Child Abuse Story From Adeyaline
by Adeyaline
(USA)
I am the eldest daughter. I have a younger sister. My parents were strict Christians, Mormon to be exact and my LDS church wasn't the best place to be. All the girls in my community couldn't speak unless spoken to and we weren't allowed to cut our hair or wear jeans like all the other girls.
One day at school my new friend told me I would look better if I cut my hair just a little bit. So I did and when I came home that night my father was not pleased. I tried to apologize but that wasn't good enough for him. He took off his belt and beat me about 20 times, I lost count after 20 actually he could've hit me more but I had lost consciousness. I was only 7. When he took me to the hospital he told them a rabid dog did it and they believed him.
When I turned 8 my mom had already arranged my marriage for me to this boy in my community I'll call J. He was 13 at the time. In my community they don't teach girls about sex or the human body. I wasn't to be married till twelve though but we still acted as husband and wife. According to the bible women had to be submissive to their husbands so I did as I was told by J. I had thought it was normal but it hurt and when I told him "no" he would beat me and then tell my father a lie and he would beat me also. I suffered this abuse for 4 more years until my god sister B came to visit Utah over summer break. My parents acted so differently when she was around. They didn't beat me and J never asked me to stay the night with him, they acted normal.
B had taken me to a hair salon one afternoon to get my hair done. She didn't know that I wasn't supposed to do anything to my hair unless my father or J approved of it. And I didn't know she had planned to dye my hair that day, it was supposed to be a surprise. When she took me home that day my father looked angry. He didn't yell at B or anything he just looked away. After B left he asked me to come into the bathroom. He and my mother were waiting for me in there with a bottle of bleach and tinsel wool. He forced my head under the running bath water while my mother bleached my brown hair and scrubbed it with the tinsel. Meanwhile B was walking down my street when she realized that she had my necklace in her pocket she came back in the house and saw what they were doing to me. The next day B didn't come over but it was her mother that did instead. She came over with the sheriff and started to yell at my father and mother. My parents denied everything but B's mother insisted that they ask me instead of my parents. But when they saw my hair (scalp rather) they didn't have to ask anything. They took me and my sister out of the house and I saw my mom and dad being forced into a police car.
For over a month they were fighting over us. The judge didn't think twice when B's mother asked to offer to take us in. My father however was put in jail for 8 years my mother 2. When I went to my town I went to say my goodbyes but I wasn't allowed to leave yet. J told me that I still belonged to him and that wasn't going anywhere and he raped me again and also beat me to the point that I had to be hospitalized. I was there for over a month. When I was released the doctors said I was pregnant. I didn't know what pregnant was at that point. My pediatrician explained to me what pregnant meant and how people get pregnant and about puberty and all that. My doctor said that I could get what she called an abortion. I didn't know what an abortion was either. My doctor explained it to me again. She told me it would be better for me if I got one. She said my growth was stunted and that my body wasn't ready to support another person. She also said that I wasn't mentally ready for it yet either. J thought otherwise though. He took me to court to ban me from having an abortion. He said when a girl has her period she's ready enough to have a baby but my doctor proved him wrong. The only thing that had gone through puberty was my reproductive system she said and that the rest of my body wouldn't go through the change till about 16. The judge said that I was allowed to get one up till 3 months I was 1 ½ months when I got mine. I remember going to the clinic and seeing a whole bunch of people out there. They called me names I didn't recognize but B said they were very bad names and that I shouldn't repeat them. It hurt when I got it done but it took 5 minutes and I felt sore. A week after that they had me testify against J who was now 17. I won that case and he was trialed as an adult. So now I'm here living with B and her family along with my sister.
Sometimes it hurts thinking about what had happened back in Utah. I don't know if I could tell my story verbally, writing is much better. I'm sorry that it took me a long time to write this I had blocked out some things and took me a while to remember them. It takes a while to get over abuse. I don't think anyone ever gets over it but it's important to move on. I'm going to really nice school and the people are nice. I cut my hair and when I get home and no one yells at me and I got my ears pierced too. I found new interest like reading and swimming. But memories still lurk their way back into my head.
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