A time that I was paralyzed by fear was around the time I was placed into the system. I was twelve years old and my dad was really upset with me. To make matters worse I had just gotten suspended. My dad told me to clean the house and wash the dishes and then left for work. He had warned me however that if I was not done by the time he got home he was going to beat me. I laid around in bed expecting him to come home around five. By the time he got home I wasn’t even halfway done. So he called me to the living room and gave me that look, and I just didn’t know whether to run or scream or cry so I just stood there and eventually got the beaten. That was a time that I was literally paralyzed by fear.
