with “I know exactly where I are going.” After about another hour of driving we turned down a dirt road and pulled up to an old rustic house. He said, as he was getting out of the car,”I need to get some things from inside and I need your help carrying them out.” I was hesitant at first, but I didn’t want to stay in the car alone. I followed him inside and looked out the large windows. I saw the most phenomenal view of a lake that I have ever seen. Before I knew it, I heard a click from behind me. It was the locks on the door. The “acquaintance” was approaching me slowly with a look of lust in his eyes. I tried to run, but I wasn’t fast enough. He dragged me into the bedroom and everything became dark. I couldn’t see anything, but I could sense that someone was in the room with me. I don’t remember what happened. All I recall is my body aching.

I woke up and it seemed like hours later. I tried to get up but it hurt too much to move. There was a small light on the other side of the room that I crawled to. From that light, I could see all the bruises and cuts I had encountered on my entire body. The door slowly opened and I was terrified. Whoever it was grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into another room. Everything became dark again. After I had woken up from the darkness I have been in, I was dragged back into my desolate, dim room. I examined my body and found that I have received many more bruises and scratches. It seemed like a few hours later and the door opened again. This time I could tell who it was, it was my mother’s “acquaintance.” He said,” You told your mother something didn’t you?” I couldn't even answer I was so weak. He picked me up and carried me outside. I haven't seen the light in so long that my eyes ached. I couldn’t even see where we were going. All of a sudden, my dangling limbs were being covered with water. He was carrying me out into the lake. He got stomach deep before we heard sirens. He suddenly dropped me where we were and ran onto shore leaving me in the the water that was slowly drowning me. The last thing that I saw was the sky above me. Everything went black.

I saw a light. All of a sudden I could see everything around me, including my parents together. I went to run toward them, but stopped. Just a few feet in front of me was me. I was dead. I saw the rescue crew drag my body out of the water and the police investigating my grieving parents. They were hugging. It was the first time in a long time that I have ever seen my parents show any affection towards each other. I looked over at my body and saw the paramedics trying to resuscitate my body. I wasn't ready to die, I couldn't die. I needed the security of my parents. No matter how horrible they are at being parents, they are my parents and I can tell that they are trying. I needed to live. Everything became dark and within seconds I woke up and saw the faces of the paramedics. I gasped for air and yelled with all my strength, ”Mom! Dad!”