normalcy. Kimberley Paul

being a good girl and doing what I was told!” The force of the next kick she delivered threw me about three inches to the left. I instantly felt excruciating pain whail through my ribs along with cracking noises. Next she kicked me in the head numerous times while screaming over and over, “This is all your fault you bitch!” Then suddenly… the lights went out.

      When I awoke I didn’t know what day or time it was. It even took me about five minutes to register where I was. I tried to stand and came crashing back down. My whole side hurt so bad that I thought I was dying. My arms were black and blue, my legs were black and blue, my ribs hurt, and my head was throbbing. I felt wet in my pants and with the smell I realized that I had pissed and shit myself. I tried to think but couldn’t, I tried to move and couldn’t do that either so I just sat. When the whole incident with my mother and father began slowly coming back to me, I looked around the room for her and could not see her anywhere. A sudden urge surged through me and all I could think about was getting to my feet and getting to the bathroom. It took me a while but I was finally able to muster the strength it took to get to my feet. Even though I was very strong for my age, I could hardly walk but I used counters and walls to help me get there. I was very cautious looking out for mother the whole time, luckily, I never saw her. When I made it to the bathroom I took my clothes off. I stood looking in the mirror at the monster in front of me and I didn’t even recognize myself. One whole side of my face was almost black with bruises. My jaw and cheeks were so swollen that I looked like I had elephantitis. Looking at this enraged me and I began to cry uncontrollably. I was not crying because of the pain and unrecognizable person looking back at me in the mirror. I was crying because of the rage I felt that my mother was able to take that kind of control over me. I fed off of control and thought I was very powerful up until that point. That bitch was able to take all that away from me, and I couldn’t even look to Daddy to make it all better. I had no one and nothing at that point in my life and when I realized that, the rage took over me and I felt like I was reborn. I began cleaning myself up and even though every one of my movements hurt me, something inside of me was feeding off of that hurt and oddly enough making me stronger by the second. All I could think about was finding that bitch and showing her who has the power over who.