I was about 7 years old when I managed to escape the horrors of my childhood. It was one night when we were eating dinner, and everyone was just about done except me. My father threatened that if I didn't in the time he wanted me to not only would I not get dessert but I would get a beating. I was sitting in the dinning room by the kitchen by myself, the apartment was kind of small but it was still good for the 5 of us. The balcony that led to outside was right there, I was looking through the door for a bit then a strange and unusual idea came to mind. I was having an internal argument with myself. "But what if I hurt myself, c'mon it's just grass and it's not that far down." So took a deep breath, look at the doorway that my dad left through walked quietly towards the balcony door and slowly opened the door went through and closed it.  I stood there by the balcony fence for a good few minutes it felt nice. As I got close to fence, my heart beating quite fast but for some reason I didn't seem scared, I climbed over the balcony facing forward towards the parking lot and jumped. I landed in a crouched form, we were only on the second floor, I stood up and thought *so what now*. I went to a random door far away from where I stayed and knocked several times but no one answered. So I went to this one door which was kind of close to the entrance the light were on so I figured that there were people there. I knocked a few times and a woman came to the door, "Please help me.", I whimper scared hoping my father wouldn't come after and find me. I looked around scared. She must've saw my face and how scared I saw, "Oh you poor thing, come on in." I walked in and there were two young girls and man which I assumed was their father. "Sit in here.", the mom said as she led me to the kitchen table. The man smiled asked, "Why are you out here so late?" "I-I'm running away....from m-my father.", I was scared. I was hoping they wouldn't send me back. "Why is that?", he asked looking concerned. "H-he was going to beat me again.", I replied. They both looked at each other. "Are you hungry?", the father asked while the mother went into another room. I nodded cuz I hadn't really ate much of my food at home. "He gave me some rice and chicken, I ate the rice but the chicken cuz I wasn't able to swallow it cuz I ate so much at once. The man let me spit it out and gave me some ramen instead. Then there was knock at the door and the mother went to get it. I gasps and got really scared. The man put his hand gently on my shoulder, "It's ok it's not him." he said as if reading my thoughts.  A police woman came into the kitchen after talking with the mother. "Hi there.", she said gently "I'm the police and I'm just here to talk with you ok?" I just nodded, I was really shy when I was little. She just asked me a few questions, "*sighs and takes a breath* ok...well, look I promise you this he will never hit you again ok." I just nodded. "Now I'm just gonna check you and see if there's anything on you like scars and broken bones ok." I just nodded and let her check me. The mother and father, "Is it ok if we can have a look?" the mother asked. The police woman looked at me and stood there for a minute and then nodded. So they took me to the living room, and as I showed them all my scars the young girls started crying and the mother took them away the father just shook his head, "Why would anyone do such a thing?" Then there was a knock at the door, the mother opened and there was a policeman standing there with a man in a green shirt," Do you know this man." I shook my head because I didn't recognize him at first, but then minutes after they left I had realized that that was my father but I didn't say anything. Then they took me to a hospital to check me out to see if I has any problems. I guess I was fine cause they had me there for a good while then they sent me to an orphanage. It was nice there I was only there for a couple of days then sent me and my stuff to this young single lady named Ms. Lisa and when I saw my younger brothers there I was so happy. We were only at her house for a few months. Because one time when I went to see my mother, they only let me go to these appointments only to see my mother (I guess it was because I was the oldest), we talked for a nice while. The she had asked me who I was staying with I told her the lady's name, but I guess that was the wrong thing to do because they ended sending us to another family a couple weeks later. It was an old couple, well they're old but not THAT old, the had a young foster girl and their niece with them. The girl went back, with her two older brothers, to her real family. When school was over the niece went back to her family in Michigan. The appointments continued on until one day in second grade I had gotten a surprise that I was not expecting. One day, during dismissal, I had gotten called on the announcements to go to the counclers (meh I can't spell) office. When I went in there I saw my grandmother and aunt I was so happy. I hugged them both tightly, and they had taken me to McDonalds to play for a bit. I saw my mom there too, and also my dad who sitting in another car. We weren't aloud to talk or touch each other. So after a while we went back to the school and the police had followed us there. My foster mom and neighbor were relieved to see me, but I had to go to the orphanage few a couple of days because of the fact that my parents knew what school I went to which meant that they may have an idea of where I might've lived as well. When I went to my foster home with my brothers, I thought because of what happened that it might've been the last time I might get to see them. A few years later my thoughts were made into reality. In the 4th grade (which was the year My brothers and I got adopted) I was called into the office and the news I got was not good. One of my case workers was there, and he told that they could not find my parents. My aunt and grandmother didn't even know where they were. I cried for a really long time, and after years of no reports I had to assume either they just gave up the search or my parents were dead. I haven't heard anything from anybody in my biological family so I just assumed that my parents probably were dead. I don't really think about them that much anymore, I know that sounds a bit harsh, but these days my mind has been filled with nothing but the scars that my past memories left me, and they've been haunting me ever since. I thought I was free from the beatings and the abuse and everything but.....I was wrong.......