A Survivor

“A Survivor”
By: Tina Davis pd. 4red





My name is Rae Miller and I was born on May 18, 1996. It was a cold May afternoon and my mother was in the hospital when I was born. I have an older sister named Rachel Miller, she is about two years older than me. We get along and we are very close. My mother’s name is Shelly and my father’s is Craig. We are one big happy family that get a lot and bond a lot. Usually every Sunday we go to church and after we go out for brunch at Ihop.
I grew up in a small town called SandVille. I go to school at a small district called Lincoln Heights. I hate school because people are rude, they all smell, teachers give you homework every night and really hard tests. And don’t let me forget about the disgusting lunches. Talk about sickening. Anyways, in about second grade I met my best friend, Ned Stewart. I met him from school of course, but I was getting picked on by some fourth grade bullies at lunch the one day and they were making fun of my ponytails and flower skirt. While I was eating, one kid snuck under my table and tied my shoe laces together. So whenever I went to throw my trash away I tripped and my chocolate milk went everywhere. Ned was there to help me clean everything up and he yelled at the upper-classmen. Of course, they all laughed at him, but hey, he still stood up for me.
Ever since that day we hung out every day after school and became best friends. Most of the time, I went over his house. Usually, we did homework, attended vacation and weddings together, played video games and in the backyard. He is my only true best friend and I know for a fact he will always be there for me whenever I need help. His family loves me, and I love them. They are basically my second family.
“Rae, honey,” Ned’s mother said, “I made your favorite cookies again, oatmeal!”
“Oh, thank you Mrs. Stewart, but I’m pretty full from my packed lunch today. Thanks anyways!” I said.
Every time I go over his house Ned always asks the same exact question, “Want to go on the trampoline?”
“You don’t even have to ask, Ned,” I said as I raced to the back door before he could beat me.
Afterwards, I went home. I remember this day because it was when my mother began feeding me less and less.
“Eat the leftovers. Now,” she demanded me.
“Well is there anything–”
“You eat this now! Or starve,” she said in a sly voice as she interrupted me.
I ran to my room with no hesitation and balled my eyes out. When I cooled down a bit, I went to Rachel’s room.
“Get out twerp,” Rachel said.
“But did you hear what mommy just said to me?!” I sobbed.
All I got was a finger pointing to the door letting me know to exit. I exited, as I was asked, and didn’t say another word. I don’t understand why everyone is acting rudely towards me; I’m an innocent little girl.
I went to school the next day and didn’t talk to Ned about it. I didn’t mention anything because I didn’t even want to think about what happened last night, although it was all I could think about. As always, Ned could tell that something odd was wrong with me, something was different. He walked over to me and put his arm around my shoulders, giving me a warm, safe hug, which I needed.
“Rae, are you okay? You don’t seem like yourself,” Ned added as he laid his head on mine.
“Yeah thanks Ned, I just want some time alone okay?”
“Well yes, of course. But you know I’m here when you are ready.”
“I know.”
He walked away and turned around for one last look. He shot me a small grin to let me know everything was going to be okay.
It was the end of the day and the students got dismissed. I sat in my seat while the halls cleared out. As I was walking out of the school, the buses were leaving to drop the children off at their houses. As I was watching them leave, I saw Ned looking at me from across the road with his arms up wondering what I was doing.
“Oh well,” I sighed, “it’s not too cold. I can walk. He’ll call later.”
I arrived at home about twenty minutes later. As soon as I walked into the door my mother held me tight at the arm and threw me in the kitchen.
I was frightened, “What are you doing mommy?!”
“Shut your mouth and grab the leftovers out of the trashcan you twit!” she screamed.
“But I’m not hungry mommy,” I said in a hushed tone waiting for what she was going to say next.
“Do as I say Rae Marie! You’re lucky I’m even giving you food to eat.” She said in a nasty voice.
I didn’t want to say one more word, so I stuck my arm into the dark smelly trashcan. It was filled with used napkins, dirty paper plates, and my awaiting leftovers. As I reached in, I felt hands on my neck shove me in the black trash bag. She grabbed my hands and tied them together so I couldn’t touch my neck to get the bag off. I struggled to get air. The garbage was making everything worse. I began choking on nothing. I was sure I was near death, but as soon as I was about to gasp for my last breath, the bag opened. I rolled all over the floor holding my throat in terror, gasping for air. I was never so thankful for anything in my life. From then on, I would never take air and a good set of lungs for granted. Had my mother tried to kill me?
