Chapter 41

“I can’t imagine watching your siblings being loved while she was cold to you. That’s horrible. It’s a form of cruelty that is unfathomable to me.” I blurt out, my heart already aching for a little kid who was shunned for being the naughty one. I guess also having a cruel mother, I can relate to him that way. See the abuse, even if his mother never delivered punches and blows as mine did. She fucked him up just the same. Denied him the basics a child needs—a mother’s unconditional love.

“It wasn’t her fault I was the way I was. I was pushed away for being bad, which made me worse on so many levels. It wasn’t until I was around nine that they finally figured out I had ADHD, and back then, I had something called ODD, or Conduct disorder… which pretty much means I had a reason for being a bad kid. My shrink told me parental rejection exacerbated the disorder into a more serious issue. Ironic really.”

I sit in stunned silence and try to absorb this fully. It’s a defeated, so