Consider it a whirlwind.
Everything is blurring around me
faster and faster until I can't make out what it is.
My eyes can't keep up.

Just a few months ago
I didn't know where I wanted to be
the things that I wanted to do.
Where I would be without you.

You beat me down
to that dark place no one wants.
To where you could keep me yours
and not worry about intruders.

Now it's a few months later
and life is looking up.
I'm going to college in only three months.
I have never felt so excited.

And I have someone new
who treats me with respect
and cares about my opinion
and doesn't hurt.

If I have learned anything from you
from this
it is that I deserve more
than I you threw to me.

I am not an animal.
I will not beg to be noticed.
I will not whimper when kicked.
I will not be that again.

I deserve some say
in what we do
and what I wear
and I deserve to be loved.

Wholly and without remorse
I deserve to be loved.