After all of my Boyz II Men things got ripped up. Eighth grade came. And the situation in my house got way more controlled. My brother and I weren’t allowed to eat any food after we got home from school, we had to wait until dinner. My mom and my soon-to-be second stepdad weren’t home after we had got out of school in the afternoon. They worked until the evening time. I remember one time after I got home from school, I was so hungry, so I baked a batch of blueberry muffins and hid them under my bed in a tin so that my mom and my soon-to-be second stepdad wouldn’t find them. Silly me didn’t think that the smell from the muffins would still be in the air when they got home. I got in trouble and after that my soon-to-be second stepdad started marking little black marks on all of the food containers in the fridge so that we couldn’t get away with eating anything after school. They would also keep up with how much food was in the cupboards.
I (Not trying to share my brother’s story, and he was wrong for this, but he snuck into a neighbor’s house one time to steal a can drink out of the refrigerator so that he could have something to drink. He ended up getting caught and got sent to a house for troubled kids because no one believed him when he said why he broke into the house.)
My soon-to-be second stepdad would also prevent my brother or myself from having any alone time with our mother. We would try and go into their room to talk to her. He would come in and make us leave and, were told to “Leave your mother alone!” Our mother never said anything to him. She never protected us from him. She stayed quiet. And at this point, she really did not engage with us at all. Other than to communicate commands. She allowed him to take complete control of the house. They ended up getting married. And I remember just feeling so helpless.
Around this time, I was in the 8th grade, and every morning they would leave the exact amount that we needed for breakfast and lunch on the table. As we would leave out for school, we would take our money and put it in our pockets. I decided at some point that I was going to save my money and buy another Boyz II Men tape from the corner store. I had saved up $10.00. I now had enough to buy the tape I wanted. One day my second stepdad sent my brother to the store to buy a pack of cigarettes for him. (You could send kids to the store back then to do that.) I gave my brother my $10.00 and told him to buy me the tape and he could have the rest to buy himself a pack of cigarettes. (Cause remember, my mom said it was ok for us to smoke with her. But when my second stepdad came, he stopped that. And at that point my brother was addicted to smoking.) He left, and I was so excited. I remember I was standing at the sink washing dishes when I heard my second stepdad stomping up the stairs, (we lived in a duplex house, and our house was upstairs) and I knew by the sound of his stomp that I was in trouble. And sure enough, I was. I guess my brother took too long at the store, so my second stepdad decided to walk outside just in time to see my brother trying to hide the tape and the cigarettes he had just bought for himself. He came in hollering and started to hit us. My brother who was in the 5th grade at the time decided to fight back. And my second stepdad grabbed my brother by the neck and pushed up against the wall lifting him up from the floor. I went to my room crying. I couldn’t do anything to help him. My mother never said anything to my second stepdad about it.
After that, I guess my second stepdad didn’t trust us anymore. So, he decided to come pay me a visit at my school…….
I remember the bell had just rung and it was time to go to lunch. I was walking in the hall with some of my friends. And I heard my second stepdad hollering my name in front of all of the kids in the hallway. My friends at the time were very aware of my home troubles, and one of them said to me “Come on, let’s go hide.” I didn’t go with her. I knew when I got home, it would have been way worse on me. So, I walked to him. He was cussing at me in front of all the kids in the hall and telling me to take him to my locker so he could search it. We walked to my locker and I opened it. I knew I was about to be in trouble because I had a picture of Wanya Morris from Boyz II Men hanging in my locker. I opened the locker, he saw the picture, tore it down, and continued to yell at me. I started crying and ran to the bathroom. He also found my lunch money for the day in my locker and took it. I didn’t eat lunch that day. I was honestly way to upset to eat anyway. When I got home that day, anything that was extra in my room was removed. I only had my bed and my dresser. Nothing else. He even took the door off the hinges. I had to get ready for school in the bathroom in the mornings. I remember just having such strong hate for my mom and her husband, that I started a count down on my calendar until I turned 18. I still had four years to go and many more encounters to endure. To Be Continued…..
Just Being Dee 