Sitting in your living room with colorful crayons and a blank piece of paper white as snow in front of you. You’re 6 years old, you draw your future, a picture perfect life
High school
College
Career
Marriage
Kids
Gunshots pierce your ears, the sound so loud your hearing is lost as if you went deaf for a moment. Go to your room, hide. You leave the drawing behind, a picture perfect life
Not the life you will ever live
You’re 16 years old, hope. You are close to finishing high school and hard work is paying off. Reaching into your backpack is the drawing. There is hope, you’re almost done with high school. You are close.
Escape
No wait. Your drawing is ripped away from you
16 and pregnant. How did you end up here?
This is not the life you had imagined. You lose hope, applying to college, taking your ACT 8 months pregnant you’re starving, about to pop, and they won’t let you have a snack. You can’t go to college anyways, the low score doesn’t matter anymore. This is
not
the
life
you had imagined. You’re 18, kicked out, aside from your baby boy, you are
alone
Worried, you’re working 4 jobs living in fear of your baby’s father, the piercing image of your name in cursive tattooed on his neck. He believes you belong to him, picturing the glock 19 in his hands, be careful. He’s coming for you
Dark as midnight and you’re reading books to your baby boy. Gunshots. will you ever escape this life? You need to
Escape
Coming back from a party with someone you considered a friend, you’re 20. You’ve known this friend forever, you’re comfortable. Exhausted, your eyes feel as if they were being weighed down by weights. You can’t keep your eyes open any longer. It’s the middle of the night, you open your eyes. Something was wrong
No
No
No
You were violated
Used
Confused
You trusted him. He is not your friend anymore
Alone
It’s just you and your baby boy but, he gives you courage. You’re 22, it’s as dark as night and you’re reading stories to your baby boy. The sound that used to pierce your ears like glass shattering is gone, no more gunshots. Your hard work, 4 jobs, online school, single mom. You were able to
Escape
Your son is 6 years old sitting in your living room drawing with crayons as colorful as a rainbow on an blank piece of paper. You see a house, a little boy, and a young woman. You reach into your purse to find your old drawing. You throw it away.
A house, a little boy, and young woman, together, safe.
The perfect life
