To the very person who said I would never be anything. To the person who told me I was better off dead. To the person who ignored me every single day. To the person who made a point to prove they didn't care about me. To the people who made me feel worthless, simply because my parent didn't like me. Damn you.

I made it, no thanks to you. I made it to college, a place I never thought I would be. I graduated high school, and I will graduate college, without you. I never needed you. I did not need the help you thought I needed. I developed relationships with amazing people who have helped me fill the gaps within me that you left. I never needed you.

Yeah, maybe it would have been nice to have parents. Maybe it wouldn't have sucked to have been able to be proud of sharing the names of my parents, or my address. Maybe it would have been easier to have had a fully functional family to help me through my days. But I never needed you.

I never needed the disrespect. I never needed the extra responsibilities the normal children never had. I never needed to have to fight my way through every wretched day, just to make it to another horrid day. I never needed the self doubt, or the dysmorphia. I never needed any of the shit you gave me. But I took it. I took all of it and kept it hidden away inside my heart, knowing one day I would be able to use it.

I may have not always been right. I may not have always made the best choices. I may have not been the best person to have to work with. I may have not been the most open or the most trusting. You'll be glad to know that that part is because of you. You have always been in the back of my mind, clouding my ability to see clearly, to make the best judgments. But that is okay. I am where I am now because of that. And I am still fighting, I am still going through every day doing my damnest to be better than you thought I would be.

And none of my sucess is thanks to you.