Vanessa Leanore

Boxes Under Our Beds

There's not much I remember about my childhood, not many happy memories that stand out. I remember there were a lot of arguments. Between my mom and, well, everyone. Yelling, constant yelling. I remember hiding in my room, as much as possible, from the chaos, always trying to hide away, lest I be caught doing something wrong...like breathing. Because then came more yelling, and beatings, and the hair pulling, how much I loathed the hair pulling; dragging me around the house by my hair, being screamed at until I could feel the screams ache in my bones, almost as much as I could feel the welts on my back and buttocks. To this day I have an aversion to loud noises, even the noises that accompany fun events. The noise causes a ripple of pain, loud voices, pounding, it hurts again.