To share my story is very difficult for me because it’s something that I have tried for years to ignore and forget. I was eight years old when the stories between the pages of books started my path towards salvation. My early years were not filled with happy family memories but filled with memories that were more like nightmares. We had lived in Mexico from when I was three years old until I was eight, and while we were there a side of my father came out that I never would have imagined. He became very violent towards my mother and I did try to stop him on several occasions only to be stopped by family members in fear that I would be hurt. As the years went by it only got worse. When I was eight we came back to the states and things did not get better, because my father's abuse turned towards my siblings and I. I might have taken the beatings more because being the oldest of five and one more on the way made me feel like it was my responsibility to protect my family from my father. On many occasions I thought I would be at peace if maybe I just didn't exist anymore, I tried taking my life so many times, but every time I did try I would look over to my five siblings and think who would protect them. At the same time I felt that if I didn't find an escape from my reality I would lose my mind or that one day I would not stop myself from suicide. I said that I was eight when books started my path towards salvation; that's because that is when I was introduced to the school library and I discovered Goosebumps. A series that started me out on my journey to an escape I needed from the nightmare that was my life. When I was ten, my sixth grade teacher gave me a book she thought I would love. Of course seeing that it wasn't Goosebumps I refused to read it, and to this day I tell everyone she tried to push this book on me because she was tired of reading my Goosebumps book reports. She kept insisting that I would love this book, so I finally gave in and opened up the book that would save my life both physically, and mentally. Ofcourse that book was Harry Potter! We all know the story about the boy who lived; I never would have imagined that that same story would help me be the girl who lived. Harry Potter gave me an escape, and J.K. Rowling saved my life. And as the years went by and I waited for the next book to be released my life did not by any means become easier. I was taken from my parents and placed into foster care where I would endure five years of mental abuse, but I stayed because there my sisters needed me. During those years my mother abandoned us and left us with only two options: stay in foster care or move back with my father. Even if my father had done everything the court asked him to do to be granted his children back; I chose to stay with the lesser of the two choices because I would never trust my father again. But books were my escape from that reality. And in these books I have traveled to unknown places of magic and adventure. My salvation all goes back to books because without them I really do believe that I would not be here today. And since I love reading so much, that same year that I was introduced to Harry Potter, I started writing my own stories. I am not published, yet, but I do hope that in the near future my stories will be published. My biggest dream is not fame and fortune, but that one day I can save a life like my life was saved through the written word.