Child Abuse Story From Colleen

by Colleen
(Missouri, USA)

I was 4 years old when my mom married her 3rd husband. My life was not normal already. I had a drug addict for a father, and was moving around to different relatives' homes so me and my sister, who is 4 years older than me, had a roof over our heads.

Like all the other stories, I don't remember when it started, but remember the times that I was abused, which was almost every day. I hated being home during summer break. He worked nights and we spent all day with him till he went to work. I guess the stories that stand out the most are the worst ones. I remember having a bruise on my leg the size of a goose egg, because I was hit with a piece of wood several times. I was not able to sit for days. That was the first time my mom saw the bruises, and all she made him do was say he was sorry.

It didn't stop there.

My sister at the time was being sexually abused by him. He never hit her as hard as he did me. I can't explain why, but when something would go wrong, I was the one to receive the punishments. I was kicked several times, and if I fell I was kicked more until I got up. I watched as he held a rock to my sister and mom's head and told me if I went and got help he would kill them. I had battery cables placed on my hands, and was told to stand there with them on. If I took them off I had to stand there longer. The abuse went to the length of me not being able to eat for 4 days as a punishment.

Finally, after about 7 years, the abuse from him stopped. My sister was the one to speak up, but the abuse didn't stop there. When it went to trial he got probation for my sister, and received nothing on my case. So a slap on the wrist.

My mom married again and this man was an alcoholic. She was worried more about him and partying, than me and my sister. I was sexually abused and raped several times by his nephew.

I am 30 years old now and married to my high school sweetheart. We have been through a lot. Just last night I decided to sit him down and tell him some of the things that happen to me. I was so scared to let him in, 'cause I was always told it was my fault. He comes from a wonderful family, a family I always thought was not true. A loving family, a caring family. I was so scared he would think of me differently, but he didn't.

My abuse is so long and painful that every day I am still dealing with it, even with a loving and supportive husband.

If there is one thing that I have learned from the years of abuse is, you can stop the abuse. You stop it with you. NO matter who you seek help with, you don't have to be like them. You can and do make your own path in life. I never would have thought I would be with a man that I don't have to worry about hitting me or my children. I always thought that I would live my life in darkness.

This is the first for me, and by telling my story I hope it gives others the strength to tell someone. It is not your fault. You are not the cause of this, and no one deserves to be treated like that.

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