My mom is a very strong and brave woman, but her ex-husband is a very cruel, disgusting excuse for a father. He was a heavy drinker--and maybe still is. I have no idea, and when he lived with us, he always came home from being at the bar all night. When he was out drinking, my mom sat at home, scared to death because she knew he would come home and scream at her for no reason. When he did come home, he would beat her, like physically hit her or punch her just because he was drunk. Also, when he would go to bed, my mom would wake up in the middle of the night and have to change the bed sheets because he would pee the bed.

I was maybe a year old when this was going on, so I didn’t know what was really happening. One night, as my mom was telling me, “He came home drunk off his butt as usual and came into the house and went back to your crib. After he came out, you started screaming.” My mom went back to check on me, and my face was beat red from crying so hard. As she looked at me, she saw a pinky nail-sized cut on my lip, and I had started bleeding. My mom thinks he hit or slapped me. The first time my mom told me this I told her, “If I ever see him, I will literally put him through what he put you through!”

She said, “No, don’t do that. You could get into some serious trouble. His time will come.” I was never old enough to know what he was doing, so I thought he is a pretty good guy. He was always nice to me and treated me well whenever I was around. When I was about seven or eight years old, they ended up getting divorced. I am so glad they did because if they were still together now I don’t think he would like me very well, and I would definitely not like him after what he had done to my mom.

I will never forgive him for what he did no matter what he does. There is nothing in the world that I care about more than my mom, and when somebody does something like that to her, that person better watch his back. I have learned from my so-called father that when I get married and have kids, I will never ever treat them like he did my mom. I wasn’t raised that way and I know he was my dad and kids tend to take after their parents, but I will never, as long as I live treat a woman like he did.