The phone rang and Rachel answered it. It was Ned, he was checking up on me. I knew it. She handed me the phone. I hung up. I ran to my room and hid under my covers. I never wanted to come out again. Ever. It was the next day and, of course, the first person I see in the hallway is Ned.
He walked up to me in an angry matter, “Why is it that I call you to see if you want to hang out or to see if you are okay from yesterday you ignore me, I’m trying to help okay? Seriously like what’s your problem?”
“Ned, I want to tell you, but you would tell!” I said as I got frustrated from hiding my feelings.
He cracked his fingers and put his hands on his hips, “Rae you know I won’t tell a soul. And plus, who else would and could I tell? ”
I let out a breath, “Ned can you just please understand?”
“You know what Rae I’ll tell you what, you come to me when you are ready or are willing to talk because I can’t do this anymore,” Ned said in frustration.
Since we had that fight in the hallway, I sat alone at lunch and Ned sat across the room. I would never think we would get in a fight or he would do this to me. Why hadn’t he just listened to me and say okay and give me a smile? That’s what he usually did, but no, not this time. Someone had his panties in a bundle, that someone was Ned. That same day I rode the bus home and once again, Ned didn’t sit with me, talk to me, or even look at me. I got off my bus thinking ‘thank goodness I’m home away from him’. I never thought I would hear myself say that. I walked into the house with Rachel and she threw her books and bag down and first headed to the fridge. I just went my usual path and went right on up the stairs to my room. I laid on my bed and pulled out my homework, but before I could sharpen my pencil and start, I heard my dad call my name from his bedroom.
“Rae,” I heard him call, “could you come in here.”
“I’m coming.” I answered.
Then, as soon as I walked into the room, he grabbed me with his tan, cold hands by my hair and drug me to the stairs. He threw me down the stairs and I bumped and knocked off them like I was on a boat in the ocean in a storm. The last thing I heard from him was, “You stupid kid.” When I hit the bottom of the stairs my mother walked in with groceries, “Get up and get the groceries, Rae,” she ordered.
I tried with all my strength to get back up, but I just couldn’t. It hurt so much and I was about to cry from all the pain. I just continued laying there.
I heard loud footsteps coming from the kitchen and looked up to see my mother’s boot ramming into my stomach, “Rae what did I say?! Get up you lazy child!”
“Okay! Okay! JUST STOP HITTING ME!” I began to scream.
“Who do you think you are telling me what to do and how to be your parent?” she said with fierce anger.
“WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE GETTING THIS TORCHURE BUT NOT RACHEL!?”
“Oh Rae you’ve done it, Craig get the tape and set up the old bed downstairs. I’ll get the knife.” She said in order.
“Rachel! Help Rachel! Call Ned! Call someone! 9-1-1! Rachel!!” I screamed with sobs and terror.
“You’ll be fine with your mommy and daddy,” Rachel said in an ignorant voice.
We go downstairs and my father has a old hospital bed with guard rails on them. Why do they have this? How long have they had this? When did they need this? What are they going to do with me and that bed and the tape and a knife? There were so many questions, thoughts, and images going through my head right now. They slammed me on the old rusty bed, I squirmed and kicked for my freedom to get the heck out of that house. I wanted Ned, no, I needed Ned. Right after they slammed me on the bed, they grabbed my hands and feet and taped them to the railings. They even taped my mouth shut, probably to hold back the horror screams awaiting to escape my mouth as I got tortured. I saw my mother grab a long steak knife from the table that was by me. She walked over to the end of the bed to my bare feet. My father switched positions with her and he went to the top of the bed by my head. He held down my head to the bed with his left hand and my mouth with his right. I felt a cold thin slice on the bottom of my foot.
I screamed at the top of my lungs, “AHH!”
“If you don’t be quiet then I’ll do your hands too!” she hollered at me.
She began to cut more in my other foot. I wanted to just cry and slap her.
I screamed again, “JUST STOP!”
“Craig I’m doing her hands,” she added.
