Ryvenna's Story

I am 15, young I guess, but compared to other people my own age I feel so old. I guess I will have to start from the beginning.... I grew up with my dad who was wonderful in his own way.He was understanding and kind, but being a single father doesn't help much. He never really had any time for me. I moved a lot and changed schools often, and I was always alone. When I was ten, my father married my step mom. At first, she really did seem to love me and I, lonely child that I was, did everything that she wanted me to. Don't get me wrong, compared to other people listed here, I am lucky. I was never sexually abused, I do not have to carry that burden as well. I have realized, in the past few months, that I was being emotionally abused as well as physically. She would whip me with her belt, yell at me, call me a whore, kick me, pull at my hair. I always thought that she was right, that I was bad. One day I came to school with bruises on my arms and my friend Erin asked me what had happened. I was getting tired of "falling down" and I truly had had enough. I told her to call me and I would tell her everything. As soon as I came home, my step mom blew up at me for leaving a sock lying on the floor instead of in the hamper. She "accidentally" slammed my hand in the door and left a gash on my face with her fingernails about an inch deep. After school, Erin and my other best friend, Chris, called me and told me that they had gotten together at her house because they felt that I would need them both. Chris told me that he would always be there for me and Erin told me to get out of the house, to go to my grandmother's. She lives about a mile away and I realized that Erin was right. I called my grandma and spent the night there. My dad came and got me the next morning but even he finally realized that there was a serious problem. My step mom is in therapy and I am dealing with being manic-depressive. In age, I am 15, in my soul, which was killed before it even had a chance to live, I am older than anyone I know. -Ryvenna