Amber: The Daughter

By Sadie Beckenridge

Amber, the daughter of Morgan Mitchell and David Lightenbock, has always desired to have a different life than her mother, a sexual abuse survivor unable to escape her past. Amber has tried to build barriers to protect herself without success. Unfortunately, the evil that lies within her family is too strong for her to overcome at a young age. As Amber grows into adulthood, she feels a strong pull towards the unknown.

Amber yearns to break free from the negative and damaging perceptions that surround her. Figuring she has nothing to lose, she takes a chance and learns to be her own person outside the shadows of her family. Throughout her journey, she discovers the daunting truth about her family members. Is Amber naive enough to believe that the abuse cycle has been broken? Now only time will tell if she will ever find a way to attain the life, love, and true happiness she so strongly desires—and deserves.

In this continuing tale, a young woman embarks on a determined quest to break free of her destiny, forgive those who have harmed her, and carve a new path in life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Dec 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781480886209

Sadie Beckenridge

Sadie Beckenridge holds a Bachelor of Science in Family and Child Services and an Associate Degree in Human Development and Family Services. She has been working in an elementary school setting since 2015. Sadie currently resides in Central Pennsylvania. This is her third book.

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Copyright © 2020 Sadie Beckenridge.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-8619-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-8620-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019920645

Archway Publishing rev. date:   12/18/2019

CONTENTS

List of Characters

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

About the Author

This book is

dedicated to the survivors.

A special thank you to Shirley, Ruth,

and Abbie, as well as all the others

who have inspired and uplifted me.

Amber was born in the early spring of the 1970s, in Hamptonville. She is the daughter of Morgan Mitchell and David Lightenbock. It is said that no one remembers anything before their birth and after their death. Amber cannot remember anything in her life before the age of three. She has been told of occurrences and events in the family’s lives that led up to the beginning of her story.

LIST OF CHARACTERS

CHAPTER 1

T o understand the foundation of one’s story, it may be best to look at the people who have contributed to their creation. Amber has two very different sets of grandparents. One set lives a wealthy lifestyle where the other lives among the middle-class.

Amber’s maternal grandparents were Harold and Vicky Mitchell who lived the life everyone desired. It appeared they had everything money could buy. They were private people who did not air their dirty laundry in public. One had to be within the inner circle to be told the family secrets that haunted many.

Amber’s mother grew up in this family of lies, manipulation, abuse, and secrets. Long into adulthood Morgan continues to suffer from these dreadful experiences and has transferred them to her three children and six husbands.

Amber’s paternal grandparents were Charlie and Birdie Lightenbock. The Lightenbock family were middle-class farmers who lived the simple life. They were respected and proud of their heritage and were well known within the farming community. Amber is uncertain what type of daunting secrets might be embedded within this family since she had been separated from them since the age of five.

Amber’s father, David Lightenbock, is her mother’s second husband. David had the traits of an outsider and a loner. He has very few friends and trusts even less people in his life. He had addiction problems and could be abusive. David was tired of living the farmers’ life and had bigger dreams he wanted to pursue. Hamptonville was an up-and-coming little city offering greater employment opportunities. He ended up isolating his family by moving them far from their hometown.

The stress of disconnection from Morgan’s extended family was taking its toll. Amber’s parents began to fight all the time, causing the relationship to unravel. David started to drink heavily and became a public nuisance. One late evening in the summer, the neighbors overheard disconcerting noises coming from David and Morgan’s townhouse and called the police. David was placed in handcuffs and taken away. This occurrence has been burned into Amber’s memory. The family did not live in Hamptonville long afterward. Within a few days, her mother had all their belongings packed and was waiting for Harold and Vicky’s arrival to take them back home. At the age of two, Amber was already facing the possibility of having divorced parents.

Amber does not remember the move or how long they lived with her grandparents. It was if they were visiting Harold and Vicky one day and then living in another location the next. Her mother began dating a man named Michael before her divorce even became final. To Amber, Michael was her mother’s good friend who lived life to the fullest.

A year later, Amber’s father showed up unannounced for her third birthday. He had brought along another woman. David tried to make the most of his visit. He would be the one to tell his daughter that her mother and father were getting a divorce. Amber remembers the short visit to her grandparents’ farm and going shopping with her father and brother, Brian. The other woman left no lasting impression on Amber. David took his daughter home, dropped her off, and said goodbye for the last time.

CHAPTER 2

B etween the ages of three and five, the events in Amber’s life remain a blur. She can recall bits and pieces of memories long forgotten. Amber remembers packing and moving frequently from one place to another. It was as if she never had a true home to call her own. She spent most of her time with her siblings Kelly and Brian when they were not in school. She recalls spending time with both sets of her grandparents.

The summers were spent with Harold and Vicky at the lake. They had their own boat and would go out on the water fishing and waterskiing. The local beach near the lake had a small ice cream stand where they would sometimes get cones.

Amber had short visits with her other grandparents, Charlie and Birdie, on the farm. There she would play with her white rabbit in the back yard, help milk the cows in the big red barn, and watch the horses run free alongside the house. She also had paper dolls that she liked to play with which were stored in antique travel trunks. Her grandmother, Birdie would make her homemade playdough, that she would, at times, get caught eating. Charlie liked to sit in his rocking chair and read books to her. He had a voice similar to the Carvel ice cream man. Their house always smelled of sweet vanilla from the pipe he smoked.

The biggest impact on this child was when her mother married Michael, and he became her first stepfather. With Morgan’s marriage to Michael, the children acquired another set of grandparents named George and Edna. George had been a medic in the Army and Edna had been a baker. Due to a falling out that occurred between Morgan and both her and David’s parents, the children no longer visited Harold, Vicky, Charlie, and Birdie. At five years old, things started to become clearer for Amber.

As Amber and her siblings, grew older, Michael began to change. He was starting to show his true colors as the monster he really was. He became quick to anger and was a firm believer in children having chores and punishments. Those punishments became more frequent and unjust, tipping the scales into beatings. Kelly and Brian got punished more often than Amber. One of his favorite punishments was his belt across their backsides. He would have the children bend over and touch their toes. If they were not quick