Change

Charlie Duarte, Beyond the System Writing Contest

Life as a child wasn't always simple, I was always living on edge. One day which started off normally just searching for food I overheard a light scream not loud but loud enough for me to hear it, it startled me and caused me to drop a mug which broke. I started to panic because in my head I knew exactly what was about to happen. I heard footsteps rushing toward the kitchen and I felt the tears start to come and my body tensed up just preparing myself for the beating, but it was different this time. My grandfather just looked me in the eyes and told me to follow him. So I did as I was told. I followed him into the basement as he showed me to the darkest and coldest room in the house. He told me to go inside and wait so I did. I expected for him to grab something to beat me with but it never came. I was getting anxious and confused so I started to sweat uncontrollably it felt like and eternity had past and i started to fear i would get frostbite because of how cold it was and at that moment I heard grunts from the room next over it sounded like my older sister I was barely 6 at the time she was 9. The moment I heard the noise I knew exactly what was happening for it wasn't the first time everything leading up to that moment was just so he could get his way. He knew I had no way of contacting 911 or having any mechanism to stop him. The room was pitch black around me with the only thing I can hear is my biggest nightmare. My greatest fear was happening in the room right next to me but I could do absolutely nothing to stop it. That moment built me into a messed up person. Day and day out I think about that moment wondering why it had to be my family, my own blood sister who was done so wrong. This is where my story with the system began. This is when change began.