Dear Gabby,
People experience many different obstacles in their life in which they have to make important and sophisticated decisions or solutions. Even though I am just 16 years old I am having one of these issues. The issue is not concerning me but a friend of mine and any advice to help me will dramatically change her life.
Something traumatizing and severe is happening to my friend. Near the beginning of the school year she came to school with a black eye. Although she had a black eye I didn’t worry too much about her health. On that same day we had swimming in gym class. It was almost painful to witness the bruises across her ribs and the scratches down her skinny back. Feeling concerned I quietly and privately asked her after gym class how she had gotten so badly bruised and scratched all over her body. After a moment she replied that her and her mom got in a car accident while exiting the free way. Since she was a good friend I trustfully and sincerely believed her.
Life went on, her and I continued on doing social activities with each other. It was finally winter break but once I came back I was totally surprised to see my friend once again with bruises and scratches. The thing that worried me the most is the fact both her and her 14 year old little sister had bruises and cuts. Once again feeling very concerned and nervous for her I approached her and asked what had happened. She said that her and her sister went sledding and ran into a big pine tree. This was an extremely hard to believe story considering the fact that it had not snowed at all this winter vacation. I let it go because I relized she could have simply gone to a sledding hill where they make there own snow.
Many more instances of bruising and scratching has happened to my friend and her sister more often since winter break. Now I am beginning to get real worried about my friend since she had no excuses to these new instances.
Recently my friend invited me over to her house. The door could barely open because a bunch dirty laundry and clutter were blocking the door. My friend and I squeezed through the door and my jaw dropped to notice her mom lying on the couch drunk with a can of beer in her hand. The closing door made her mother more aware of what was happening around her. She immediately exploded and threw a baseball against the tortured wall.
After that experience I spent some time thinking. It thought if her mom carelessly treated her house like that how does she treat her children? I though some more and began to think it possibly child abuse but I might not be accurate. I don’t want say something directly to my friend about it or report it to the police because I could possibly be wrong. How could I ask my friend I if this is really happening to her? If questioning her is not a good gesture what should I do’should I consult both her and her sister of the issue’since I have not yet spoken to my friend about this issue I am in serious need of good advice.
Concerned Friend,
