?Stephanie Hernandez English 100 Professor Walters 07, December 2012 What it really takes to Get Far in Life. My life has just been a total nightmare. I had never imagined that I would have to go through half of the things that I had gone through. Life had messed me up really bad. I never asked for anything. I just did what I was told because I was obeying the rules. I had always lived with my grandparents. They are like my parents since my real parents were never around when I was young. I am glad that they were around and still are to be there for me when I need them.
My mother has always had a problem with drinking and doing drugs. I have no idea why but all that I know is that she used to do it while she was pregnant with me. That is why I dislike her so much. Anyways one day, my grandparents had decided to take her to a rehabilitation center where she can get help. During her time staying there, she had met my step-father, Steven York. Horrible man he was. I don’t even know what she had seen in that man but she loved him very much. They ended up getting married and I didn’t even know that. No one told me until my mother eventually told me when we had moved out to Rosemont.
I had met some new people when I went to school but I only made one friend. Her name was Selena Guzman. She was always there for me when I ran out of my house. I say was because she had passed away in “09. Anyways, things started getting bad. The nightmare will now begin. I had never imagined Steven being all nice to me. I knew he had disliked me because I wasn’t his daughter. He used to treat me bad. He used to hit me. It was just horrible. His daughter, Brittany used to hit me as well. I hated her for that. She tried to talk to me and touch me sexually. The fact about her being a lesbian never ran through my mind.
She used to tell me that she only liked girls but, it didn’t understand what she had meant. When she told me that she had liked me like a “girlfriend”, I was freaking out because at that time, I understood what she was saying. When I had told my mom, she didn’t believe so she hit me because she had thought that I was lying. So I had called my dad and told him. He made sure that Steven, Brittany and my mom didn’t do anything to me. Selena slept over most of the times so she was also a witness if I was ever getting beaten up by either one of them. Steven used to drug my mom and make her drunk.
I hated him for that because she was already having problems of her liver and he knew that! We’d take her to the hospital of the night, I would be having an asthma attack, and my grandparents would take me with them because it was making me sick. Honestly, my mom probably didn’t even think about what could happen to me if anything were to happen to her. I have never met a person that was self-centered and only cared about her husband, her step-daughter and herself. She knew that Brittany was a lesbian but she would have probably died if I had told her that I am bisexual.
My step-father would hit me. Brittany would probably kill me by the way she used to beat me up. It was the last night before Steven had died and it was like being in hell. My mother and Steven were arguing and hitting each other back in forth. I felt like I was watching a boxing match. I could have told that Steven had won the match! It was scary because all I heard were bangs and things breaking. Brittany wouldn’t let me leave the room, so I fought my way out. Boy, did I kick her butt! I was so proud of myself because I had eventually had the guys to kick her butt. So I went out, quietly.
It was completely silent until I felt a punch on my back. I felt like he had knocked the life out of me. I couldn’t move. He walked towards me and said, “Stephanie, you are so beautiful. I have never seen such a beautiful girl like you. ” I punched him and ran towards my mom. I tried waking her up but he had grabbed a lamp and hit me on the head with it. I had been knocked out for about an hour or two. When I woke up, my mom was tied up. So I sneaked my way towards her. Untied her and we slowly tried to get out of the house. The police were called due to all of the noise in the house.
He caught us and came running towards me. Luckily I was able to grab my baseball bat and hit him on the head with it. So my mother and I ran out of the house and had hitched hiked to Wheeling from Rosemont. I was having an asthma attack that night. I had scratches, bruises and I also had a black eye. Boy did that feel horrible. My mother had told me the next morning that Steven had passed away by poising himself to death. I told her not to go because it was worthless. She slapped me after I had told her that. My father was there when he saw her do that but she didn’t care. I’m her daughter.
She thinks that she could do whatever she wants with me. My father didn’t believe that because I didn’t deserve to go through all of that had happened. After that, my mother and I went to a shelter. I never went to school while I was there. She never wanted me to go. So I had moved back with my grandparents. My mother wanted to live somewhere else so she did. It was on the streets. I never wanted her to go but she wanted to. I have worked very hard to get through this situation because I never wanted to remember. This situation sure did help me become stronger than ever because now, I can overcome any situation.
At the time when this situation was happening, I had started to get suicidal thoughts. I had tried committing suicide. It didn’t turn out well because my father and my grandparents had found out. I started to deal with my problems on my own because my dad didn’t want me to go and talk to a social worker. He said that he didn’t want to spend any money. So basically, I was on my own. In middle school, I had started all over again by cutting myself. Social workers started becoming more concern about the situation and I did tell them my story.
My father didn’t really seem to pay attention so again, I had dealt with them on my own. Same in high school but they had sent me to a mental institution at Northwestern community hospital. I have never imagined myself being in there because they wouldn’t let us talk to anyone, be friends with any and for me, it was the worst experience that I had to ever go through. I felt like I was already going insane. Now I am just dealing with everything on my own and I also keep a journal to write down what goes on in my daily life, what I feel and why.
Anyways, my grandparents have always supported me but I sure do not want to tell my family about my sexual orientation because I know that they are very judgmental and I just don’t want to go through that either. I want to become the bigger person in life. That is why I want to become a social worker. I can help teens and younger kids who have problems and let them know that they have someone to talk to, someone who can support them, someone who they can call their friend which will be me someday. Knowing that life isn’t easy, we all know what it really takes to get far in life.
