Shattered Glass

Part 1: Life Uphill

         My life was not always impossibly enigmatic. It used to be full of such richness and depth. I often wonder to myself when that truly came to an end. I think the divorce was really what clinched my imminent destiny.
         I was born on an unusually hot morning on July 16, 1988 in Edmonton, Canada to a father who was a doctor and a mother who was a lawyer. They lived hectic lives and I rarely saw them. When I was barely two, the fighting began. My father had a violent temper and would beat my mother excessively during their arguments.
         My mother left the house with me one morning and we never turned back. It strained my relationship with my father to a great extent. I was never the type to forgive easily and I never quite forgave him for hurting her like that. He paid her only minimal amounts of child support until she fell in love with another man when I was five.
         I loved that man with all my heart and he gave me everything that I ever wanted. He had fought in Vietnam and possessed incredible strength on many levels. He was never overly secretive and I was delighted when my mother married him. He became my stepfather and with him my mother gave birth to my stepsister, Jessica just before my fifth birthday.
         After Jessica was born, things began to go downhill for me. My stepfather seemed to love her more than me and slowly began breaking his promises to me. It hurt me deeply and there seemed to be no one I could turn to. My mother was too busy for me to talk to her and I felt neglected.
         Things became even worse when we left Canada when I was nine. I never quite forgave my parents for taking me out of the country where I’d had so many great memories and friends. Leaving everything I’d been used to behind was a difficult experience for me to handle. I cried throughout the long drive to our new home in central New Jersey.