by Jaclyn Zumwalt

Created on: December 28, 2008

I was 11 years old when they moved into the house down the street. Little did I know then She would change my life forever. Not a day goes by, almost 20 years later, that she does not cross my mind.

I was very sheltered as a child. Church was the main focus of our family,and I was not allowed to watch TV, or listen to radio or read anything that was not church related.I never felt deprived until the first night I was allowed to sleep over at her house.

WOW! Her parents barley acknowledged my name.They sat there in front of the TV,smoking something that smelled sweet and yelled at her to get the beer out the garage. I went with her while she laughed and said we could take a few, they would never know. I told her I wasn't sure what she meant after all,I actually didn't even know what beer was. There began my education, as she called it. An only child, she told me her parents never wanted her and that she was allowed to do whatever she wanted. As long as she stayed out of the way, she could usually be left alone.Neither of them worked but never seemed to want to money. She always had money on her. As I grew older I found out that weed,meth and any other drug was accessible there. She told me meth was best. It made you forget, forget what, I asked? Her life,She answered. I started to think that maybe her life wasn't so great after all. Maybe that was the reason for the look on her face sometimes or the look on the adults face when they looked at her,like she was dispensable, nothing...

As the years went by, the rose colored glasses fell off quickly. At 14, when she started to get fatter I laughed at her.I told her she was drinking too much beer.I Later that night, she called me. She asked me to come outside. I told my mom I had to get something out of the car and ran out. I will never forget the sight. She was hiding halfway in a bush. At first I thought it was a joke,then i realized she was crying. HER? she always seemed so cool, so grown up. She asked me to help her. I knelt down and looked at her. I did not recognize her. She was bleeding,swollen and her nose looked sideways. I stared in horror. What? WHY? She made me promise not to tell, then handed me a bag,told me that I was the only one who ever cared,that she needed me to help her....

Then i saw that she had stopped crying, she actually looked....dead. I screamed, dragged her out, only to see that she was not wearing any clothes and her stomach looked like pounded meat. I tried to wipe the blood off, but couldn't.

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