My dad beat me from my earliest memories when I was ~4 until I was big enough to kick his ass when I was 14. Earliest memory was having to push a kitchen chair against the cabinets at the kitchen sink so I could stand on it to wash the dishes. That was one of my chores.
My dad would fill the sink with water so hot my hands were bright red and I couldn't feel them. If I dropped a dish or wasn't going fast enough or he was just pissed off he would get a fistful of my hair and lift me off the chair and drag me by my hair into the living room where he had room to beat me with a cricket bat. I still remember when he bought it at a flea market I was so excited because I thought we were going to get to play cricket.
It hurt so bad I would put my arms back while he beat me and ended up with striped bruises across my arms and back. Child protective services came out to the house when my older sister was old enough to have gym class in school and people saw her with her shirt off in school and reported my dad because of the striped bruises across her back.
I had to strip down to my underwear in the front yard for the CPS to look me over and told them the story my parents had coached me to tell them about falling off the bunk beds. That day my dad learned he can beat us as much as he wants as long as he doesn't leave any long lasting marks. My little brother killed himself. He used my dad's advice after he had attempted a few times. My dad told us "If you're going to kill yourself do it out back so nobody has to clean up the mess." My brother killed himself at a friend's house in their bathtub.
Thirty years later and I'm scared every time I'm around anyone that I don't know really well. I subconsciously think they're going to hit me. I was diagnosed with social agoraphobia and institutionalized for 6 months and put on drugs that made me a zombie. To this day I can't wash my own dishes without my stomach churning with anxiety.
Unless you are literally chained to something ANYONE that is an adult can walk out and start their life.
