Dancing Alone

Will my four siblings and I be able to build healthy relationships with others after years filled with hate and violence? One day my sister Ilknur comes home late. My mother confronts her. Ilknur away runs out of the kitchen. Mother grabs something at random and throws it after her. Ilknur winces. A sharp knife falls to the ground. Ilknurs back gapes open and her lungs are visible. A sight I will never forget. At 12 I decide to leave as the only one of my four siblings. My parents are finally getting divorced in 1994. My father Mehmet is convicted of battery and rape a few years later. He goes to prison and is deported back to Turkey. Today my siblings and I are adults and mother is a caring grandmother. I now understand: You can't go anywhere without taking your past with you.