Friday, October 10, 2003

ready for the punch? this is the first of a few entries that I will be posting about my dearest friend- and her life long battle with injustice. Please be aware that every entry, no matter how unbelievable or movie-like the stories may seem, they are true events. *Some alterations are made to the setting and names- these alterations do not affect or change the realities of the story. The rain poured down and filled the dark, littered trailer park. Cigarette butts and empty beer bottles threatened the natural survival of any vegetation that lived. Trees were thin and straggly if they had not already dropped to the acidic ground. Pain was in the air, in the grass, in the community. The outside of one monochromatic trailer was wasting away. If there was any paint left to decipher a color of the beaten down home, it had already been chipped or peeled. The driveway reeked of an emptiness which would suggest a lack of use had it not been for the rusty broken down Honda sitting on the grass beside it. The home was completely dark. If the dark had suggested only the absence of light, it would have been lying. This dark was different. This dark was destructive. Inside a frail child sat and shivered in fear. She barely took in breath as she waited for the arrival of her nightly doom. The latch-key five year old was given specific instructions to sit completely still, in the dark, for the eight hours that mom and step-dad would be at work. Tonight, however, they didn’t come home. Marie passed out from hunger. The next morning she awoke to the shouting voice of a man. She was picked up by her assailant and violently thrown into her bedroom. Her body was already bruised from the previous week of beatings. Her stomach was screaming for food, her body for physical care, and her heart for a savior from her fear. Her step-dad, drunk and upset- which was nothing out of the usual, was in a mood. Marie could sense it and curled up into a fetal position in her room. She could hear him screaming at her mother followed by a thud, as he threw her mother into the wall. She held her breath and prayed that he would forget about her existence. Marie’s door was opened and her step-dad stormed in. She tried to forget that she was still awake, and threw herself into another world. He tore off her small clothes and stripped her from her innocence once again. 2:29:18 PM   comment  []