He called it Love, We called it pain

Grace

I was at the park with mommy at the time.

We went to the nice one this time.

The one with the bright red slides, and the rubber monkey bars.

The one near our house is kinda bad so we don't go there anymore.

Mommy says since I'm about to be seven I need to start going to the big
Girl park.

This was my last time going to this park, and I was excited.

I was ready to grow up and go to the big girl park.

I was running around with my friend Sarah, and we ended up near the fence at the far end of the park.

We were kind of shaded from our mommies.

I and Sarah were playing patty cake and this nice man walked up and said he said he had some candy for us.

Sarah said she was gonna go ask her mom, and so I stayed with the nice man.

I called him Candy Man.

He told me he wanted to give me his specialty candy bar.

I was excited.

He handed me a candy bar that tasted so good.

He brought me to his car to get some more.

For some reason, the nice man sat me in the trunk and accidentally forgot I was there.

I yelled for him to open the trunk but he didn't hear me.

I felt the car moving and I got excited maybe mommy knew him.

I thought he might be bringing me to the big girl park.

The car stopped and he opened the trunk.

He told me he was bringing me to his candy room.

I got excited I love candy!

He blindfolded me and brought me inside somewhere.

We went down some stairs and he put me in some box.

He took off my blindfold and his candy room didn't look like candy.

There was this lady who looked troubled.

She had some metal things around her and she looked hurt.

She asked me what my name was and I told her it was Grace.

She started talking to me about her life and I asked why she was here.

She said she didn't have a choice and was ready to leave.

The man came downstairs and told her she could leave.

She asked about what he'd do to me and he told her she would find out.

She left and headed upstairs.

The man started touching me, and I didn't like it. I screamed for him to stop and the nice lady grabbed him and got me and we ran.

As we ran outside the man found us.

He put us back into the cage.

And we sat there throughout the night.

I asked the nice lady why didn't she just leave and she said she couldn't.

She started rubbing the chains together and all of a sudden she started to bleed.

I knew blood wasn't good because mommy taught me how to use the first aid kit whenever I get hurt.

She smiled at me and told me that she was free.

I asked her why is she happy she's bleeding. Mommy always said blood was bad.

She told me she was gonna fly free.

After that, she started bleeding more, and eventually, she stopped moving.

The candy man came downstairs and was mad to see her dead.

He grabbed me and started feeling up on me.

He ripped my shirt and started to feel me up.

Mommy taught me to never let anyone do this but he chained me up.

I was scared I started to cry.

He wouldn't leave me alone.

He took off his pants and started doing stuff.

I didn't know what.

I got scared and wanted to run away.

This happened weeks, to months, and now years.

I am now 13.

I only knew the year because there is a small cracked window across the street of an abandoned gas station.

I kept thinking about how that lady killed herself.

I gained the man's trust to where I could walk around freely.

I went to take a bath.

And I remembered how free I was.

And that if I drowned tonight it would take all of this pain away.

It would wash him away from existence in my mind.

I started the water.

Added bubbles.

And relaxed.

I started to fall asleep. And the next thing I know I'm slowly slipping down the tub.

I let myself go, I wanted it all over.

I heard him bust in the door.

He grabbed me from the water.

He told me to go downstairs. But I grabbed a bar of soap as he grabbed me.

I took the soap and rubbed it on my feet. I headed downstairs and slipped and fell, and smashed right through the glass window.

The shards were piercing and I felt like I deserved it. If only I would of went with Sarah.

I could have stopped this a long time ago.

I bled and bled waiting until it would be over.

He found me and was trying to keep me alive.

The bleeding never stopped and eventually, it was all over.

I was dead.

I saw this bright light.

The light wasn't too bright though it was perfect. I saw a flashback of my life with my mom, and it made me so happy.

Be careful who you trust because you never know who might take advantage of you.

I'm sorry mom, I'm sorry Sarah I love you all.