I later woke up to find myself and my brothers in our car, my dad speeding down the road, bright, flashing red and blue lights pursued us from a distance.. instantly the car abruptly stopped as dad got out of the car, pulled me out and dropped me onto the wet grass beside the road before quickly getting back in the car and began speeding down the pavement once again, leaving me out in the pouring rain. I would've gotten up and ran after him.. but I was in far too much physical pain to do anything but cry softly as blood trickled down the side of my head and police cars zoomed by.. just then one of the black and white vehicles stopped in front of me, exiting it was a tall, muscular officer as he pulled out a walkie talkie. "I just supposedly found the guy's daughter left on the side of the road, her head is bleedin' pretty bad," he said into the walkie talkie. He then said he would take me to the hospital while the other cops chased down my psychotic dad, ordering to bring Keaton and Javier to the hospital once he was caught. He slowly walked up to me and knelt down, much to my fear. I let out a soft whimper but he was quick to hush me, gently picking up my small body and placing me into the back seat of his car, then driving off.

Upon arriving at the hospital, the man spoke into his device saying we were there. I was immediately rushed into urgent care where they examined my head. Turns out that I had a big wound from where dad had struck me with the bat, and I had lost quite a bit of blood. And so the doctors had put me under anesthesia before fixing my skull and stitching me back up.

I woke up many hours later with the side of my head all bandaged up to find out that my brothers had made it to the hospital. Around 10 at night, the police officer who had rescued me and a few doctors permitted us to go to mom's hospital room. She was in a comatose state, completely unresponsive.. Javier started to cry quietly as he held her hand and Keaton bowed his head and sighed in a defeated sort of way. I, however, sat beside my mom's bed, rubbing her head while sniffling, gazing at her face, the face I hadn't seen since 3 years of age.. feeling a few tears run down my face, I rested my cheek against her forehead, softly talking to her and saying how much I missed her. She may have been in a coma, but I was somewhat happy to get to see her one last time before she had eventually flat lined. "M-mama?.." I quietly stuttered as I heard the prolonged beep. The officer took my hand and said, ".. mama needs to rest." with that, we all walked out of the room.

We were taken to the police station, where I was in for quite the surprise. Turns out Javier and Keaton had been secretly began recording several instances where dad had acted out on any of us, physically AND emotionally. The police chief took in the videos and photos of the crime scene back at home as evidence. Needless to say, if it weren't for them, I would've been as good as dead..

June 19th, 1994

Once things were settled and dad was arrested and taken into custody, the three of us were admitted to a foster care facility, where we were given "welcome boxes", which contained blankets, clothes, pillows, toiletries, and even stuffed animals and activity stuff. We were also given two separate bed rooms. Keaton slept in one room, while Javier and I slept together in the room across from Keaton's. Once my head made contact with my pillow and the blanket covered my body, I passed out on the spot. My head hurt and I haven't slept properly in a week due to staying in the hospital, so I was indeed tuckered out..

The next morning, I woke up to the smell of.. breakfast. My brothers and I joined the other kids in line, the savory scents of bacon, sausages, eggs and other breakfast foods filling my nostrils. My stomach growled as my brothers and I were served our food of choice before we sat at a table to eat. And let me tell ya, I ate like a famished wolf, due to the fact that I also haven't had much to eat in the past seven days. Not to mention the cooks actually did a mighty fine job with the food. Throughout the day, things were pretty good; we participated in a couple of group activities, ate lunch, had an afternoon story time, and pretty much lazed in our rooms for a while. Now, the other kids and staff here were super nice, don't get me wrong, but as some time progressed I often felt shy and nervous around other people, sometimes to the point where I've started to low-key hyperventilate and my heart would be punching my rib cage.. and I often felt paranoid, like the world was out to get me. So I've spent most of my time in me and Javier's room, drawing on sheet after sheet of blank white paper until bed time.

As nights passed, I began having vivid nightmares about my dad beating me and my mom passing, even the moment dad left me out in the middle of nowhere in a thunder storm. The next couple of nights I would wake up a sobbing, sniffling mess because of it until Javier woke up and tried to calm me down. He would sit on the side of bed and pet my golden hair, softly reassuring me. Sometimes a worker would come in concerned, and Javier would just explain that I had a bad dream. Then at one point, one of the workers put a radio in our room and let me listen to a station of my choice. I often switched it to either country music or classic rock then go back to sleep, and honestly, having music on in the background actually helped me sleep better and gave me dreams WAY more pleasant and relaxing.

July 23, 1994

A month had passed since the incident, and several things have occurred through the time being.. my bandages and stitches got removed, Keaton turned 17, and I was given protective head gear to prevent anymore injuries to my brain. However.. I came to realize that strangely.. I couldn't see through my left eye after my bandages were taken off. But on this day, I was in for another big surprise. In the afternoon I was told that there is a family wanting to adopt us, and then gestured said family to come in.. it was the police officer! And he had brought his wife, 3-year-old son with him. I felt my heart pounding once more, which Keaton quickly fixed by saying, "It's alright, these people will take great care of us. Trust me, Javi and I told them everything." my eyes widened a bit as I looked back at my soon-to-be adoptive parents. I gave a light smile.. it was time to start a new chapter.