“Not too much though, we don’t want anyone to suspect anything. We’ll say her excuse of why she got these cuts were that she fell off her bike on gravel.” My father told my mother.
I felt the same painful feeling in my hands. Where is Rachel? Doesn’t this bother her? Is she going to help me? I needed God to help me and get them off of me. I want them to stop this torture.
They left me to sleep down there still tied up in the cold quiet basement.
I woke up with pain and soreness. Rachel came down to untie me from the bed.
“Oh Rachel thank goodness it’s you!” I said crying happily but with sadness in my voice.
She didn’t say anything, all she did was untie me and walk back up the stairs. I leaned up with my stomach because my hands hurt from the slicing in my hands. I put my feet on the floor, I fell right over. The pain of the dry blood and the coldness on my feet was terrible. I had to walk up the stairs on my knees. My sister and I were waiting at our bus stop and I couldn’t even stand. How would I go through school for six hours? Well, I don’t think I can. When I got to school, Ned walked up to me by my locker and gave me a hug. I gave him one back but without my hands on his back.
“Rae, I am so sorry for ignoring you when I should’ve been there.” Ned admitted.
“Ned I have to talk to you, privately.”
“Well yeah sure of course, we can go outside at lunch time if you want to.”
“Perfect.”
We got to lunch and we went straight outside. I told him what has been going on and why I hadn’t told him.
“Rae, let me see your hands,” he said with concern.
I took off the gloves slowly, and as I did I let out a few tears.
He just looked at them for a little bit then looked up at my face, “Rae you have to tell the nurse. I’m worried for you. Let’s go back inside and you can eat my lunch.”
“Okay. Thanks Ned.” I cried to him.
We got into the lunch line and got our food than sat down. I ate it all right up. After lunch, he gave me a hug.
“I’ll tell the nurse, Ms. Crate” Ned said as he hugged me.
“No Ned. Please don’t that’s going to get me in trouble.”
“Rae come on seriously.” He said with a mad tone.
I just walked away. I didn’t want to talk about me anymore. In fifth block the bell rang for us to be dismissed. I was terrified that it meant that I had to go home. No, I shouldn’t even call it home anymore. It’s more like hell. I walked slowly and in pain, it wasn’t even walking, it was more like limping. I got onto the bus and sat by myself.
Rachel’s friends just looked at me and giggled, “Ew, what in the world is she wearing? And she smells like wet dog.”
I ignored them. They are ignorant.
I got home and found them probably waiting for me to walk into the door to hit me with a spatula or a pan in the head to knock me out and tie me up somewhere new or that same old broken bed. Nope, they were sitting on the couch watching TV with a nice home-cooked meal awaiting to be eaten.
My mother smiled at me, “Hi Rae. We missed you honey, why don’t you sit down and eat up some turkey and cookies?”
“Umm no thanks, I’ll be fine.” I said with my teeth chattering.
“Rae we made this all just for you, eat up sweetheart,” my father added with a nice grin.
So I sat down and did as they asked. I didn’t know if they had poisoned it or if it was under cooked so I would get food poisoning. The feast was actually pretty good, I forgot what it all tasted like. It has been weeks since I had a real home meal, especially one that was meant for me to eat. Eat with no pressure. When I finished eating, my parents asked me to come into the kitchen.
“Sit down at the table with us baby,” said my mother as she pulled out a seat for me to sit on to join them at the kitchen table.
I sat slowly and looked at them both, “Yes?”
“Rae, we aren’t going to hurt you anymore,” they both said happily.
I raised one eye brow, “Are you guys lying or serious?”
“We aren’t lying of course!” my father laughed.
“Oh okay, well that’s great news,” I said doubting them.
“Rae, trust us for once!” my mother said with a giggle.
“Okay then I will.”
All three of us got up and they both gave me a hug.
“Oh yeah Rae, dress nice and get out of those smelly clothes and take a shower,” added my mother. So I got my shower and picked out a pair of skinny jeans with an American Eagle long sleeve shirt. I decided to wear my new boots that I got a couple months ago before my abusing.
My parents looked at me and smiled, “Let’s get in the car.”
We continued to the car and headed down the road, we turned into the school.
“What are we doing here for?” I asked curiously.
They both looked at me, “Doesn’t matter honey just remember to say good happy stuff.”
