Taylor Belleville

ENG-W 350

30 September 2020
Timeline

1997: I was born in Kokomo, Indiana. At this point my mom and my biological father were still

together, but she was planning on leaving him soon due to abusive behavior and him cheating on

her and having a baby with another woman a few months before I was born.

1998: My mom divorces my biological dad and we move into an apartment. She works three

jobs and takes me along to all of them in order to make ends meet. My father fights for partial

custody and gets awarded weekends once a month. He often makes plans to come get me and

then doesn’t show up (this happens for many, many years). My grandparents on my father’s side

fight for grandparent custody and get awarded a week once a month.

2001: My mom meets a new man and moves us in with him after knowing him for 6 months. He

takes care of us and treats me like his own daughter. For the first time in my life, I know what it

is like to have a stable home and two parents who love me.

2002: My mom and this new man get married. I begin calling him dad, which really irks my

biological father. He begins to actually see me once a month, and I beg my parents to let me stay

home. When I am at my biological fathers house, he takes the toys that my parents have given

me and gives them to his new daughter, saying that she deserves them because she chose him.

2003: My parents get pregnant and welcome my little brother Andon into the world. My dad asks

me if I would like for him to adopt me and I say yes.

2005 (1st): After a long process, my dad is able to adopt me. My biological father signs away his

parental rights and I cut off contact with him. He still tries to talk to me through his parents, but I

try to avoid him. During the adoption process, he accused my now-father of molesting me, which
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30 September 2020
set back the whole process. It was not true and there was never any proof; he just didn’t want to

give up his claim to me.

2007: My district redraws it’s lines and I get switched to a new elementary school in the 4th

grade. I am separated from all of my old friends and really struggle to begin making new ones. I

start to feel lonely for the first time. My parents are undergoing fertility treatment during this

time after losing several babies. They find out that they are pregnant with triplets on

Thanksgiving.

2008: The triplets are born and I have to quickly learn how to be an adult at 10 years old. I am

feeding babies, changing diapers, and cleaning the house. My parents encourage me to go hang

out with my friends still, but I feel guilty when I leave and am not helping. I write in my journal

asking if you can still go to heaven if you kill yourself; my parents find this and are worried, but

at this point think I’m just being dramatic.

2009: A girl on the bus tells me that she wishes she could kill me. I tell the school counselor and

nothing happens. They begin bullying me and I ask my parents if they can start taking me to

school. I begin using the Internet to talk with strangers because I am struggling to get the

attention that I need from school and my parents. Looking back, I think I was being groomed by

several of the people I was talking to. My parents find out and take away my phone for a few

weeks. I date my first boyfriend for one day.

2012: I am still talking to random people on the Internet. Still not satisfied with the attention that

I am receiving, I start sending nude pictures and pretend that I am 16. At this point, I had thought

that I was talking with guys my own age/a few years older than me. Turns out, I was talking to a

known pedophile that the police had been trying to catch. They contact my parents and use my
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30 September 2020
account to catch him. I am grounded from my phone, friends, makeup, and pretty much

everything other than school. I start high school at the end of this year and it feels like everyone

knows what has happened. I begin dating this boy Ryan (and keeping it a secret from my

parents), who my friend Anna liked. When she discovers that we are dating she and the rest of

my friends stop talking to me. This is really the last time that I have a huge group of friends.

Ryan and I break up within three weeks.

2013: Ryan tells me that if I don’t give him a blowjob in the school bathroom he will tell my

parents that we dated. I oblige and unwillingly become sexually active. He calls my parents

afterwards and tells them everything. I am grounded once again.

2014: I join drama club. I am not good at theatre, but everyone is really accepting. I don’t really

make a lot of friends, but at the very least I am surrounded my people who are nice to me. I lose

my virginity to a boy that broke up with me the week before. He tells people he did it because he

felt sorry for me. Later this year I begin dating my first serious boyfriend, Ricky. He is in drama

club with me and is not my type, but he gives me attention and makes me feel less lonely.

2015: I break up with Ricky after he graduates high school because he wants to be an actor. He

cries. We don’t speak again for three years. I begin my senior year of high school and serve as

editors on our high school newspaper and yearbook.

2016: I win a national award for a paper that I wrote on the freedom of speech. My parents tell

me for the first time in five years that they are proud of me. I graduate in the top 10% of my class

and receive an academic scholarship to IU. Life feels like it is going well for the first time in a

long time. The first day that I arrive on campus, I go to a party with my roommate and drink

alcohol for the first time. I blackout and she leaves me alone. A boy that came with us to the
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30 September 2020
party tells me that I’m going to have sex with him. I tell him no and he says that that is not an

option. I am unable to walk due to being so drunk, so he carries me up the stairs and rapes me in

a closet. He leaves me there. The police come and tell me that I am lucky that they aren’t

arresting me. I fall into a ditch and badly sprain my ankle; two girls that I shared my location

with for the night see that I am on the side of the road and come and save me. When I wake up in

the morning I barely remember anything but something feels wrong. I stop going to my classes

and lay in bed all day. Towards the end of the year I begin doing therapy and I ask my roommate

what happened that night. She tells me what she saw and my memory fills in the blanks. I don’t

tell anyone. I fail a class this semester because of my lack of attendance and realize that I do not

want to major in journalism anymore.

2017: I begin therapy and start feeling better, slowly. I start dating my second serious boyfriend,

who I am in a long distance relationship with. Things start off great but his parents don’t like me

because I am not refined enough. I switch my major from English to Secondary English

Education and realize that I’ve found my calling.

2018: After dating for 11 months, my boyfriend and I break up. I lose 40 lbs and then gain back

70. My grades slip because I question my major; I go back and forth so many times before I

decide that I am on the right path. I still don’t have a lot of friends. I realize that I will have to

stay an extra year in school from all of the switching.

2019: At the beginning of the year I meet my current boyfriend, Justin. We start dating three

days after meeting each other and unofficially move-in with each other a few days after that. It is

easy and natural; we work well together. In August we get an apartment together and are happy.

My grades are good and life is looking up.

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2020: Justin and I celebrate our one year. Shortly after, Covid happens and we have to move

back home; he moves back to Chicago and I move back to Indianapolis. The distance is hard; we

fight a lot at first, but once we are able to visit each other again things feel normal. I find out that

I can no longer student teach in Chicago, so our LDR is extended by another five months. I will

now be moving to Chicago in May 2021 instead of January 2021. Life sucks but my grades are

good. I get a job substitute teaching and am really good at it, which helps me feel like I’m where

I need to be in life.