Growing Into Reality

I had landed in Miami the day before. My sister was finally graduating from college, The University of Miami. I so happy knowing that my sister had worked so hard to get to where she was and at the same time I was excited out of my mind to finally be in Miami. I had never been out of the west coast really so to be in Miami was a huge thing. After the first day of just hanging out nearby, my sister Gabby, and her boyfriend Sam and I sat and watched TV as we waited for it to become later. We soon went to bed, excited for what the next day had to offer.

I remember waking up and checking my phone first thing in the morning. It sounded like nobody was home, so I walked out of the dorm bedroom into the living room, where I saw Sam and Gabby sitting quietly in front of the blank TV screen. I felt an immediate shock of sadness when I saw them. I knew something was wrong; this was nothing like how they usually act. I had this horrible feeling in my gut. I just didn’t know what was wrong.

“Good morning!” I said, trying to hide what I felt.

“Good morning.” She replied softly. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know if it was a problem between them, or if it was with me.

“What’s up” I asked. I knew I was going to hear something that would change this whole trip.



“Last night, mom called me from the hospital. Dad beat her up…” she continued to talk to me but I had no idea what she was telling me. It was like my mind had the words “dad beat her up” on repeat. I couldn’t move, I had no reaction, I was speechless. When my mind finally processed what my sister had just told me, I collapsed onto the couch, my knees were weak.

“What?! How?! Why?! When?! How could he do that?” was all I could say. I had no idea how this happened. It was my worst nightmare.
I have always felt that I had to be there to get in between of their fight so that they could stop fighting. I had been doing that since I remember. But this time was like no other. I couldn’t do anything at all. I was 2,600 miles away from home and the only thing I could do is call them. At this time, my parents had also been separated for a bit, but I thought it was just any old fight. But this time was different. I immediately called my mom after receiving the bad news. The sound of her voice through the phone was so relieving.
“How are you mom? I can not believe this happened.”I said quickly, wanting to know the whole story.
“I tried to go to your dad to talk to him but he got really mad and dragged me out of his shop.” She explained.
“That’s it? Are you hurt badly?” I asked her anxiously.
“I only have a little rug burn and a couple bruises” she replied. Even though it wasn’t as bad as it sounded at the beginning, I was still so shocked and torn apart, knowing that I couldn’t do anything about it. That same day, my mom called me and told me that my dad was with her
and they went out to eat and talk about it. I was surprised, yet disappointed as to why my mom would be with him still. I wondered if it was just a classic “mess up then apologize” that my dad always did. I was happy that they weren’t getting a divorce, or even more, that my dad wasn’t in jail. Even though I knew what my dad did was wrong, my mom forgave him and tried to fix it, for us, just so we wouldn’t worry about her.
At the end of the trip and the long flight, I was so happy to be home. I was finally going to see my mom and dad, even though I didn’t really want to see him. My mom picked us up from the airport and drove us to my dad’s shop, where we all met. It was hard for us to go inside, so we all stayed in the car. My sister and I could barely even look at him. As soon as he started talking to us, we started crying and asking him why he would do that. He cried too and hugged us back and comforted us for as long as possible. My parents tried to work it out from there, but it didn’t really work. A few months later my dad found out my mom was having an affair, and that was the start of a whole other round of fights, where I had to get in between and act like the mature one in the family. Many more aggressive acts occurred after that, and after everything, I would always find myself in the middle again.
After my parents split up and officially said they were getting a divorce, my dad left the house for a few months. I didn’t talk to him for 3 months straight. Not even a text or a phone call. I completely shunned him from my life and I was sick of everything. I felt like my whole world was falling on me. Everything was so unfair to me and I constantly asked myself what I did to deserve this. My mom always told me “Everything is happening for a reason and god will always help us.” But this didn’t make me feel any better at all. It was towards the beginning of
my junior year, I was struggling in classes and always constantly worried. I would have problems at home, and with my girlfriend. I was so angry at my mom and dad; I didn’t know how to relieve my anger. My mom even put me through therapy, where I finally built up the courage to talk to my dad again. It felt like I was thrown out of my house and out in a world all by myself. I went from being a kid that has it all, to a man with nothing. To this day, my dad barely even sees me, and when I do, it’s never the same. All I know is to keep going and hopefully one day it’ll all get better. All I want to know, is when.