Tag: domestic violence

domestic abuse

When Molly Fought Back, the First Time

carolyncordon

A new idea for Molly’s story – she leaves home very soon after her father slapped her hard, and grabbed her, trying to drag her off to his bedroom, she fights like a wild cat, and races off through the back door, jumps over the neighbours fence, and then just goes, as far away as she can.

She had her wallet in her pocket, with her bank card, and she knew there were other things of her in her school locker, so knows that’s where she has to go, to get all of her things before her father can go to the school and get everything.

Molly is twelve. Her father had been nasty to her, telling her she’s dumb, and will never amount to anything, that he doesn’t know why he should have to spend his ‘hard earned money’ on her fancy stuff she wanted all of the time. He’s just begun looking at her when she goes into the bathroom before school, to make sure she washes her hair properly, and doesn’t waste all of the shampoo and conditioner.

She doesn’t like him being in there, and thanks to the sex ed classes they’ve begun at school, she is starting to realise something is wrong in the things he does with her, and has been doing since she can remember. She’s beginning to feel that he’s been doing bad things to her, touching her in places she now knows he has no right to touch her.

Molly has enough documents that she can keep on going, out on the streets. She contacts her maternal grandmother at an early stage of her new life out on the street, who helps her as much as she can. She’s frightened of Molly’s dad too though, so she isn’t able to do a lot, in case he finds out, and beats her.

domestic abuse

Sins of the Father

carolyncordon

The Bible is a tricky thing, with ideas

going first one way, and then another,

but Molly felt deep the sins of her father

visited upon her, a child, who dared, once

to smile in his presence, and then no more.

 

Screenshot 2019-05-17 at 5.52.43 PM

This is Molly, who dared once, and learned

a smile is seen as a challenge, to the guilty one,

and a challenge not put down, may rise again.

Molly’s sin of smiling was small, compared

to the sins of her father, but he won, and she lost.

 

He won, over his daughter’s sense of her own self.

She lost trust, and faith in the idea of her worth.

Molly lost her mother, her father, and her virginity.

She lost, if she ever even had, parental love,

and lost her smile, slapped from her face. Forever?

 

Will Molly, can Molly, ever find her smile again?

Will anything in her life, ever again seem something

to be smiled at, even carefully? Or, as with chasteness,

is a lost smile something, never to get back again,

and so Molly remain forever damaged, broken?

 

 

Molly, oh Molly please seek help, there are resources out there to help you, and others like you. Domestic abuse, domestic violence, sexual abuse, child abuse, child sexual abuse, these are crimes, and the perpetrators should be charged and dealt with via the court system. No-one adult of child, should feel unsafe in their own home.

 

domestic abuse

Some More Info About Molly and Her Life

carolyncordon

This is Molly.

Screenshot 2019-05-17 at 5.52.43 PM

Molly doesn’t have a smile, not yet, and perhaps never will.

Molly may have smiled as a child, once, and got hit for doing it.

Hit by her Dad, a man with his own reasons for not smiling.

And why should he let his daughter smile, if he had nothing to smile about?

There are other people like Molly, and like her father too.

Those who smiled and learned to never smile again.

Those who saw a smile and hated seeing it, so stopped the smiler from smiling.

Don’t be like Molly was, stay away from the ones who try to stop you from smiling.

Molly doesn’t live anywhere near her dad now, but she still can’t see anything to smile about. Life is like that sometimes. It’s a sad thing. Sometimes, for some people, that’s their life. I hope that one day, it will no longer be Molly’s life, and I hope she might feel she can smile.

And don’t be like Molly’s dad. Even if you don’t feel like smiling, that doesn’t give you the right to stop other people from smiling.

The world always needs more smiles in it.

domestic abuse

When Molly Last Smiled

carolyncordon

Molly has smiled, even though she usually seems she’s never ever smiled, not ever, in her entire life. Molly has smiled, but usually it was a twisted, hateful smile. She smiled like a liar might smile, when they con a person, and get something out of them, fooling them. A triumphant but sad smile, that one.

Happy smiles? Molly has never had a happy smile, never a happy moment really. This is how Molly’s face usually looks Screenshot 2019-05-17 at 5.52.43 PM sad, cynical maybe, but a long, long way from being happy. Molly and happiness don’t meet up with each other.

If you feel like Molly, like there is nothing to be happy about, nothing to smile about, it can feel like your world is pointless, like there is a cloud that covers the whole world, or like there are no colours in the world, never have been, never will be, not in your world.

Being depressed, having depression, that can make happiness disappear. Everything might feel like it’s a huge effort, even getting out of bed is too much. There is nothing you want to do, not joy in your life, no possibility of having anything good happen. Even watching TV might feels like to much, you can’t follow what’s happening on the screen, your brain can’t concentrate.

Is Molly depressed? Maybe she is. Many people suffer from depression, sometimes without realising it. They just suffer in silence, not smiling, not doing much at all, and certainly nothing happy or fun. They can’t see any good things possible in their lives. That’s how Molly feels.

So yes Molly has smiled, but it was not a happy smile, it was a cynical smile, which is a sneer really, not a smile. Molly can’t remember smiling a happy smile, but she can remember, when she was little, her dad saying to her, “What at you grinning at?” and he hit her. It wiped out her ability to smile like other people do, she thinks.

Now Molly won’t smile, maybe can’t smile, not how other people smile. I hope one day, Molly might find a reason to smile, and see whether her smile is completely wiped out, or whether, one happy day, she might smile a happy smile again, and no-one will hit her. Maybe …

domestic abuse

Molly Has Needs, Does Anyone Care?

carolyncordon

Molly is a mix of many people, women all, but with some parts that may apply to men as well, in some regards. Vulnerable people all, survival is their only aim in life, and it’s hard to do sometimes. Life hits you, knocks you down, over and over again. Surviving all of that means there isn’t much space in your life to do anything over and above mere survival.

Screenshot 2019-05-17 at 5.52.43 PM This is Molly. She has been working hard.
Every single day, she works hard.

Living & breathing, both of these are hard
to do for people like Molly. She doesn’t
even think about doing anything more
than just living – being alive and breathing.

Molly doesn’t have the energy to smile,
to smile means there is something you are
happy about. Molly can’t see anything in life
to be happy about.

Molly hasn’t lost hope, Molly never had any.

 

Never assume you know what a person is going through in their life, some of them might be like Molly, and it is hard work just to live and breathe.

If you are doing it tough in life, there are people and organisations who can help you. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, you deserve it.

We all have wants and needs, we all deserve to have at least our needs met. Food, shelter, care from others. All are vital to live a good life, and the opportunities to have wants met too, we deserve the chance to have some of those met too. Having options in life is how we can find our best way to live, but people like Molly don’t even realise they have any options beyond merely breathing, and sometimes even that can be difficult.

If you know someone like Molly, why not have a chat with them, who knows what might happen. Good things can begin with a simple sit and chat. If you do it, maybe one day Molly and people like her may smile.