[Adam the Fish]

Thanks for making updates, Lydia. I've made quite a few edits, so please look through those when you're able to. Also, please don't be discouraged by the fact that it's quite colourful; as ever, these are suggestions, so you don't have to agree with me.

Brought up by alcohol
Anonymous

Since about the age of eight years old I have watched my dad drink. HWhile Mom cooked dinner, he would have a can of beer whilstand playing a game with us and that would be the norm for a Sunday night. While Mom cooked dinner. It never really bothered me that much when I was younger as alcohol has always been in thisthe house and always will be. During the day he is sober, holding down a job from nine to[Adam: Consider "till"?] six in an office,; he's not the stereotypical alcoholic but he's still an alcoholic.
I can remember when his drinking would get out of control and it still does. I have always felt different from my friends - Iin school on Monday mornings itwe would always start with sharing about what we did overduring the weekend. Many people would say that they had spent time with their dad or that their dad took themfathers, perhaps being taken out somewhere. When it got to me what could I say? 'Dad just drank'? No. Talking about Dad[Adam: Consider a lowercase or uppercase 'd' throughout - you can ask the Articles Project Officer, whether that's Chess or Haley, for a preference if you like.] and his drinking is not something we were allowed to do, wWe still do notdon't talk about dad and his drinking.

It wasn't until my bed times became later that I really began to notice how much my dad drinksdrank. A can or two of beer per night was all I saw up to about the age of 10 maybe 11until the ages or ten or eleven. It was aboutaround this agetime I began to notice my dad passing out on the sofa. Inviting friends round to my house became problematic because the later they stayed, the moregreater the chance I hadthere was of them seeing dad drunk. To keep this from happening I would make sure myany friends were gone by the early evening.[Adam: Could this be cut? It seems a bit vague and unnecessary.] I was going to school tired and exhausted[Adam: Tautological. Choose one.] from waiting for my dad to either pass out or to go to bed and fromthen trying to wake him up if he did pass out on the sofa. I was starting to get angry in school, not just because of what was going on at home, but also because I was getting bullied at schoolexperiencing bullying. Where everWherever I went, I was dealing with name calling and abuse. It was like there was no escape from it at all. I was labelled as naughty and badly behaved. [Adam: This also seems quite vague. "Naughty" and "badly behaved" are again tautological.]Threatened with suspension and isolation, andI was put on report, I began to bunk (skip class).[Adam: Rephrase this final sentence further?]

[Adam: I do think this needs to be paragraphed, but I don't understand why there would be anything more than a single linebreak here.]If I did attend lessons, people would irritate me and I would become angry[Adam: This seems to be repeating what you've previously said.]. No oneNobody ever asked ifhow I was okay; they and just assumed ''that was how I was''. The reality was that I was trying to juggle schoolwork, dad's drinking, the abuse and arguments and avoid getting into trouble at school. Yet I could not tell anyone what was happening,. I didn't have the words to say nor could I find them,.[Adam: This also seems tautological.] I also felt like telling them what was going on at home would destroy the family[Adam: Why?]. S, so I kept quiet. I still do feel like telling would destroy the family. I would bewas falling asleep in classes, I'd get angry[Adam: Repetition.], yet most of the time I'd act like everything was fine.

My attendance fell from 100%one hundred percent to 50%fifty percent[Adam: Was 50% a specific milestone? I'm not quite sure why it would need to be included otherwise.] then it continued to fall and the attendance percentages got lower and lower[Adam: Tautological.]. This was then attributed to be being a trouble maker and not being bothered about my education, a. As time went on I missed deadlines and didn't bother with homework[Adam: Also tautological?], i. If I did to my homework it would be sloppy and rushed, sometimes done on the bus or train while on the way to school[Adam: You may wish to clarify whether you did homework or not, as this currently reads as a contradiction (saying you did no homework then saying you did some homework).]. There were times when I used to get excellent grades, but overall my grades were slipping. Homework was not something I considered to be important, nor did I have the time to do. I would come home from school, run up to my room, and collapse on my bed into a heap and cry - this was not just because of just what was going on at home but also because of the pressures of school and the bullying. After a while I would calm down and, tidy my room and watch some T.Vtelevision. Have dinner, by then dDad was home from work by the time I was having dinner and my time was taken up from having to deal with dad,; arguments were every night. sSometimes we[Adam: Who?] would have up to four arguments a night. If it wasEven a ''good night'' we would haveentail one or two arguments a night. On a ''such good nights'' I would manage to get some homework done before having to deal with my dad whilstonce he washad passed out the sofa and making sure he was okay the following morning[Adam: You could put this separately, but it's not related to this sentence.].

I only just managed to get into college, only just scraping by with the bare minimum grades I needed for my course: but college proved to be just as hard. Though my attendance did seem to improve -, I would still arrive late for class. I was becoming more and more angry,and it got to the point where even the smallest thing would set me off[Adam: This seems especially colloquial, consider rephrasing it.]. If someone said something I did not like I would rise from my seat and start shouting, or I would just shut down and stop talking. [Adam: Could this sentence be dropped? I don't know that the explanation is necessary.]My tutor noticed and asked me what was going on. I said nothing at the time, but I had a few friends and one of my friends did know about my dad, tThis friend became my rock through outthroughout college,: they would call me most nights to make sure I was okay and that my dad was not getting violent or abusive,; they offered me a place at their house for if I ever needed a place to stay,; they gave me a card with emergency phone numbers on it for housing and places that could help me,; they spoke to the police for me on my behalf to just get advice. I don't think I would have made it through the first year of college without that friend. This friend also encouraged me to call a helpline. The helpline became a safe place for me where I began to talk to them about my dad, the bullying and the self harming - which by now I was self harming several times a day.
There would be times where I would cry my eyes out or cry myself to sleep.

[Adam: This seems a rough finish, so please work on getting this completed when you can. If it would be possible to perhaps use the story as an opportunity to give advice to others who might be in similar situations to your own, I think that would be good.]