Moving my Life ( circumstance #1)

  Ann Arbor is the type of place you end up in after you’ve gotten mugged in Detroit and are only were able to scramble up $53 in cash, just enough money for the cab driver to take you approximately one hour out of Detroit and smack dab in the middle of Ann Arbor. I was born here, I was raised here then I moved away from here and now I’m back here. I guess you could say that I’ve come full circle. I’ve been to 2 different Elementary schools (this was because of a redistricting approval by the school board which initially caused me to transfer schools, not a move), 3 different Middle schools and 4 different High schools. Moving back here how ever was the only move I’ve had a conscious decision in because of a lot of different circumstances.
  Circumstance # 1 my father was a drug addict through out most of my childhood, which lead to the separation of my parents when I was age 9 and ultimately the divorce of my parents at age 10 after my father’s failed attempt to commit suicide on my 10th birthday. Because of this my mother divorced him and he moved to Florida and in with my grandmother who had moved across the Country when I was 8 after my grandfather divorced her. There seems to be a reoccurring pattern here.
After the divorce my mother went through what I like to call a “Teenage Phase”. (I can’t call it a mid life crisis because she was only 30 at the time) She started dating again and would leave me in charge of my younger brother Shawn who was 7, my younger sister Kayla who was 6 and the last fruit of my parent’s now dead passions; my youngest sister Mackenzie who was still an infant. This would have been fine I was nearing the end of fifth grade and was capable of watching over them. However, my mother soon forgot the meaning of the word moderation and between work and the vast list of men she was dating the time she spent at home became minuscule.
    She would stay out all night most of the time then work during the day, come home change then go out then repeat daily. When school let out that summer it became even worse, my brother grow mad at me because mom was never there and I didn’t know how to kill the maggots that where now living in the pile of dirty dishes in our kitchen sink. On several occasions I’d lock myself in my room because Shawn would chase me around the house with a butcher knife. Mackenzie would cry, and Kayla she became completely with drawn. I remember one time I ate a can of cranberry sauce with a straw because it was the only thing edible we had left in the house.
    When 6th grade started I’d stay home most of the time and watch Mackenzie I’d always show her pictures of our dad and tell her stories of him, I didn’t want her to grow up not knowing who he was. He called every once in a blue moon but he had his problems and our relationship with him was put on hold. Kayla and Shawn started staying home most of the time to. I don’t know why I never asked them but, for me I hated school.
  When ever I did go which was about 1 or 2 days a week I felt embarrassed all the time. I never told any one about my home life, I’d try to cover up the fact that my clothes dirty by spraying them with fabreeze before I left the house. I was failing just about every class and I’d try to stay unnoticed. That’s all I really have to say about school.
  This continued for the rest of 6th grade and most of the summer. I remember crying in our basement one day when the phone rang. It was my dad I wasn’t suppose to tell any one my mother told me that over and over again, but he knew I was crying and I just broke down.