Life.

This is a story about a 15 year old boys life and how it took a 180° turn for the worst.

Hello, my name is Brandon. I'm going to tell you a story about how my life went from feeling loved to feeling as if I was abandoned. My toddler years were probably the best few years of my life. Even though I had no idea what was going on, I felt loved. In 2002, I got my first pet. She was a short-haired tabby by the name of "Voodoo". The same year, my parents started fighting over me and separated because of the fights they had. After they separated my mother got legal custody of me. Things seemed like they were going well for her. She had a loyal boyfriend, a roof over her head, food on the table, and me! But as for my dad, he was living with his mother, no job, addicted to certain drugs, and only got to see me on the weekends. My mothers boyfriends name was John. He was a hard working man, but he could be very jealous. In 2006, John thought that my mom was cheating and kicked us out. We soon moved to Boone, NC. 

 After he kicked us out, we moved to an apartment complex called "White Laurel". I was quite happy there, but then I started to get smarter. I started to notice that my mom would become very paranoid at night. She'd always hide a 4 bladed dagger under her mattress. So, when I visited my dad I started to ask him questions (For ex. : Why is mommy freaking out? Why isn't mommy sleeping at night? What is wrong with mommy?). He didn't want to answer the questions I would ask, so I decided to try to figure out the questions my self. I'd try to sneak downstairs in the middle of the night, but she would always hear me. She even started to put a mirror at the bottom of the stairs so she could she when I was coming down the stairs. I never knew why until my mom asked me to help find her phone. I started looking under her bed. What I found confused me. It was a tray with a razor blade and "white powder" on it. The following weekend I told my dad what I found. He then told me that my mom is addicted to drugs. 

When it was time to leave my fathers that weekend I made a promise to myself to confront my mom about it. When we got back to the house we sat down and I started to talk to her. I asked her what it was that I found. She said that it was her "medicine" and it gets in her system faster if she chops it up. A few months later I had a friend come over. His name was Sebastian. He was probably my best friend at the time. Anyways, we were upstairs playing Pokémon when we heard a big thud. Sebastian and I went downstairs to find my mother laying in a pool of blood. He went to get help while I stayed there and helped her. This is when I found out that my mother had frequent seizures. When I was talking to her, she didn't sound normal. I told her that I was going to call an ambulance, but she kept saying "No, I'm fine. Don't call the cops.". By then I figured out that my dad was telling the truth about her being addicted to drugs.

A few months later, school started again (I was in 3rd grade at the time). About halfway into the school year, my mother had to go to court because of my school absences (I had 32 absences in 18 weeks). When everything was going downhill for my mother, she got a call from my father. My mother made it seem like he had something for me. I got so excited. When he picked me up from school that Friday. I found out that he had backed over my cat, Voodoo. That was when my world was flipped upside down. When we got home he let me see her. I had her for a good 5 years of my life. After all that happened, I decided to talk to my father a few days later. I tried to convince him into moving back in and to try to get back with my mother. So, he decided to move back in with my mother and I. He soon found out that I was most likely going to fail 3rd grade because of my absences. He talked to my teacher and got all of my make-up work for those 32 days that I had missed. Somehow, I managed to get all of my work done and pass 3rd grade with an A+. 

At the end of the year, my mother sat down and had a talk with me. She told me that we were getting evicted from our apartment. She said that I was going to stay with my dad for the summer. That summer has stretched for 7 years. Over those 7 years I have seen my mother a total of 12 times. My dad had to bribe her to come up to see me or he would drive me down to her. The first year of middle school went pretty well. I got new friends, joined a few clubs, and had my first kiss. When 7th grade began, the depression also began. Before school I would have emotional breakdowns. I felt as if nobody cared for me. The depression I had in 7th still follows me to this day. Halfway through 8th grade, I started to see a counselor once a month. I would have emotional breakdowns about my mother (For ex. : How I thought that she didn't care about me, Why I haven't seen her in 2 years, Why doesn't she call me). That year started to get better, but then 9th grade came.

When 9th grade began, I felt like an outcast. People would make fun of me because of my long hair. People would call me fat. I honestly didn't even care at that point. I knew that depression was going to hit me sooner or later. But what I didn't know is that it was going to hit me hard. A few weeks ago I found out that my mom had Emphysema. Not to mention that she had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Anyways, the depression hit me really hard. That week my cat ran away, found out my mother is getting her leg amputated, my dad telling me that I'm going to fail, etceteras. During that time period, I found out that I had a gift. I found out that I could control my feelings by writing poems. Ever since I found that out, my life has been way better. Hopefully my life gets better. But, thank you for listening to my life story. I truly appreciate it. 

Sincerely, 

Brandon Bretsnyder

 

Author's Note

Ignore my grammar problems.