I’m Fine (pt. 1)
I’m fine. I use those words a lot, but am I fine? My story is complicated for most but very normal to me. After serving in the military my memory isn’t what it use to be but I’ll do my best. It’s hard to try and remember my earliest memory, but I’ve got a pretty good idea... My parents were teens when they had me and unfortunately never grew up. My father in and out of jail my entire life and my mom narrowly escaping jailtime at least a dozen times. The first thing I can remember is Rodger, one of my mother’s past boyfriends. I was three, maybe four when he exposed himself to me. Nothing happened because I started crying and freaking out; however, he wanted to keep my mouth shut so he took an opportunity one day. As he was unloading large sheets of lumber from his truck he paused for a moment and threw a piece onto me as I walked by. I sustained a large head injury and still sport the scar today. After my mom suspected foul play, she decided to leave Rodger. He didn’t like that. We managed to move into a tiny apartment in the back of a Chinese restaurant in exchange for my mother working as a dishwasher. I remember waking up early one morning to go to the restroom (we shared the couch because it was the only piece of furniture we owned). Dazed from my dreams I sat up and put my feet on the carpet and started for the bathroom. I paused for a moment because something was tickling me. Or were my feet tingling from sleeping in a weird position? I looked down in confusion and to my horror realized what this weird sensation was. Maggots. Thousands of them. My screams woke my mother to her feet, and she scooped me up as fast as she could. Sometime in the middle of the night Rodger had broken into our home and spread maggots everywhere. It sounds like something out of a Stephan King story, but I assure you its very true.
