My stepmom found my journal where I had written that I wished she would die, and she angrily told me I was just like my mother and should leave. I stayed because I was broke and had nowhere to go, but that night I woke to her screaming, “Don’t leave me too!” She was having a night terror while clutching my mom’s old robe,
and when she woke, she confessed that her cruelty came from fear that I would abandon her like everyone else had. We sat together for three hours, finally understanding each other, and although we’re not perfect, we’re healing—and I finally feel like I have a home.READ MORE BELOW
