An Old Pleather Book

February 12, 2014, Entry 2

*There are a few rat nibbles on this page, but nothing that makes it too difficult to read the words, although the ink is still pretty faded.*

I guess I forgot about this diary, whoops. Can't blame me, I was 5. Oh, hey, I'm actually 9 years old now, cause I turned 9 last week. I think it was last week. I keep forgetting what day it is. Hold on, lemme figure it out.

So it's a Wednesday. My birthday was a Tuesday, but weeks are 7 days long and it's already February 12th, so I think it was probably 2 weeks ago instead of 1. My birthday's January 28th.

Anyway, when I read the last entry I made, I actually thought about tearing it out. By the moons in the sky was that cringy to read. But it's probably better to keep the history, you know, in case 1,000 years in the future some scientist finds it and wants to know what child-me was like or something. Probably never gonna happen, but you can never be too careful.

I actually learned to read and write though, so that's good! I learned it from all the books that flood in every day, as well as from my parents' weekly visits.

I'm still living in the dump, as per the usual. It's cause my parents couldn't keep affording me or my medical bills, so they had no other choice really unless they wanted to send me off for adoption. They asked the people running this place if they could take care of me between their visits. Yes, my parents still visit me, yes they still love me, and no they didn't want to leave me here. At least, that's what they say every time they visit, and I'm pretty sure they're telling the truth since they always look so sad and teary-eyed when they say it.

My family's actually very poor, and they were having a rough time just keeping themselves afloat before I came along. What's worse? I came out with a deformation of my left side. Made my lung smaller than it should've been, and made it so as I grew up the skin on my left side wouldn't grow with me, so it would just stretch and tear instead. They couldn't pay for the medical bills while also paying for me, so they had to dump me off here to be taken care of while they try to pile up enough money to pay for the surgery. They still don't have enough money, and my left side is really starting to hurt and it's getting hard to breath. I don't know what to do. I'm getting scared, as in really really scared. More scared than when the guard dog chases me for an hour until someone finds me.

I hope they get enough money for it soon.