Split Your Heart, Not Your Tongue

I was given this idea when I received an email from an author whose newsletter I am signed onto. Given, this post was supposed to be written on the 11th, I had a busy past 10 days dealing with work, lost luggage, planning for parties, and a Grandmother who was in the hospital. Whatever, it's here now! Dear Teen Me, It's okay to be different...like vastly different from your peers. I'm sorry I'm telling you this about 10 years too late but I didn't know it back then. You definitely should've dyed your hair the colors of the rainbow and embraced ripped up jeans and Converses instead of high heels and dark brown hair. You didn't have to change that because nothing was wrong with it. It's okay to be into bands instead of rappers even though no one made you feel like it was (but I'm glad you met someone who did!). Liking rock music and being deemed as "emo" doesn't mean you abandoned your culture even though that's what they told y...

Intro Enough was enough. This was the last time I was going to allow him to treat me this way. My mom is gone and there’s no reason for me to remain here any longer. He’s the reason why she’s no longer breathing and I refuse to go out that way. It was time for me to leave. I looked at my face in the bathroom mirror. I was too young to go through this madness. I was only thirteen and I felt like I was living the life of a man. My face was sore and bruised. I guess since my mother was no longer here to be his punching bag, I had to suffice. Karson was my stepdad since I was nine years old but I never respected him. Night after night I would lie in my bed listening to the horror going on in the room next to mine. My mother’s screams from his beatings would enrage me, but what was I to do? I was only a kid. Still, I continued to blame myself. I should have been stronger. It wasn’t until I got a little older that I started to fight back. Fighting back only made him start to...