Proving Them Wrong Anonymous

“You’re too stupid to go to college!” my mother screams at me as I help my two sisters with their homework. I have already made dinner for my whole family and cleaned the mess my mom left in the kitchen. She is finally home after sneaking off to binge drink at a bar. It’s a normal evening in the Lautner home. My dad is working on some building in some state. I don’t know for sure, because he is in different places every week for work. So it falls on me to take care of my twin sister who was born with Cerebral Palsy. Her condition causes her to deal with muscle and coordination problems as well as learning and speech disabilities.

On top of all of my responsibilities at home, I had to work hard to keep up with my school work despite my mom’s constant degradation of me and my intelligence. Additionally, by the time I helped my two sisters complete their assignments, I was staying up late to finish my own. There were some nights where I wouldn’t go to sleep until 3:00 in the morning, and had to wake up at 6:00 the next day to get everyone to school on time.

During any of my breaks from school, I was working multiple jobs to have spending money for me and my sisters. Any extra money that my mom had went to her alcohol addiction, so...