Gentle Reader,
The author wishes to advise you that the following passage is very harsh and contains violence.
~*~
She was exhausted that Friday night and wanted to go to bed early. She asked her mother if she could beg off doing the dishes that night and was soundly told “NO.”
Suddenly, her father was there in the kitchen yelling at her to get the “GD” dishes done and not to talk back to her mother. She would have explained that she was going to do them, but when she opened her mouth to tell him he reached out grabbing her by the hair. He yanked her head with such force she could hear her scalp popping with his violence. She screamed at the clot of hair in his hands and he again grabbed her by the hair. More popping sounds. Slapping her, she fell to the floor, and now using tactics solely reserved for the boys… he kicked her. She wet her pants.
He left the room.
Sobbing she got up, and looking her mother in the eye said, “I will do your dishes and when I am done I am leaving.”
Her mother then said, “Oh, you’re just tired and you need your sleep, just go to bed.”
“No, I mean it, I will do the dishes and then I am gone.” she said as she walked down the hall to clean up. From the bathroom she could hear her mother yelling for her dad to “…go in and knock some sense into your daughter.”
His reply was, “If she wants to leave let her.” and then louder for her benefit, “And don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.”
Clothes changed, she looked into the mirror at the mark on her face, and then at the sink full of her hair. She felt her head and found several fist sized bruises from his assault. She stopped crying, did the dishes, packed, and left.
She was eighteen, car-less and therefore on foot. Walking the five miles in the middle of the night she arrived at her friend’s home with a small suitcase, her sleeping bag, and her grandfather’s painting he’d done for her. Finding her friends were out for the evening, she sat on the porch in the dark, and waited for their return.
The next day they gave her a ride to get the rest of her things and she was stunned to see everything she owned in a pile on the front lawn. Her father came out and rebuked her with, “You leave home now and you will not graduate, because you’re too lazy for that!” and “You’ll never amount to anything.”
She finished loading and left him standing there. Later the police would come, and on finding out that she was 18, would advise him that she was of legal age and there was nothing he could do.
In June she graduated.
Her father did not let her family attend.
People I used to know 
Mind gabbing story which I am assuming is factual. Excellent writing. I don’t know if the girl in this story is you or not. Whoever she is- this sort of thing goes on all the time and society knows nothing about what goes on in most families. I hope both parents died a miserable death and got their just punishment while still alive.
They did.
Mother: https://latentmemory.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/it-begins-with-the-end/
Father will come later.
I’m one of those “You’ll never amount to anything” kids too. I’m sorry you had to go through that… and whatever else you’ve endured. You are an amazing woman… and someone I love dearly.
We are survivors. What didn’t kill us made us strong. Does anything else count?
(I think we turned out OK, you and me)
This is heartbreaking.
Yes, but I lived!
Finding the courage to walk away from that situation was a very positive outcome.
I took the rage I could have inherited and channeled it into strength.
I’m sorry for your pain. I pray the Lord will heal your broken heart. Many blessings to you.
Love,
Cheryl
You are so kind, Cheryl.
I’m sorry you had to go through that, and that you are still re-living it. They were monsters.
Reliving it? Yes and no. I choose to share with others because I hope that it helps them to know they are not the only ones. There are many tales to tell, and some of the memories here are, and will be, good ones!
It doesn’t hurt anymore. How does the saying go?
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
And although I hardly recommend these circumstances it remains that they did make me stronger.
I often wonder how going through this kind of abuse can crush one, and yet it strengthened me. I survived this period in my life, I grew a backbone that day, and now I share. 🙂
Hello Lynda.
Yes we did turn out OK! I graduated high school when I was 17 and joined the Army on the day that I turned 18. That was how I got away.
Are you still on the Farmlet?
Mary, yes, we did turn out well, didn’t we? I too went into the military, Navy, and although I didn’t get to see the world, I did get as far as Florida. I drove from California to my duty station and then visited the states around me while I was there. And yes, I am still on the Farmlet. During the “many days of viral madness” I got my green thumb back and I have been in the garden most days. I have grown all of my vegetables and most my flowers this spring. Still having fun here. How about you?