As a young child, up until I was 5 or 6, I had been a very happy and friendly boy. A little shy sometimes, but had no trouble making friends. Although we did move a lot. Thats just what happens in a low income, single mother household.

She did very well looking after me and my older sister. Made a lot of sacrafices for us that make her a saint in my eyes. Sometimes we would only have enough food for two small meals. Leaving the third big person out of luck. She would smile so big and sweet, and say,"dont worry, hun, I had all the dinner I could eat at work!"

I started kindergarten and kept getting in fights with one boy in particular. This was a small town, so nobody got suspended. Just punished by standing in the corner and calling our parents.

That year, my mom met a man who was very kind to her. He would mow the lawn when she was too busy, fix her car when it broke down. He was very generous to us. A year later he and his two sons moved in with us. The younger of the two was the same boy I had been fighting with the previous year in school.

After a short time, we realised nothing was as it seemed. The kind and caring man was controlling and abusive. In a great many ways that we wont be getting into.

The older son was happy to hurt anything. The two would gang up on me a lot, but usually he would be content to catch and kill neighborhood animals. Sometimes I would find the corpses and further mutilate them. Frustration? A longing to be strong like him? I dont know.

There were lots of more fights at school. Now I was in first grade and the teachers said it wasnt cute anymore, which I found demeaning. I hated being talked down to lik that. If i ever disrespected my elder, though, I would have got it real bad.

That fear kept me in line for a very long time. Its still a small part of me today.

My teacher had recomended I stay back a year due to "developemental" issues. I was very withdrawn from everyone. She didnt even bring up the fact that I didnt know how to read. Maybe she wasnt paying any attention to my needs and just saw a problem student that spent most of his time daydreaming.

After the second time through the grade, my mom's boyfriend had been arrested for child abuse. My sister and I went to live with our father, and the other boys went to live with their mother. Thus my wonderful, beautiful, and poor victim mother was left alone with nobody for a time.

My Dad didnt get custody because of the jailing. You see, around that same time, my grandma on my dads side commited suicide and left a chunk of money to him for legal fees. It just happened to coincide with the previous event.

After years of hardly knowing my dad, I finally got the opportunity to know him on a personal level. Well, thats what I thought anyway. Its funny how hings dont always work out how you think they would.

Ya so thats my life up till 8 years old. Theres more detail, but you have an imagination. Thanks for reading!

Dont get me wrong, I have always looked back at this time with fondness, though some of it I didnt remember until my early 20s. I still look at it as a good childhood that set me up to be a compassionate and loving person.