Marigold

Hi my name is Marigold; like the marigold flower. Only I don’t smell like wet hay. I live on a farm with my daddy Eric. He and his wife have been married for 10 years. They adopted me when I was 3 years old. They don’t know I know I’m adopted yet and I don’t plan on telling them either. I’m 14 years old now and I’m able to get emancipated. They’ve been beating on me and sexually abusing me ever since I was a jit.The word jit in Florida slang means someone who is really young. I was 5 when they started beating on me and 12 when his wife Keisha molested me. So now I’m leaving for good. I thought about killing them several times, but God is watching and I know one day they will be in hell for what they did. They will be burning real soon. I have bruises and pictures to show they were beating on me. My “parents” think I’m dumb, but no, I just act helpless and slow so they won’t keep me in the house. They have the nerve to think I just go outside to play. I feel like sometimes they want me to get kidnapped because they never pay attention to me while I’m outside. They think since I got F’s in school that I don’t know anything, but really I’ve been skipping school to find out information about divorcing my parents. I learned how to read at a pretty young age, three years old. I started talking pretty soon too, one years old. They were really nice people when they first adopted me, but they started to become stressed over their jobs and they also started using drugs. When I was younger I didn’t know that anything was wrong with them until I accidentally dropped some juice on the floor. They pushed my little head and started to yell in my face. I’m surprised my little heart could take that much pain, but I could. One time I went off on them in my little voice and they ran after me and beat me. The amount of damage I took as a kid, it’s a miracle I don’t have brain damage or worse. I was really strong. I was capable of anything; I still am. I don’t even want to say what my dad did because it was way more traumatizing than what she did. He was the one I loved the most and now he is the one I hate the most.

In California they say that you need your parents permission if you would like to get emancipated, but lucky for me they were abusive, so that means child protective services would have to take me in anyway. I went to court and showed them bruises and other pictures. I told them that they were on drugs as well. They investigated my old home; they saw cocaine all over the bed and dressers. They saw pills all on the counters. My parents were at work at the time of the investigation. They found everything they needed to arrest them for possession and abuse. They had bruises on their bodies as well. You thought I didn’t fight back? The answer is yes, I absolutely did. I ran plenty of times from home until they left for work. I made another key, so I was able to go in and out as I pleased. I was smart, they just didn’t see it. I was sneaky and manipulative, something they tried to be, but failed at it.

The police officers arrested my parents from their workplaces. They were questioned; believe it or not they actually told the truth. I feel like deep down they knew they needed help, but they didn’t know how to seek it. I’m not sure what happened in their past. I don’t know what their parents were like, because they didn’t talk to me about anything. They just yelled in my face every time they got mad. When they were happy they were just attentive with each other; not even me. I had to really take care of myself. When I turned 5 I had to seek a friend or someone else's help. I didn't know how to research before this woman Melly came into my life. Melly was a friend of my parents, but she was the only one who was gentle and nice with me. She’s the only example of love that I saw. She was on drugs with them, but it was like she was my angel. She helped me through what they had to offer. She taught me how to read more; she helped me understand emancipation. She promised me that she would save up 10 grand for me. It’s crazy because that is exactly what she did and even at that age I didn’t expect anything from anybody. I was just hopeful; I was hopeful that my life would get better. It has; now I am living by myself. I’m going to a wonderful school with really sweet people. I am now happier than I have ever been.