They Blamed Me for Surviving

Ten years after I'm abducted, I'm finally rescued and brought home. From that day on, Mom and Dad make me the center of their world. They even burn through their savings and move to another city for me. But those ten years leave me with severe depression. One day, I take a razor blade to my wrist. Dad grabs the blade with his bare hand. "If you die, what are your mom and I supposed to do?" All that attention soon starts to suffocate me. Eventually, I snap and smash up all the furniture in the house. Even then, Mom just pulls me into her arms and comforts me over and over. "It's okay, sweetheart. It's all over now." Then my younger adopted sister, Nancy Bonner, asks one simple question. "Is Jenny ever going back to where she lived before?" That's all it takes. Dad drags her out of her chair and starts beating her. However, that day Nancy comes down with a fever and has to go to the hospital, all I do is say I'm afraid of the dark. Mom whips around and stares at me in disbelief. "How can you be so selfish? I wish I'd never had you." Dad shoves me toward the door. "You're afraid of the dark? It's not even dark outside. Why didn't you just die out there? We already give you all our attention, and somehow it's still not enough. You're heartless. You're no daughter of mine!" Mom holds Nancy tight and hurries out the door with Dad. Just before they leave, Nancy looks back at me and mouths, "Mom's mine." Then they leave me alone in the dark. I pick up the razor blade from the floor and use every ounce of strength I have to crawl to my bedroom.