As we got closer to the house, I could hear screaming and shouting from inside. I heard something shatter and took off as quickly as I could and yanked the door open.

"What the hell, man?" I said.

"Don't you speak at me like that! You hear me?"

Said the man who was sadly known as my father.

My father was a major douche. He was a con man who had slept with my mother and stolen most of her valuables. His name was Richard Dowell. After getting my mother pregnant with me he took off the same way Derek did. It really hurt my mother when my dad had left and the wound became more open when Derek left. I continued calling him horrid names and other awful things.

He slapped me. I couldn't believe my father just slapped me. It was as though his hand was a piece of metal the way it made my face hurt. When my mother screamed my name he began to back away. I was going to pass out. After all of the stress and then this final blow to the face was enough to make me pass out. When I fell down Dakota got to me first I heard my mother screaming and suddenly everything faded away.

My whole childhood from age 2-17 it had been me and my mother only. She occasionally had a boyfriend but they would all leave, making her broken heart feel even worse. I was always the apple of her eye until Derek came around and treated her to anything she wanted. He only wanted her for her face and body.

One night my mom and her boyfriend at the time had come home drunk. My mother went straight to sleep, but I could tell that he was wide awake and drunk. He came into my room and sat on the end of my bed. It terrified me having him that close to me and drunk. I was 7 at the time and was beginning to learn a little bit about what my mother actually did. I understood that I was never allowed to drink her special drinks or touch her 'medicine'. So that night while he was on the end of my bed he began stroking the small of my back. When I cried out he picked me up and shook me continuously asking why I didn't want him doing that. When I told him he was a bad man and I didn't like him he began taking off his belt. I ran out of the room as fast as possible. I ran to the kitchen and climbed in a cabinet and tried not to move. When he got to the kitchen he stood so close to me I thought he could hear my heart beat. He faced the cabinets and I could smell mommys medicine in his breath so I gasped and bit my tongue suddenly realizing what I had done. He ever so slowly opened the cabinets around me then as he reached for the handle to the one I was in I screamed so loudly that he held his ears and backed away. I tried to run again but I wasn't fast enough. He grabbed my arm and twisted it till it cracked not paying attention to my screams which no one heard. He slammed me up against a wall where he proceeded to beat my mercilessly until I passed out.

I opened my eyes and saw Dakota. He was saying something but I couldn't understand him. My head was pounding so loudly and my face was still tingling. I began to try and sit up to no avail. Dakota helped me onto the couch and I was and slowly began adjusting to where I was. I remembered being slapped by my...DAD! I forgot that he was here! As tears began welling in my eyes, Dakota held me so close to him I thought we were conjoined.

My mother was on the other side of me and my father was standing in the corner of the room still in shock. When I was finally back to normal I jumped up and walked over to my father screaming at him saying things that I wouldn't have even said in my own mind where I kept most of my thoughts and opinions. I didn't care anymore. I wanted to know what was going on and I was going to find out one way or another.