My story

by M McDaniel
(miami, fl)

As a little girl, I always witnessed woman in my family being abused. I saw my grandmother being dragged out of the house and beaten by my grandfather. I saw my mother being beaten by my father, and watched the ambulance come to the house many times. I remember my father chasing my mother down the street with a chaisaw. How many times did my mother end up being in the hospital? To many times to count.

I was turning 16 years old when something told me not to go out that night... but I did. that's when i met, "him". We met at the movies. He was so sweet at first, I would have never thought he would hurt me, worst yet... abuse me! I was wrong. The first time he got mad... he shoved me into a wall, yelling how horrible I was. A few hours later he came back to me with flowers saying how sorry he was, and that it would never happen again. Well i thought, "hey, it was just a shove". I never knew the facts about domestic violence before all of this. When they say it gets worse.. it really does! Being shoved into a wall was the least he did to me. I've been thrown out of a car and have scars all on my body, glass thrown at me, my clothes and things damaged, lost my family and friends. My family and friends had seen what I was going through and just want to help, but I wouldn't let them. Deep down I really thought he loved me. I thought I could change him. Well, so did his ex-girlfriend and that didn't happen. Within the first year, i had 5 restraining orders against him, although I dropped a few due to his threats.

When I left him, it only got worse. He stalked me, showed up at my house, my job, and my school. It was so bad that it forced my mom to put cameras around the house and hire a body guard. For a long time, I thought I was dreaming. It didn't seem real to me, and it was embarrassing because of my age. No young girl, or woman should ever go through that.

I believe everything happens for a reason and i'm actually glad it did. It made me a strong person. I'm turning 19 now. I left him 8 months ago. Now I have a scholorship and plan on studying law. I'm volunteering at Woman In Distress, and writing my book on domestic violence. I can say I'm a survivior. I'm young and believe my story can help other young girls going through domestic violence as well.