When my stepmother locked me out of my room and put me in a shed, I thought things were really bad. I had no idea that my mom was hiding something that would make everything different.

I knew something was wrong when I got to my dad’s house. When I met my stepmother Kim, she put on a fake smile and told me I’d be sleeping in the shed because her boys needed my room. I was hurt and lied to.

Helen, my mother, had a treat for me, though. She showed up out of the blue and told me that the house was really in my name, which was a secret my dad had been keeping from his new family. Kim’s plan didn’t work out as she had hoped.

With my mom’s help, I stood up for myself and took back my room. My dad said sorry and promised to fix things. He worked hard to be a better dad, even though it wasn’t easy at first.

What I learned from this is that family can be hard, but with love and support, we can get through anything. And sometimes, all we need is the love of our mother to come back home.