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        When doors bang and car sirens whistle I dream of being in Hawaii on a nice beach with my little brother and sister and my mom and dad. We are all happy there. Then I wake up to the sound of my sick sister and little brother crying because he is hungry. My mom and dad are fighting in the background.
    I feel like I am all alone in this world. My family barely notices me. In school, I am a nobody.  I have no friends and at lunch, I am all alone.
    At five in the morning my parents are fighting, they do this every morning usually about how we have too many people in our family and not enough money or space. But this time was different the voice were louder and there was not a pause in between them. I hear mom stomp out of the house and go to work. She is a pediatrician, I know that sounds like a really good and well-paying job but in our small town customers are the same and only have about 20 people every month. My dad works around town we are not allowed to ask about his work. My little brother thinks he is a spy and my sister thinks he is a night that is serving a princess in a far land. I know dad is a drug dealer. He has a very dangerous job and it might be part of the reason mom and dad are always fighting. Every day when he leaves my mom is worried inside but does not show it.
    After dad leaves for work Lina comes to pick us up for school. She is our babysitter. But I am not a baby anymore, just my little sister and brother, I am a freshman in high school. On the weekends we spend all day, and sometimes night with her. She is really nice and sometimes she will bring her boyfriend over he I since too. I think I like him most because he pays attention to me when no one else will. He makes me feel good about my self. Sometimes when mom and dad are fighting more than usual he will take me out for ice cream and we will talk about it. I will tell him why I am scared or sad and he will help me get my mind off of it.
    We found a way that gets my mind off of it that is fun for me: reading. I love reading. My parents found out I read but I had to tell them that whenever they fight that is what I do. So they would let me keep reading. My babysitter got me a dictionary so when I talk I sound smart. A few years ago dad said he was on a holiday but that was his way of saying he had to lay low. I heard him say the company folded. I looked it up in the dictionary, and it means that his holiday is going to be very long. The dictionary is my favorite book. I'm trying to learn all the words but I've only got to "chthonic." I keep it under my bed. When my mom and dad are fighting, I take the dictionary and I open it to any page and I read the meanings of the words out loud with my fingers in my ears. That's how mummy found out I could read. When I noticed her in the doorway, her cheeks were wet, and I knew the fighting must make her very sad. But she told me she was very happy and gave me a long hug. She said she was crying tears of happiness. That's when I learned that happiness could make you cry too.