Laura's Childhood

You must be wondering who this man is who looks strangely like Puck from Glee. (AN: I soooo did not plan that. xD) Well, it's my dad, Darien Johanson. If I remember correctly, his traits were Kleptomaniac, Evil, Party Animal, Snob, and Dislikes children. He was also employed in the criminal career track.

This is my lovely, yet slightly naive mother, Beverly Johanson. Her traits are Childish, Over Emotional, Friendly, Excitable, and Good Sense of Humor and she's employed in Journalism. She always though my dad was in the culinary career track because that's what he told her. She found out about him being a criminal one night though. But that part comes later on in the story.

And here I am. I have to say, I was a pretty adorable toddler. (Although the shirt my mom gave me is sort of creepy.)

My mom was always a great parent. I enjoyed being around her.

My father? Not so much. He always stole my candy and then cackled evilly while I cried. My relationship with him was rocky from the start.

I think the babysitter liked me more than my own father did, to be honest. At least the babysitter acknowledged my existence, my dad never wanted anything to do with me.

One day my mom found out she was pregnant with another baby.

I certainly wasn't jealous of my new sibling, in my toddler mind we shared the same blocks and toys, so it must be a decent kid.

One day during my mom's second pregnancy while my dad was at work, my mom decided to age me up. I always thought it looked like I wanted to eat my mom in this picture. Anyone else see it?

I was certainly a girly girl as a child. What, with all of that pink and that big flower. I wonder if Annalise will be this girly or if she'll be more of a tomboy.

For quite a while I had to sleep on the couch because my dad refused to buy a regular bed. Not exactly the most comfortable thing...

One afternoon I came home from school and this little guy was waiting for me. His name was Elmer. I can honestly say he hated me because well, he spazzed out at me all the time and puked on the floor right next to the couch.

Around the time we got Elmer the psycho cat, my mom went into labor.

While she was in labor my dad decided to take a nap. Isn't he pleasant?

Alright, this is where I'm supposed to end the post, someone came out of the hospital with a baby, we're done now.

Just kidding. This is my brother, Collin. He came out of the womb with the friendly and evil traits. (I don't see how they fit together at all.)

Finally my dad decided it was time for and upgrade and bought me a sleeping bag. The plus side? It wasn't a springy, uncomfortable couch. The downside? Elmer now puked on my face. Stupid cat.

This has nothing to do with the story, but I just wanted to add that the ice cream truck always came at midnight. That made me a very angry child.

Of course, my dad LOVED Collin. Whether it was because he was my dad's little evil minion or because he was a boy, I don't know.

My dad didn't even let me eat at the table. He would give me my waffles and tell me to get out of his sight.

The little devil child as a toddler.

I don't know what was wrong with this cat, but Elmer always drank out of the toilet like a dog.

As if Elmer wasn't enough, my mom adopted Minnie. I liked her a bit more. At least she didn't puke on me.

Well, Elmer and Minnie got along quite well. Look at them, trying to look all cute and innocent when they're really plotting to kill you.

Eventually we finally moved into a bigger house. I'd like to add that I had an actual bed in this one.

And my mom yelled at my dad when he tried to send me to the couch to eat.

Right after we moved in Collin aged up.

He got the bookworm trait and my parents enrolled him in boarding school. I don't know if I should be jealous or not...

One night my dad got caught at work and ended up in jail because of his criminal ways.

Here's where the story becomes much, much worse.

When my mom got the call from the prison they told her everything. She was pretty mad he lied about his career.

"Don't you know that's dangerous?" She yelled at him. "You have kids, Darien, you can't set a bad example like that."

"What does it matter?" He yelled right back. "It brings in money anyways."

"You honestly think money is all I care about? I want the best for Collin and Laura. Having their father be a criminal in terrible."

Then my father did the unexpected and reached out and smacked my mom.

After that fight my dad always seemed angry. He would yell at me for no reason at all, saying he never wanted me and never loved me.

I was mainly scared. I didn't understand why daddy hated me. What did I do to make him so angry?

Here I am as a teenager. I became a vegetarian when I aged up and never ate meat after that. That was also my "I hate the world," phase.

Once I became a teen my dad got a lot more physical with me. I frequently got hit for no real reason.

"Why are you so mean?" I yelled at him one night when I was nearly in tears. "What did I ever do to you?"

My dad just smacked me again and left for work.

When my mom taught me to drive one night I almost told her about what dad was doing, but I was afraid. What if it only got worse?

I turned to art to take my mind off of my dad.

One night I walked inside to him beating up my mom.

It was certainly different seeing this happen to her. Was she also scared to tell someone?

There would've been some dramatic ordeal there, but then we heard a tiny meow. Apparently Elmer and Minnie had gotten a bit frisky at some point, because they had a kitten. His name was Oscar.

On my 18th birthday I came home from the park to find all of my stuff at the front of the house with a Happy Birthday banner on the wall. I picked up a note that was by my old sleeping bag and read it.

"Go away, love dad."

Lots of love there. (AN: Sorry about the plumbob in this picture and a few to come.)

I twirled into young adulthood after I read the note. Then I put my stuff in my inventory and left.

Since I had very little money to spend I just wore some clothes I had as a teen since they still fit. Then I pulled up my hair in a sloppy ponytail.

I found a lot near the beach that wasn't that expensive and put all of my stuff there. I was too old for some of it, but I loved my teddy and ant farm as a kid so I couldn't just bring myself to sell it.

Tofu dogs were the only things I could really afford to make. (I couldn't afford a stove and plus, the beach was just across the street.)

On graduation day neither my mom or dad showed up.

For the next few months I was in the education career track.

The night everything changed was when I read about the 100 baby challenge in the paper. I knew I had wanted a big family, but I wasn't going to find a promising man anytime soon. They also mentioned how they would help a mother get started with a challenge by giving them money for challenge essentials, like cribs, potty chairs,and in my case a house.

From there I cleaned myself up a bit, moved to Riverview, and started the challenge.

Thanks so much for reading everyone! It was hard thinking of a good story for this post. I worked something out though.