A Helping Hand
It was 1923, the day before my dad passed away. My dad would always go to the top of the mountain with my little brother after he came back from work. Every evening was filled with a warm, lovely sunset coming from the sky above. It seemed really peaceful on the mountaintop because you could look down at the village and see the beautiful view of the countryside. It was full of fresh air and sweet melodious birds singing.

      I felt like some unexpected thing was about to happen. This evening seemed a little cloudy and windy, so my dad had to cancel his plan for taking a walk with my little brother to the little mountaintop. Today was the last time having dinner together as a family. The sorrow on my dad’s face revealed that he know it as well. However, mom seemed to be completely fine (normal).

It’s 11:45pm, and mostly I went to bed at 10pm but tonight seemed little full with feeling and can’t sleep. That night really late night dad couldn’t sleep my two siblings already asleep but dad try to awake the little one.
“Jame!” called my dad, “take a look at me.”
“Why are you trying to wake him?” my mom said with a harsh tone, “let him sleep.”
My dad didn’t reply anything back he just take a deep breaths (wheezes…) and give a deep good night kisses to little brother and went to bed. Early sorrowful sudden morning around 5:17am, woke with incomplete family and unstoppable tears falling from my eyes. My dad wouldn’t wake up anymore from a deep sleep, he won’t answer my calls either. That morning was the saddest and unforgettable day in my life even though i have been through other horrible stuff.
I used to attend school when I was four years old but not anymore after my dad passed away. I was the oldest of all my siblings and therefore, the leader. I had to set a good example for the younger ones and had to take care of them from the dangers of the world. I stayed home with my little brother, James, and  5 and half years old little sister named Mary, who had a health condition. She loves to go to school but only twice a week, she could go to school therefore no money to pay for the school fees include her health issues. After 5 months dad passed mom married.

Mom would alway come back home really late and most of the time she didn’t even came back home, she had affair with many guys. Step dad seemed really nice at the first month but later on all his bad mask starts to shows.Our step dad would always treats us bad and would even hurts me and my sibling. He wouldn’t treats us as his children, wouldn’t even treats my mom ‘who is his wife’ as his wife, he would treat my mom as housemaid. Also always yelled/harmed at us if he didn’t get what he want. Mom would got hurts the most in her husband hand.

The relationship between my mom and step dad isn’t going well. They argue a lot and fight most of the time. I hear the bad sides conversation between them as always. Step dad would always let the evil words come out from his bitter mouth, they would say things like “f**k off!, b****!, go f**k yourself!, go die! etc” to each other and would harm each other by using things around them when they fights. I would always hide in the room corner with sweat and tears. When it’s been for little long all the neighborhoods would hate of hearing the stupid argument between my family and report it to the district leaders. Sooner we had to move house to poor living condition with bad neighborhoods since parents won’t make much money.

After 8 months living there, mom is tired of living with us in bad neighborhoods since she affair with many guys, all the people from neighborhoods talk behind her back and would cause many problem going. Step father is druger which cause him death very sudden. Mom plans to married another man but I reject it. After two or three weeks my mom brought another guy to house I heard his voice but didn’t go and talk to him or see his face.

One late night, my mom shout loud from the living room, “I’m going out, Anna!”
“Where are you going mom?” I asked with a normal voice.
“Outside!” she replied.
“Can we come too?!” I asked from the kitchen with loud tone.
“No!! What are you going to do?” she said with a harsh tone.
But then she said, “I’m just gonna take some walk.”
“Can we come to take a walk too?” I scarily asked.
“S**t the f**k up!! You talk too much!” my mom shriek.
“ Just stay home and clean the house,” she said.
“ Why? Why always me?!!” I yelled and starts crying.
“ Anna!!” my mom shout with anger.
She stopped the conversation there and said “ I’ll be back late!”
.    I waited all nights until she would come back but I falled a slept around 4am while sitting outside of the stair and waiting for mom to get home back. The sun started to rise up and is shining through my face therefore I awoke. But then i realize mom's not home yet. In morning all neighborhoods starts talking behind about my mom. They would said “ How dare Kelly left her children and ran away with her new man.” I heard them saying a lot of stuff but I acted I don’t hear or know but  I don’t really believe it. It had been a week she didn’t came back home. I tried to find for my mom but I don’t know where she could usually be at or how to find out about here but i went to the district leader and asked for help with finding my mother. They tried to search for my mom but they couldn’t find too. After two weeks or so I started to believe what all the neighborhoods said even though I tried to rejected it at first but now I accepted all the news.

There’s no one to pay for the house bill, metro bill and water bill. It's really struggle in my life with two sibling who can’t help it too. We had to kick out of the house. We had to live in the corner of the village since we don’t have any other families/no house or no place to live. After we live there for two weeks we meet with a passenger name Jack, he would come to us and ask about the story behind us. And he would take us to orphanage.

There are many children like us. Some had to born without father and mother because both parents died, these all categorized as "true orphans." "Social orphans" are children who have lost one or both parents because of abandonment, or relinquishment due to poverty, alcoholism, or imprisonment. Despite more than a decade of intended reform, the nation’s orphanage system is still overcrowded and rife with problems. On average, children stay in the system for almost three years or more before either being reunited with their families, get adoption, or some had to stay there for their entire life.Growing up in foster care isn’t the prettiest story. When you are forced to live with one person after another, you never know what life has in store for you. You don’t know what tomorrow will bring, literally. You can think that all is well and that you have finally found your forever home, then discover that once again you just didn’t fit the bill. But when I got there I met some awesome people who will do everything in their power to make you feel welcome and get you involved. Living with different people from different ethnicities and faith has given me a good cultural understanding, which I’m really grateful for. Me and my siblings even got an opportunity to continue our education, which I am most grateful for in my life because this is the key that will lead my life to a bright future from all the darkness in my life. My sister Mary even got a good healthcare, living here is like our real home and where we really belongs to even though we had been to other s**t back in the past of our life.