17 and still going strong

I'm seventeen years old and I currently live with my boyfriend. About a year ago I was taken away from my "adult" brother. My brother was a twisted, wretched man who enjoyed the psychological and physical pain of others. My parents died in a car crash when I was thirteen. After my parents' death, my brother went into a destructive downward spiral.

My brother became increasingly hostile towards me and my only companion, my bunny, Luna. He started beating Luna for no reason at all. Luna was everything to me. I had only had her for a little while, but we still became fast friends. Meanwhile, my brother began to scream at me for no real reason. No matter what I did, he found an excuse to punish me.

As the days wore on, my brother became more and more abusive. Soon, there was no happiness left in my life. My brother pulled me out of school so he could have a tighter reign over my life. I was miserable. The only ray of hope I had left was my rabbit Luna. My brother started using drugs. It started with pot, but heroin quickly became part of the picture. I can remember many times watching my brother get high.

While he was high, he was the most abusive. He soon started to beat me as well. It was the most horrible part of my life when he first started to physically abuse me. My brother began to feed me less and less. By the time I was 15, I was barely eating enough to survive. I was reduced to eating rotting food from the trash, much to his sick amusement. Luna became skin and bones, and could barely walk due to malnutrition. Still, she was my only companion in this dark time. I don't know how I would have survived without her in the beginning.

The day after my fifteenth birthday, as I was going down the stairs, I tripped and fell down. This caused me to break my leg. Instead of bringing me to the hospital, my brother just made a primitive brace for my leg, gave me some aspirin and sent me to my room. I cried for days out of pure pain, but still my brother did nothing. My leg never fully healed, and I walk with a limp to this day.

I clearly remember one day after finishing my chores, my brother got high on heroin. He stumbled over to me and began screaming at me about how worthless I was and why I should just die. While all of this was happening, I decided that the best thing to do would be to try and escape, so I tried to make a mad dash for the door, but it had only been a few months since I broke my leg. I made it a few feet before I collapsed in pain. My brother calmly came up to me and started to punch me and kick me.

"Obviously, this form of punishment isn't quite working," my brother calmly sneered. He then hummed his way to the kitchen, after which he then snatched a steak knife from the nearby kitchen counter and grabbed Luna, who was whimpering near me, trying to comfort me. He rammed the steak knife into Luna's rib cage. She screamed in pain while my brother cackled maniacally at her discomfort in addition to my horror. My brother then threw poor Luna at me with a horrible grin on his face. My only companion in the whole world was covered in blood. It was the saddest moment of my entire life. I could tell that Luna was dying. I wasn't allowed to bring her to the vet, so I stroked her as tears welled in my eyes. Luna died an hour later in my arms. My last ray of hope had disappeared.

About a month after the incident, a police officer came to our door. We didn't know why he was there, but a few months ago I found out that my neighbor had suspected child abuse due to my screams and his maniacal laughter being heard. The police officer asked me and my brother some questions and walked away. My brother suspected I had something to do with this, so he pounded me repeatedly in the chest and enjoyed it. The bruises would last for months.

The next day, the same police officer arrived again. This time he was there to take me away. That moment was probably the best day of my life. My brother pleaded to keep me, saying that it was all a big misunderstanding and that I got the bruises from falling down. For the first time in my life I summoned up the courage to stand up for myself. I told the police officer all the horrible, evil things he did to me. The police officer was so horrified that he handcuffed my brother and drove us both away.

Because of the extreme circumstances, the court declared me a legal adult. My brother is in jail for ten years (not long enough). I currently live with my boyfriend, who I met about six months ago. Besides Luna, he is the only person who really cares about me.

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anonymous Other April 13, 2024 at 7:55 am 1 1