This story is about a common but very remarkable young lady named Emily. New to the area to where her drug-addicted, alcoholic mother uprooted her and her two-year-old brother to chase a much-younger fling that she met in rehab. Two years after bearing the young man's child and multiple stints in the rehab, he convinced her to relocate to Fall River, Massachusetts. That's where Emily's hell begun. The young boyfriend, who is only six years older than Emily, turned into the devil. Her protector, yes, her own mother, became his accomplice. The apartment never had the aroma of food in the air. If there wasn't the smell of drugs, cigarettes, or alcohol, it was dirty diaper on the toddler. Every dollar the mother made from whatever hustle she had for the day went to drugs and alcohol. The boyfriend came by when he needed a place for he and his friends to hang out, listen to music, and get drunk and high. He didn't respect the mother, the daughter, or his own son. He never even looked at that kid. The mother took her miserable and addicted life out on her children. Emily, in unfamiliar territory with no friends or family anywhere, began to feel hopeless. The only love and affection her little brother got was from her. She had to shoplift for food or either bring part of her lunch home from school to feed her brother. Speaking of school, with her unfortunate situation at home, I'll just say kids in high school can be very cruel. Down on her luck, funds, food, and fashion, some kids wouldn't let that go unnoticed. Like dealing with home wasn't enough, the kids in her neighborhood and school would take her to another level. Emily tries to navigate her new norm by writing, reading, and locking herself in her bedroom with her little brother, hoping to block out the world. Every day she dreads opening her eyes, knowing it's going to be Ground Hog Day. Every day she promises her brother that she would take them out of the hell that they're living in and promises him a better life. The task is definitely making it through high school and the unfit lunatic of a mother that she is stuck with.
