Road Blocks by Jazinya Joseph
My name is Kaylinn and I’m 22 years old, I live in Miami and I’m a model for Pretty & Petite Productions. But just like everyone else, I started from nothing. I’ll tell y’all about that first. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. I never had chances to make many friends because I was always in and out of schools. My father was very abusive physically and verbally but he didn’t hit me as much as he hit my mom. When I turned 13 my mother got tired of it, of him, maybe of me too, and she left us. Like I said, I never had many friends so I didn’t tell anyone about this, I trusted my guidance counselor Ms.Tara but I knew ACS would be involved if I told her, so this was something I went through on my own. Until I got tired. One day my father came home drunk as usual, I had stayed in the house it was a Saturday but it was raining outside. I was used to my father coming home drunk but this time he was doing way too much, he was knocking stuff off the table, screaming at the top of his lungs, then he started crying. I went and locked myself into my room because I knew he would hit me if he even saw me. I didn’t hear him for a good fifteen minutes. I thought he had fallen asleep until I heard him call my name. I didn’t respond, he started walking towards my door but it was still locked. When he realized the door was locked he started banging on the door and yelling my name, but I couldn’t do it anymore. I already knew what would’ve happened once he came through that door. I looked at my window and knew that was my only option. I left. Now after two years I was 15 and living in a foster home in Brooklyn. I finally felt safe and comfortable which is something I’d barely felt before. Fast forward to me being 17, Ms.Tara had gotten in touch with my foster home, I haven’t spoken to her since I left because I never had a phone. She said she’d been looking for me all over. It felt so good to hear her voice and know someone still cared about me. She said once I turned 18 that I’d have to leave the home I could stay with her until I got on my feet, and so I did. It took her no time to find me some work, after just two weeks I had three jobs of short shifts so I was able to manage my time, I was so grateful. I knew 114
