The Story of My Life

Hi, my name is Sarah Malinchak, and I am going to tell you the story of my life.

It was 2:10 P.M. November 7th, 1997, and my mom had just given birth to me. I don't remember much of my childhood except little bits. Before I knew it, I was turning two. I remember my mom told me and my little sister she was going to the store and we had to stay with our mammal (grandma) and Uncle Jimmy. We went into our uncles’ room to watch Pokémon and we fell asleep because we were little. We were both woken up by a loud thud in the other room, it was mammal falling off the ladder she was on putting the Christmas lights up. Then the cops were there and we were talking to them because as my sister put it "Our pee pee butt hurts." that was the first time they took me and my sister from our mom and we were given to our Aunt Amy. She is our mom’s sister.

After that our mom begged for us back, so we went to live with her again. She was told to keep us away from Jimmy. She did not. One day in the apartment I had just woken up from my nap and the stairs were scary to me, so my uncle came to help me. He put me on his shoulders and started to walk down the stairs. The cat got under his feet and he tripped, and I fell off his shoulders and down the stairs. I was immediately ambulanced to the hospital with a broken femur bone (the hardest bone in your body to break) in my right leg and a fractured hip. I was not taken from my mom then but when my mom left us with Jimmy and our grandpa to go to the store again I guess I forgot so I (at two years old) walked to the hospital asking for my mommy.

They asked what her name was, so I told them. They took me to the cafeteria, and gave me Jell-O, while we waited to see if she was there. She was not. So, they asked me if they could call someone. The next thing I knew my aunt Amy was picking me up and crying and saying she is so sorry. I could not figure out why she was sorry. When we left, we stopped at my house and my mom was there crying vigorously. After that my sister, baby brother, and I were taken from our mom for the last time.

We were put into the foster care system and bounced from house to house until my "FATHER" wanted full custody of me when I turned seven. So, I got separated from my sister and brother to go live with a family closer to my "FATHER" until he went to court. One day my "FATHER" asked me during a visit if I wanted to come stay with him and my soon to be stepmother. I said yes, I would love to. So, I move in with them and a few years go by. Every weekend when my stepmother went to work almost all day long, I would go in their room with my "FATHER" and watch cartoons and fall back to sleep. When I would wake up my "FATHER" was touching me inappropriately and said he was "playing with me". He said "This is normal honey just go back to sleep. This is our little secret." Or he would just tell me to keep watching my cartoons. I remember one time he even had the cam going. At the time I did not think anything of it. Because he's my "FATHER" and he wouldn't do anything that was bad or anything to hurt me. So, I came home from school one day and no one was home, but the door was unlocked so I went in. Again no one is home. I come back out crying and the bus is gone as well. Then my step-uncle comes walking up to me. (I only meet him once before).

He sees me crying and explains that he is going to be watching me while my "FATHER" and stepmother had their wedding. We go inside and we play on the PlayStation that is hooked up to the TV. I end up going to bed before they get home and the next day is the weekend so no school. It’s a nice day out so I ask to ride my bike and my stepmother tells me to F***king go back inside and wait till my "FATHER" got home. I, being a child (7), yell if I could get away with it, I would take a knife and kill you. So, she has me write a letter to my "FATHER" and tell him what I did. She also moves the knives onto the fridge so I could not reach them. Now I am asleep when my "FATHER" gets home, and he wakes me up to bust my ass.

A few days go by of me being grounded when a cop shows up at our front door. My stepmother answers and the cop say, " Your husband has been arrested." she asked on what charges and the cop says sexafender. She thanked the cop for informing her and closes the door. Then my stepmother punches a hole in the wall all the while yelling at me that it’s all my mother’s fault. We then must move out and move in with my stepmother’s family. I must go to a new school after the move, so I become shy and to myself. One day I tell my step-grandmother that I am going to bed early. I start "touching myself" because "it's normal" according to my "FATHER", and my step-grandmother sees me and yells at me and drags me to my stepmothers’ room. I am embarrassed and didn't want to tell her, but I do, and she asked where I learned it, so I tell her my "FATHER" taught me. That was when she went off. Crying and yelling at me saying my "FATHER" was in jail so he couldn't have taught me and that he would never do a thing like that.

So, I drop it, she grounds me, and takes away TV privileges. She then proceeds to tell me to go read a book or something. After that I just stop doing anything that isn't what she told me to do. A few months go by like this then my "FATHER" comes home. My stepfamily starts to make a sign and I want to look at it, but I'm not allowed to leave my bed. So, I climb onto my headboard and peep through the hole in the curtain surrounding my bed. My stepmother sees me and comes and spanks my ass with a belt. I start screaming and crying because it really hurt. Then my "FATHER" walks in and asked what happened so my stepmother tells him everything that has happened the past few years, and he sides with her. He doesn't even talk to me about it.