Janelle lived in a small rundown neighborhood in New York City with both her parents and two sisters. Janelle was your typical child, she'd go to school and help around the house. She excelled quite a bit in school, because she mostly attended her studies to stay out of her parents way when the fought.

Janelle's mother was quite sick and had been bed ridden for almost a month, therefore Janelle had to leave school in order to maintain things in order. One would think that Mark, Janelle's father, would help since his wife was nearly dying, but instead he would disappear. When he showed up a few days later all run down and drunk, he would demand things from Janelle. With the other girls in school, Mark had free time on his hands, which he used to bother Janelle. She would end up all bruised or sore from all the "sleeping". But through this all Janelle stayed determined not to let her life become a waste. She was persistent in getting ahead and taking he

Soon one of her sister's was so mal-nutritioned that she began to get extremely sick. Her sickness got worse by the day and Janelle had to quit her job in order to nurse her sister. Now the fear of ending up on the street went through Janelle's head. "What will I do with no money to feed my sister's and no roof to put over their heads? Lord please help us in our time of need."

While they still had a bit of money saved up Janelle managed to get some medicine for her little sister. On her way to the pharmacy she began to cry and eventually plopped down on the floor and cried harder. Janelle was tired, tired of living an adult's life at the age of thirteen. She had gone through so much and still she knew she could not be selfish and give up, she had to be strong for her sister's futures. She continued walking when she bumped into a man. "Oh, excuse me sir I'm sorry I did not see you there." The man responded politely "It's quite all right little girl, what's your name and why is such a pretty little girl crying for?" Janelle and the man exchanged a few words where she went on to tell him a bit of her struggling young life. The man surprised by her words, asked who her mother was. Janelle soon responded and

Some common words found in the essay are:
Mark Janelle's, York City, , Janelle Janelle, janelle sister's, little girl, passed janelle, sister's soon, money food,
Approximate Word count = 818
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)