The sweet smell of ribs cooking on my father’s grill was all around me. There must have been thirty or more people on my porch, and kids I knew were running in the sprinkler out back. All the adults had a beer in hand with an empty plate of food next to them. It’s not like I hadn’t seen this before.

All good things must come to an end. My mother started a drunken argument with her friends while my father tried to get her to stop. I decided that I didn’t want to be around anyone anymore, so I walked inside. Just as I slammed the door…You can imagine where my hands were.

Blood and tears were everywhere. My mother ran in past me to get band-aids and peroxide and everyone at the party started asking me if I was okay. I was so embarrassed for some reason. My father could tell that I didn’t want them to know, so he took me for a walk, blood and all still on my hands. I’m glad he did though, I just wanted to escape it all.

That is when I knew I had at least one person who I could trust.