A Promise Kept
What They Don't Know
by
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Every minute I sat waiting produced lots of adrenaline. I started to shake and sweat, knowing in a few minutes that my bare flesh was going to be set ablaze with an extension cord that had five large knots and always hung on my mother’s door. Whoock! Whoock! We heard the extension cord and all five knots lash Chase’s bare skin. The first three screams were cries of fear. After the third lash the screams turned to howls of pain and terror. He called for help, help from anybody, somebody; by the end, GOD. The fear in the pit of my stomach always causes my bladder to fill at a rapid rate—not only because I could be next, but also because I knew the pain of having one of the knots in the cord peel off a section of your brown skin to expose the fleshy white, a wound that would sting with the touch of water, clothes or even air. All you could think was “This will scar me for the rest of my life.” My mind would come up with ways I could get away, or at least not be next. So I figured I would say I have to use the washroom. As the door opened, I’d yell in a loud whiny voice, “I have to use the washroom.” While I was sitting on the toilet, she pulled on the door and the latch clicked so I tried to pee faster. The next pull, the latch snapped off the door. She opened the door swinging, and urine stopped. In the tub, out the tub, over the sink, under the sink, facing the floor, back to the floor, holding the cord, foot instead of cord, the last resort was to scream and bear it.
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About the Book
This story is based on factual memoirs. The character Ariel Wells, survives incest, molestation and child abuse as a young black girl, only to became a parent while simultaneously losing her only parent at the age of fourteen. Obligated to a promise to her beloved mother on her deathbed, she finished high school while raising the child. Ariel shows us her desire and the strength to succeed. At times, she may have had neither, but she does what is necessary to find them. Ariel fights to overcome more tragedies than imaginable; like homelessness, starvation and poverty and this all before becoming twenty-one, to adult issues like eating disorders and diuretics. Ariel shows us her strength as a survivor through turbulent strides from trauma and catastrophe to miracles artist and mother.
About the Author
The preceding tale is based on true events. The character names have been altered to protect their privacy. This book started out as therapy, but ended up taking the better part of five years to complete. Under much encouragement, April Sacks has decided to publish it because it has many messages within a central theme; “You can survive if you have two things, the desire and the strength.” At times, April may have had neither, but she did what was necessary to find them.
Born in a house on the Northwest side of