Prologue

Everyone has something they have to leave behind…

The music reverberated in my mind.

And mine is one I’ll never forget.

My something was my life. The loss began when I was seven. The nightmare began when I was twelve. I’ll never forget those years that I spent in constant fear, constant pain, and constant loss. I’ll never forget the years I was dead to the world.

On my seventh birthday, my parents split up. My father went to live in Maine, and my mother and I went to live in Ohio-cold, dreary Ohio. Life was bearable at first. My mother met a man named Jonathan. He was kind, patient, and loved kids. Within the next four years, my mother had four kids, two being twins. Slowly, my mother and Jonathan began to argue, and by the time I turned twelve, they had split up. My mother turned to drugs and alcohol for comfort, leaving my siblings and me to fend for ourselves. Being the oldest, I assumed our mother’s old position, caring for the children as if they were my own. Thus began the journey that became a nightmare.