Ava Grieco

Sometimes the most painful paths we endure are the same paths we walk barefoot. My life started in a space of nothingness, since what I can remember. I don’t particularly remember smiles; mostly just grass-stained knees and a fear of spiders. I remember parents fighting as I sat silently on the tan and grey speckled rug stairs. I remember a “For Sale” sign, and leaving behind a short-lived life of a full family. From the age of remembrance, for me, comes the feeling of hopelessness. I started my life with the strive to end it, and that continued for a very long time. At 10-years-old, I was prescribed an opiate for an appendectomy, and suddenly the world felt nice. I looked at my Mother with a gleaming smile and I said, “Mumma, I know why people do drugs now!” And from that moment on I knew I could escape