Teen Alcatraz

Teen Alcatraz

It was the year 1999, I was a reckless little 13 year old. I had been in and out of foster care for years. I had been adopted at 7 years old by a senile 50 year old single woman. She treated my foster siblings and I like we were trash. She was basically the wicked witch from the west. She used us and abused us; she treated us like her personal slaves. I had decided that I could not go on living like this, and I was running away and I would never return that house again.

One cold night, my cousin and I decided our lives were intolerable. We planned our great escape. We threw our bags out of our bedroom windows. Then at exactly 10:30, we walked out our front doors and ran to the nearest empty factory, and met there.

We ran for hours and hours, our destination was an old abandoned trailor of my cousins. It was a crazy night.

By the time we made it to the trailor, hours later I was dirty, mad, and I had wet pants.

We walked inside, the broken down trailor and just started to get into pajamas and there was headlights in the driveway. I panicked and hid. My cousin yelled, “Krissy, Krissy, it’s my mommy!,” I said, “HIDE!!!!!,” because I was not going back to that tyrannical mother of mine.

Well, I guess my cousin was feeling the same as me and she decided to RUN outside to her mother and rat us both out. Her mother, my aunt, let me stay with her that night.

The next day at school, I was called to the principal’s office, and a lady from the Department of Human Services was there. She proceeded to tell me that if I would not go home, right then and there, that their only choice was to send me to shelter.

I, being as naпve as I was, said, “FINE! At least I can start over!”

So, that very day they, transferred me in the middle of Social Studies test to a place where they said I would love, and people would treat me how I wanted to be treated, this place would be called, “Agency Shelter.” It was about five miles from Ottumwa, Ia.

It was about an hour and half drive. I was terrified, and happy at the same time. I was worried because I had never been away from Washington, IA, in my entire life, but I was excited because I hoped it would be a new beginning for me.

As soon as I walked in the door, I had this odd feeling that everyone was staring at me. As I looked around, I saw critical eyes everywhere. This did not make my terrified feeling go away by any means.

I sat in the main office there for hours and hours it seemed, while they told me every rule I had to obey by if I wanted to make it through their program.

It was rules sorta like, no talking to anyone that was not associated with the shelter, do not do anything without asking, do your chores without any fuss, and do them well, and we had specific bedtimes. Basically it seemed like prison to me. You did what they told you to do, when they told you to do it. If you had any