john

when i was 15, one of the high school jocks, a senior, asked me to prom. i had just got my braces off, figured out what to do with my curley hair and i was working, so i had some decent clothes. but i think i got his attention because he could tell i was alone. he was 4 years older than me and knew everything, where i had yet to be taught. he would only beat me up if i didn't want to have sex or i told him i wanted to break up. after the first couple of months, that only happened every three or four months. i had 4 abortions in 2 years because pills made me so sick, i would throw them up. i always had bruises, usually just fingerprints around my throat because i got those even if i didn't do anything wrong. my mother says she didn't know, but i had my nose broken and the side of my face purple more than once. i think maybe she didn't want to know. after i graduated, i disappeared. i quit my job, packed my stuff up and went to stay with a friend who's family had moved to another part of the state. i made sure no one knew where i was because he always found me. he got bored and found some other girl. i got over it.