Momma had left for jail.

But that part comes last...

When momma introduced Dave to me, I didn't like him. He wasn't like her other boyfriends. Stan played games with me all the time and Mike brought food with him. Dave hadn't brought me anything nor bought me anything. He wasn't okay in my book. Until about three months later.

Dave would bring me to the bowling alley and out to get ice cream. He would buy video games and let me sing karaoke. Dave was awesome. I though so and momma thought so. Daddy didn't like Dave though, he tried hard to make momma tell Dave to go. But momma loved Dave, so he stayed.

"Did you steal money from me?!" Momma's voice boomed throughout the house as I played with my barbies. I got up immediately and went to the living room where momma stood, and held her wallet in her hand. "Did you steal my money?" Momma repeated, that time as slow as humanly possible.

I shook my little head vigorously as tears welled to my eyes. I haven't touched momma's wallet ever, why is she mad at me? "Maybe Dave did." I had piped up, as I felt my voice die with the last word. Momma looked at me like I was sputtering nonsense, narrowing her eyes towards me.

"Dave, did you take $200 from me?" Momma yelled, loud enough for Dave to hear her from the bedroom.

"No, dearest."

"Tell me what you did with my money now, young lady. I swear to god, tell me now!" Momma screamed at me, my ears ringing with the shriek of her voice. As water slid down my face from my eyes, I could feel my heart beat fast.

"I" My lungs start to tighten as my throat burns to speak." I didn't" Swallowing my own spit hurts as my head feels fuzzy. "I didn't take anything, momma." I lowly say, feeling razors dig into the inside of my throat when I spoke. Momma was really mad and I couldn't do anything to stop it. I felt like I was in a tornado, everything spinning around me at 100 miles per hour with no control what so ever.

She sucks her teeth and shakes her head at me in disapproval. Sending me to my room, I get no dinner and cannot come out unless I have to go potty. Momma was angry at me and I didn't know why. I didn't take any money and that was the truth. I wanted to go to Papa's. He took care of me when momma didn't want to. He would believe me when I said I didn't steal anything.

After the money incident, Dave moved into our apartment, somewhat. He stayed in our place a few days out of the week. Momma was so happy, she was so in love. And since there was someone at home most of the time, I didn't need to go to the kids center during holidays and breaks for school. But that was the problem. Someone was home.

I had spring break for school and was gonna be home for a whole week. I was elated, there was nothing that was going to ruin my mood for the whole week. Monday, I woke up and momma made me some cereal for breakfast. She was running late to work and told me Dave was going to watch me. The pit of my stomach felt a little nauseous when she said it but I ignored the feeling. With a big grin on his face, Kyle turns to me and says, "We're gonna have a lot of fun today."

I squirmed in my seat as momma left out the door. I finished my breakfast and was told to get dressed. We were going to the bowling alley. Dave's truck was stinky. It smelt funky, but I couldn't name the smell. There was an ashtray like my aunties in his car with all white cigarettes in it. He had pictures of girls in the backseat, girls who weren't dressed right. They looked a few years older than me.

"Seat belt." he tells me, sounding annoyed. I buckled myself in and we took off. He blared rock and roll music the whole ride, my eardrums pulsating because of the noise. I could barely hear myself think. I sat as close to the door as I could, wanting so badly to get out of the truck. As we pulled up to the bowling alley, Dave pulled out some sunglasses and slid them on with a sly smirk on his face.

"Can we bowl now?" I asked, my voice small and squeaky. He nodded and we went inside to bowl. I picked a really light ball and it was my favorite color. I was excited to play because I loved bowling. We played our first game, I got a strike twice but Dave did better than me. The next game didn't go as well.

Rolling my 5th frame, I poured as it went into the gutter. "No sour pusses, you don't have problems." Dave berates me. He bowls his next frame and gets a spilt. "I'm the one who has problems. My wife won't let me see my daughter all because I got caught with a younger woman." He exclaims, throwing his hands in his pockets. I tell him I need to go to the bathroom and get up, walking towards the ladies room. When I exited, he was there, right in front of the door.

"What are you doing?" I asked, feeling invaded. He came closer to me, backing me up into the ladies room once again. He turned around to the door and locked it, the smile on his face growing. He pushed me up against the wall and twirled my wild hair in his hand.

Bending his head down to the crook of my neck, he took a big sniff, sending shivers down my spine. I didn't feel safe. I wanted to leave. He slid a hand down my arm to my thigh and back up. I wanted to vomit. My throat burned with the screams I was holding back. I don't know why I held them back. Maybe someone would've come in and saved me. But I didn't. I let him put his hands all over me until he clamped then onto my mouth and blocked all the sounds I let out in objection to what he did next.

After that day, I never wanted to go bowling again. I hated bowling. I hated Dave. Later that month he stole half of our stuff when we were moving. Momma got a dui and had to go to jail. I was being shipped off to my papa's house. Dave was never seen by me again. But I always detested to bowling ever since.