Valen

Chapter 1

                                                                                           Valen

There have been a few times in my life when I wondered if someone had chosen their career based on the type of childhood they had. After the scary, traumatizing childhood that I'd lived through, I always hoped that I would one day become an officer of the law. Today my dream is coming true. I'm getting ready to graduate from the New Jersey Police Academy in only two hours. The terrible nightmares of why I wanted to be a police officer keep flashing in the dark depths of my mind. For most of my childhood, I was forced to watch my drunken father beat on my sweet, innocent mother as if she was his personal bunching bag. I had seen him punch her, kick her while she was down, and even choke her neck until her face turned blue. This went on for many years because my mother was too afraid to leave him. My dad always told her that he would search for us, and he would find us. He wouldn't have to say anything further because mom knew what would come next. Her punishment. A painful punishment.

I don't blame her for being too scared to leave. Who knows what that man was capable of doing? I always wanted to jump in and do something to help my mom during the beatings, but I was too small to do anything for the longest time. Or maybe I was like my mother, and just too scared to try. I guess I'm just lucky he didn't take any of his frustrations out on me. He never touched me, not even once. Not even when...

Suddenly a tap on the bathroom door made my memories fade and brought me back to the present. "Are you almost ready to go?" My mother asked through the bathroom door, her voice soft and feeble. 

"Yes mom, just fifteen more minutes please," I answered.

"Okay. I just want to get there early so I can get a really good seat, and we still need to go to the motel office and check out."

"Be right there mom."

My mom and I live in Camden, about one and a half hours from Sea Girt, where my graduation takes place. We got a motel room for the night before my graduation so we wouldn't have to drive to Sea Girt this morning. I didn't want to be exhausted during my graduation.

Barely fifteen minutes later, I was out of the motel door wearing the required police uniform I had rented from the academy. We either had a choice to purchase or rent the uniform, and since I didn't expect to need that particular uniform again, I had decided to rent mine. I couldn't afford to waste money on something I wouldn't need but only once. I'd spruced up my makeup and tied my dark hair back into a tight bun. The uniform was a little much for this warm June morning in New Jersey, but I guess I'll have to get used to it since being an officer is what I wish to do for my career. For the first three and a half years since graduating high school, I worked two part-time jobs while earning my Associates Degree in Criminal Justice. I needed to save up enough money to live on while at the academy. When I wasn't in class, I worked as a hotel housekeeper by day and a pizza waitress by night. I was still lucky to have enough saved up to hold me over for the six months I spent at the academy. Mom tried to help a little. However, she barely makes enough at White's Food store and from cleaning offices to pay her own bills, and still have some left for her groceries and gas for her car.

Once my mom and all our luggage were loaded into my car, I went to the motel office and checked us out. We arrived at the Police Academy grounds twenty minutes later. My mom wasn't exactly thrilled about sitting six rows back from the large outdoor stage. She originally wanted the first or second row. I told her it could have been worse, she could be in the very back with the procrastinators who would probably need binoculars in order to see. She agreed with me and finally stopped complaining. After she was settled into her seat, I went behind the stage to join the other graduates.