Hollywood Arts, Here I Am

Chapter 4: Family Struggles, Making It On My Own, And A Court Date

I promised myself to never tell anyone about my family, about my past, about the verbal abused I endured from my mother, out of fear of them threatening me like Nadia.

I could never tell anyone.

Another thing about my mother, she gaslighted me, a lot. If I did one thing wrong, she would scream at me for it, then when I would confront her about it later, she would deny it and yell at me for making things up.

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"That's why I can't let Nadia get expelled. That's just enough to make her snap and ruin my life. I can't let my mother back into my life." I concluded.

Lane rubbed his temples with his index and middle fingers, "So, due to consistent verbal abuse, your grandparents took you in?"

"They technically adopted me at thirteen, passing away two years later." I explained.

"And you can't let your mother know that they passed away?" Lane asked.

"Because if she knew, she would force me to come back," I used air quotes, "'home'."

Jade gave me a side hug, "Sky, I'm so sorry you went through that. Nobody deserves to go through that. Your sister didn't deserve what she went through."

"You know what's sad?" I asked, "When I gave my father that note from my sister, regret tainted his face and guilt filled his eyes. He knew he screwed up."

"What happened when your mom broke down after seeing the note?" Lane asked.

"She took ten times the permitted dosage for the sleeping meds and nearly killed herself five days later." I sighed.

"Jesus." Lane let out a breath.

"My family is fucked up. But I'm smart enough to not waste my grandparent's fortune on stuff that isn't essential. I only use it for food and the bills, very rarely do I spend on myself."

"You've been making it on your own for a year?" Lane asked.

"About a year and a half, I'll be seventeen soon." I shrugged.

The room got quiet as Lane started to think to himself.

"What are we gonna do about Nadia?" Jade asked, putting her hand on top of mine.

"Well, we can't have her contact Skyla's mother." Lane started before turning to me, "How frequent does your mother pay her bills? Like her phone, internet?"

I thought for a minute, "Whenever she wants to. Which is usually three months after she gets the bill. So right now, she probably doesn't have access to either, but will soon."

Lane sighed, "Is there any chance she sold drugs or committed a crime to receive them?"

"What does this have to do with anything?" I asked.

"If we can get your mom on a criminal offense and get her put in prison, Nadia won't be able to contact her and you won't have to struggle with a legal case with your mom."

"Which means you won't have to face any more abuse, cause by the time your mom gets out of prison, you'll be an adult and you won't have to live under her roof." Jade clarified.

Not having to live in fear of my mother? Finally being free from the constant fear? I wanted that so badly and I would do anything to get it.

"She...did a few illegal things." I hesitated.

"Disclose this to me, I can report this to the police and they can go arrest her." Lane said, leaning forward, "You won't have to worry about her ever again."