Chapter 1
Tory stood in the doorway of the living room watching as her mother's boyfriend swing the sludge hammer nearly hitting her mom as she lay curled up in a fetal position on the cold hard floor as the hammer slammed onto the floor over and over. She felt frozen in place for a few seconds and then hurried back to her bedroom and sat on the top bunk of the bed, her and her sister Chelsea shared trembling in fear not knowing what to do she grabbed her grandfather's rosary that he had given her and told her that it was for praying and to take good care of it. She held the beads tightly in her hand when the door opened to her bedroom and there stood her mom with a bloody lip and her angry boyfriend behind her demanding to know where they had all gone that night. That was when Tory realized that this was only the beginning of this nightmare on Christmas eve.
Earlier that day Tory, Chelsea and their mother Rose had been at their Great Grandparents house opening presents and having Christmas dinner. Tory and Chelsea loved being at their Grandparents house, it was a safe happy place to be with unlimited cartoons unlike at home when cartoons were only on Saturday mornings.
Then after presents and dinner Rose took the girls to a man's house that they didn't know. This wasn't anything new for Tory who had seen her mother with many different men other than who she lived with. Something about being at this house and going home made Tory feel very worried to the point her stomach hurt. She already knew not to mention any of this to her mother because that would result and getting yelled at. Tory and Chelsea were not allowed to express emotions or thoughts of any kind that were not in line with Rose's.
"Where were you after Grandma and Grandpas house?" asked Dan
Chelsea sat in her bed with the beads clenched in her hand's tears running down her cheeks. "Um." is all the sound she could get out. "Don't you lie to me Tory!" Her mother shook her head no, but Tory didn't know what else to do So she told him, "Todd's house." with a trembling voice.
The door shut and Tory heard rustling in the bathroom across the hall from her bedroom and fear struck her heart with a sharp pain that went down into her stomach. Moving the beads through her tiny fingers she prayed for the Lord not to let him kill her mother. She prayed the same prayer over and over again. Then she heard a gun go off outside but had the feeling her mother was ok but still wasn't sure she remained in her room with Chelsea on the bottom bunk not making a sound. More yelling and fighting in the kitchen and then the phone rang it was Chelsea's Dad. Tory heard her mother on the phone and the fighting still going on and Chelsea's dad called the police.
When the police arrived, the officers took Dan out of the house and into the police car while the other two officers shined a light on Tory and Chelsea to see if there were any marks on them and asked if he had hit them also. Tory was the one to say no Chelsea was so scared she couldn't speak. Tory was the oldest of the two by 5 years, Chelsea thought Tory was the brave one not afraid of anything and quick to stand up to Dan.
The next morning Rose had breakfast cooking and presents wrapped under the tree and a freshly bruised face and fat lip. Tory tried to ignore the facts of the night before because Dan was gone now, and he couldn't cause any more problems she felt free.
