This is a true story about my life. Only the names were changed to protect the identity of my family. I am portrayed as Sierra. I was born in 1976 to a poverty-stricken family in the South. My father was an egotistical man who did not want a family, and my mother was a melodramatic woman who longed for a fairy tale. My parents divorced when I was four years old, and Mom moved on to a man named Gregory who she believed was the man of her dreams--the polar opposite of my dad. That relationship began our life of hell, and thus my struggle began.

Gregory turned out to be a...

This is a true story about my life. Only the names were changed to protect the identity of my family. I am portrayed as Sierra. I was born in 1976 to a poverty-stricken family in the South. My father was an egotistical man who did not want a family, and my mother was a melodramatic woman who longed for a fairy tale. My parents divorced when I was four years old, and Mom moved on to a man named Gregory who she believed was the man of her dreams--the polar opposite of my dad. That relationship began our life of hell, and thus my struggle began.

Gregory turned out to be a...