We walked in together through the clear clean glass doors to the nurses’ office.
“Hello,” said Ms. Crate.
My parents shook the nurses’ hand and gave her a brief smile, “Hi there, we were called for a private meeting.”
“Yes, I will take Rae first please.” said Ms. Crate with a smile towards me.
Ms. Crate was a pretty woman in her mid-twenties. She was always nice and smiling. They boys at my school go to her in her office pretending to be sick just to see her.
“Hi honey, your friend Ned Stewart told me about you and some problems,” she said questioning.
“Like what may I ask?”
“Well, your parents abusing you and not giving you food.”
“No, that’s not true.”
She looked at me funny, “Can you take your gloves and socks off please, I would like to see your cuts on your feet and hands.”
I got worried, “No thanks, it’s a bit chilly in here.”
“Honey I know the truth about them, he told me that you said you were suppose to say you fell off your bike on the gravel.”
My stomach dropped, “Yes ma’am, I did fall off.”
“Rae you can tell me. This is all serious stuff and we can get you help,” she continued, “It looks like this might get infected if I don’t clean this out properly follow me to the cabinets. We can put some medicine on it.”
As she was cleaning me up, I told her the truth about everything. She led me to the door and called my parents in next.
After they had their meeting, they came out with a mad face at me and turned around to the nurse with a smile, “Thank you,” said my father.
My mom grabbed my arm and threw me in the car. We drove fast down the road with the radio off and listened to the rain hit the windshield. Once we got to the house, they kicked me back down the stairs. I tried to use my hands to stop myself, but as I tried, the cuts ripped open and started bleeding again. I cried in horror and pain. They came down the stairs slowly behind me step after step, following each other to the destination they wanted to torture me at and drug me to the heater that was already turned on for my revenge. They put a piece of metal in there for a couple minutes and took it out.
My mom pulled up my shirt just enough till my lower back was showing, they put the metal on my back and while they did they said, “You had to lie! That’s all you had to do! Lie, lie, lie, lie!” screamed my mother.
“I’m sorry, but I had to! I can’t deal with hiding it in for so long!” I screamed back.
They slapped me on the spot that they burnt me on with the burning metal that burnt threw a good two layers of my skin.
The next day we got a call that we had to go to court. Of course, again I had to shower and dress nice so that no one suspected anything. Once we got there, we were getting stared at by the police and security. I looked across the room and saw Ms. Crate, Ned, Ned’s family, Rachel, five policemen, an extra security guard, and the judge.
I ran up to Ned with a smile and tears, “Ned!”
“Rae everything will be okay, I promise.” He said with hope.
The rest of the Stewart family looked at me with a smile and nodded their heads in agreement of what Ned had just stated. The judge asked us to all rise, we did as told. We all ended up being in there for about two hours. We all had our tears, and had evidence that I was being abused. At the end of the court meeting, the judge said the happiest and most exciting words that I have ever heard.
She said as she pushed up her glasses to the arch in her nose, “Miss Rae Marie Miller will live with the Stewart family on Fifth Avenue in SandVille. The Millers will go to jail for abusing Rae for fifteen years both. And lastly, Miss Rachel Dawn Miller will go to an orphanage away from her sister and family and attend classes to become a better person.”
The next day I moved in with the Stewarts. I am so grateful to have a best friend that took me in when I really needed a real family, a family that will love me, accept who I am and not hurt me in anyway. We all get along and went out to eat every Thursday night at Texas Road House. Mr. Stewart and Mr. Stewart had a baby boy about three years after I moved in with them. They all agreed to let me name him, I decided to pick Aden Ryan Stewart.
When I graduated from high school, I wanted to continued my future and go to college, I got accepted to Harvard University. I decided that I wanted my career to be a counselor for abused children. When I got the acceptance letter, we all started crying.
Ned looked at me and said, “Looks like you’ll be able to help kids with your same problem, Rae.”
I gave Ned a tight hug, “Thank you for everything you have done for me.”
Ned muttered out, “And I still always am.”
I am now a free woman with my own life now, and I have a great and perfect family with the Stewarts. I plan to have my own family with a husband in a country house not too far away from Ned. I will never give up ever again. I will never take anything for granted. And lastly, I will always and forever live day by day with nothing but smiles and not looking or going back to the past.