Having a mom who was mentally ill wasn't great, but it got worse when she left us to fend for ourselves. When I was around 10, my mom left us. One of my sisters — the lucky golden child — got to live with her dad. She was our mom’s favorite. And everyone else’s too. My oldest sister, my brother and me? We were left to fend for ourselves. Which meant we almost ended up in an orphanage. At the last second though, a guy took over our little rental house, and so he was also “taking care” of us. He was always in a bad mood, and my siblings and I felt like we were a heavy burden. Our existence was like some kind of favor he was doing us. |