Kay Weaver

My name is Kay, although I didn’t go by that name when I was at Hillcrest. I was there maybe 88,89,90, maybe 1 or all those years, I don’t remember.Sorry to say that I don’t really have any great memories at Hillcrest. What I do remember was having to go to school in those trailers on the property, I graduated to 10th grade there. One night, we slid down that hill so that we could run away, just me and another girl. We ended up in Logan Heights and hung around there for I don’t know how long. I remember that we were standing against a building on the corner of Third and Imperial when a patrol car stopped in front of us. The officer looked at a picture in his hand and looked at us then proceeded to get out of the car. We ran so fast, I scaled a fence so fast somehow. We separated until we found each other again later that day.We spent a lot of time together, I don’t remember her name, but I’m pretty sure it started with a C. We hung around each other every day and did what we could to survive. One night, we went to Horton Plaza and slept on the lawn across the street from it. Other nights we stayed wherever we could, under a bridge, wherever. Some days, we would share one giant snickers bar and that’s all we would have to eat that day. I definitely toughened up there and that’s where I learned how to fight and man, I got into so many fights. We eventually got separated, and I ended up staying in a motel room with a much older man because he promised me drugs. That night, I woke up to him sitting on the side of my bed, wanting to sleep with me. Luckily, he listened when I said no and didn’t force it. Shortly after, the cops knocked on the door because the front desk person said that we didn’t pay for the room. The man produced the receipt for them, and they left. They didn’t think to ask why he was with a 13–14-year-old girl. The day I got caught and was sent back to Hillcrest, I remember being brought back from running away and having to sleep under my bed because as I entered my room, my name was written all over the walls and all of them were crossed off. I knew what that meant but didn’t know who did it. So I slept under my bed, petrified that somebody was going to shoot me through the window.So many stories and so many experiences, I am shocked that I made it through, made something of myself and even raised a good human. I don’t know if anyone will see this, but we made it. We did it!