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When I was a fourth grade student, we got a new teacher – Natalia Nikolaevna. Before she came to our class, I usually had had B’s, but later they changed into C’s and F’s. She started to insult me. She could push me and slap in class, if I couldn’t answer her question. I didn’t want to study. I tried to hide the school diary and copybooks from mom. We did the homework together, therefore all the time I had to start a new copybook. Teacher punished me for that.

Once, mom came to school to learn the reasons of my F’s grades. I’ve no idea what they discussed, but when the teacher came to our class, she was so indignant while telling the whole class that mom had actually no clue in teaching. I was so ashamed and I was mad at mom. Why did she come to school? In the morning Natalia Nikolaevna, hit me with a book and broke my nose, so it started bleeding. Another time she smashed my head up on the desk. Finally, I started to miss classes.

Mates deserted me and avoided any kind of communication with me. They could offend me in a crowd. My father was in jail and no one could stick up for me. I made new friends with older guys. They drank wine and smoked. Everyone was afraid of them. I felt safe with them. Later they offered me to smoke, and once convinced to try wine, so I will “become a real man”. It was so sweet, so I drank the whole bottle. I felt really bad. I barely came home and fell into my bed. I vomited and fell through something for the whole night. After that, I’ve never tasted alcohol over again.

I tried the weed after, but didn’t like the way I felt either. Some time later, I told my mom everything. She was really mad at me. Once friends came to visit me and having climbed over the neighbor’s fence, stole their pans and pots. The neighbor saw the children’s footprints on the ground and called the police. These guys were already registered in the local police office. Mom and me were taken to the police so many times. Later, my friends were sent somewhere and I was arrested in the children’s detention center for a week. They promised to place me in a special school, but mom brought lawyers and commission finally decided to leave me at home under the supervision of a police inspector.

At that time mom started drinking wine. We argued all the time. There was time when I couldn’t even look at her and wanted to leave home, but I had nowhere to go. It all lasted for two years, then mom faced problems with police and we had to escape. This is how my childhood came to an end.