Grandest Birthday!

Her eleventh birthday marked the beginning of adulthood for young Amber. Her mother, in the midst of the family celebration, let Amber know that she was never planned. She was a mistake and an embarrassing one, at that. Of all her mother’s regrets, Amber cut deep.
With that Amber was out of the house, all the while her mother screaming at her with lovely “Whore!” and “Failure!” and, finally “Don’t ever come back”.
Amber was seeing Mark at the time, a sixteen year old drug dealer who lived outside Barstow in the land of Grandview. Counter to township's name, Amber's subsequent relationship and engagement was anything but grand.
Four years of drug-induced beatings, rapes, and death solidified Amber’s core to a reality that would dictate her demeanor for the next ten years.
How she avoided ten years of incarceration was mystery.