Page 14 - confessions1

I said to him was, "I need to get my stuff." He was blocking the door, so

he said "Well get it, damn it!" I was thinking, "No way he wants it with

me, just be cool Sam. Let it die down. Just leave without your stuff. Do

what Selima taught you." I heard her clearly at that moment saying

"Sam when you ready to leave you will take nothing!" So that's what I

did. I turned away slowly, protecting myself from a flimsy swing from

the bat. I went back down the stairs and I left for a life on the streets.

For the first time in my life I was free!

I broke into an old abandoned home in the back of where I was

living and slept there for the night. I was never beat again after that

day. Not in the streets. Not in a home. Not anywhere! No one ever beat

me again. I have tears in my eyes because that’s true for me figuratively

and literally. Unfortunately, the same wasn't true for my sister Selima.

The streets don't offer many blessed options for a 16‐year old coming

from where she had just come from. Beatings would become a part of

her life in a different way...