Earliest memory?
**Pain.**
Starved ribs, cold nights, eyes wide from staying awake again.
Father, stepmother, sisters —
all of ’em acting like I was something to erase,
like the easiest way to solve the “problem”
was to watch me fade.
But **my mother**…
Her hands were soft, her voice was the only warmth I knew.
Then six years in —
*(whisper)*
she was gone too…
And I wondered if I’d follow her through that door,
’cause every day felt like one more beating I wasn’t strong enough for.
Tried to run.
More like **escape.**
Feet bleeding, heart racing, always caught —
too slow, too weak, betrayed by the same blood
that should’ve kept me safe.
Eight years in the dark…
eight years learning monsters aren’t under the bed —
they eat dinner across from you
and call themselves “family.”
*(whisper)*
I thought I’d die there…
A ghost wearing a child’s skin…
But the flame…
the flame didn’t go out…
I was broken, I was bruised,
But I still **made it through**
’Cause the flame my mother left
never stopped burning true.
I was lost, I was chained,
Thought the world wanted me dead —
But a real family found me
and pulled me out of my head.
They showed me love,
Showed me hope,
Showed me how to stand tall —
I’m the man that I am
’cause **they caught me when I’d fall.**
But a new mother pulled me out —
sunlight for the first time in years.
Freedom tasted strange,
like I hadn’t earned the right to breathe the air.
I was a ghost walking halls that didn’t feel like mine,
A kid with no compass,
no map,
no sense of what love looked like.
But then —
**they showed up.**
A real family.
Not perfect, but true.
They looked at me —
this hollowed-out, half-starved kid —
and said:
“You survived hell…
and you’re *still good*.”
They taught me how to be a father,
how to be a soldier,
how to be a man who doesn’t break when the world gets colder.
They taught me how to cage the beasts inside,
not kill them —
**use** them.
Turn rage into purpose,
fear into pride.
I was broken, I was bruised,
But somehow still **made it through**
’Cause the flame my mother left
never stopped burning true.
I was lost, I was chained,
Thought the world wanted me dead —
But a real family found me
and pulled me out of my head.
They showed me love,
Showed me hope,
Showed me how to stand tall —
I’m the man that I am
’cause **they caught me when I’d fall.**
’Cause I was broken, I was bruised,
But somehow still **made it through**
And the flame my mother left
burns in everything I do.
From a lost, beaten child
to a father standing tall —
I became who I am
’cause they answered my call.
*(whisper)*
I wasn’t supposed to make it out…
But I did.
And the flame didn’t die…
It became **me**.
SmilenGrizzly
