A Ticket Out of Life

Chapter Seventeen

I looked horrified at Lance before I tried to remove his hands from my shoulders. Lance scowled and tightened his grip, making me grimace at the pain. I knew he wasn't going to be gentle, not when something like this came up. Carrie walked up to me and smiled gently.

"Ash?" she asked again. Sighing as I gave in, I looked her square in the eye.

"So I have never gotten along with any of my family," I said as I smiled sadly. Lance released me and I noticed I had the attention of my entire class.

"We understand that," Lance said harshly. "We want to know the story behind it."

"It's a long story," I said looking away.

"I believe we have time," Katie said and I jumped with surprise as I looked at her. She had a blank expression and she raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

Chuckling, I smiled at them. "Fine, I guess I'll sum it up as quickly as I can. I wasn't exactly planned with my parents. I was called a mistake from the beginning. My mom was going to abort me, but decided against it when she wanted a toy for my brother and sister to play with."

"Abort you?" Carrie said with disgust. I smiled at her as I nodded.

"Yeah I was told this story many times, especially by Erin. Anyways, I wasn't even raised by my mom. She hired a nurse to care for me in her place. When I was old enough to walk, I was introduced to Erin and Eric. My dad and mom wanted nothing to do with me. As I grew older, I desperately tried to gain their affection, but gave up when I was eight. I saw there was no point in it. Constantly I was reminded I was worthless, unwanted and hated. At the house, I was treated lower than dirt. I don't ever remember having something done for me. My nurse was the one who taught me everything a mother is supposed to teach their child. My mom wanted nothing to do with me." I looked at my classmates and saw the horrified expressions on their faces and I couldn't help but smile at them. "Please don't look like that guys," I said with a cheery smile, hoping to convince them. "It wasn't so bad at first. I was left alone; free to do what I wanted as long as I didn't leave my room. I became interested in sports and other activities and I just let my imagination run wild. Then when I turned ten I—"

"Hold it," Katie said as she looked confused. "You were confined to your room? You didn't go to school?"

"I never went to elementary school," I said smiling sadly at the ground. "My dad thought I was an embarrassment, so I was confined to my room, only allowed to come out around meal times. I had to get permission to go to the bathroom." I looked away from their faces as I continued. "Things got worse when I turned ten. I was allowed to start junior high but under supervision. Even the teachers supervised me. I taught myself how to do the schoolwork since I wasn't allowed to talk to my family unless spoken too. I often got tutoring lessons from my aunt, who came over from time to time. I won't bore you with any more details, but the age of ten was went it all went downhill. My beatings became more gruesome and I was treated like a slave, or lower than a slave. Freshman year," I said taking a breath and I knew Lance would catch on to this, "was one of the worst years of my life. Everything went downhill. It came to the point where I hated my own existence. My brother and sister made high school total Hell on earth. I won't go into any more detail, because you guys get the idea. So to sum up the story, I was never wanted by my family and I was treated like so." I looked at my classmates as they pondered about this. I glanced at all of their faces and I could see the shock and anger dancing across them. I surprised when I even saw Katie holding the expression as well. Carrie looked at me with tears in her eyes and I smiled at her. She laughed and shook her head.

"After telling a story like that, I'm surprised you're smiling," she said as she came over and hugged me.

"Might as well smile right?" I said as I hugged her back. She released me and I looked at everyone. "I didn't want anyone to know. It's not something I like to mention."