[Sprite-1]

This is going to be a long introduction, but I have a lot to say. I have history. I'm sorry if some of you feel it's too long. I added a trigger warning just in case someone gets upset.

Before joining Teen Help recommended by my sister Wendi, I got settled in my new school last week, and love it. As most kids hate starting a new school, I was excited to go! Compared to my past living conditions, Monaco is paradise. But what means the most to me was being reunited with my sisters Wendi and her twin Julie!

My late mother, Anna, loved me. Unlike my twins, she treated me well. Mum had me schooled at home and because I was so good at English, she got me extra tuition. And this is why, I hope, I come across as articulate as her. I retained my late mother's surname because I loved her. I still do, despite my sisters having a different surname. That was their choice. What I don't understand was why Wendi was so badly abused by our mother, whereas I was adored. I have joined Teen Help to get answers. Also because I have PTSD and nightmares from my past.

It was bad luck mum had to leave home where we lived in Lucerne to go to Monaco on business. Tragically she died suddenly, leaving me at the cruel hands of my alcoholic father. Unable to take any more physical and verbal abuse I lashed out at him with a motorbike chain. Prior to that I'd packed my backpack ready to run away.

That night I was distraught from mum's death, frightened and very angry at my father, but glad to be gone. I lived on the streets for nearly 3 months during which I picked pockets for cash for food, and fought like crazy other homeless out for "a bit of tail". I slept rough. I went through hell. But on the streets were safer than living with a psycho father. But I was found and put in an orphanage because my father died from liver cancer. The Swiss authorities saw it best I went to this place. To the other orphanees it was known as The Hole.

A day off from The Hole was to become the turning point of my eventually meeting my sisters. I owe my new life to a kind man called Leonardo, a lawyer I met at a caff in Lucerne.

The lady I shared a table with rushed off for a taxi leaving her cigs and gold lighter. Well, there's nothing more enjoyable than a free smoke - and that got me into conversation with a well dressed man wearing a fedora at the opposite table. He didn't tell me off for smoking. That was refreshing. He was, like me, people watching. But he was observing me. After I told him I was searching for my two lost sisters and was incarcerated in an orphanage since my parents died, he offered to find them for me. For free. Nothing in life is for free, I said. So what's your real reason?

Leonardo had a daughter same age as me, but she died from cancer. So to give something back, he offered to find my sisters for not even a cent. I'm not a trusting person, but he gave me his card, we swapped phone numbers and his business address. Weeks later he found Wendi and Julie. And now I'm reunited with them.

I owe everything to that lawyer. He said "Work hard to become a professional. You'll be respected and you'll earn good money. Strangely enough, I'd been interested in law for a couple of years. So that's the job I'm studying for. And I'm still in contact with Leonardo, so he can help my progress in my chosen career.

I'm glad to be here. Wendi said Teen Help has good people. Ones who will help me. Thank you.

Tommy.