Chapter 1
Jenifer walked out of her bedroom onto the large balcony overlooking the lake below. She watched the steam rise from it, took a deep breath of refreshing sunshine into her lungs and sighed. The weather was so gorgeous this time of year in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Much better than in New York, where it's always cold. Jen thought to herself. Her and her family had moved there seven years earlier. She walked into her bathroom and showered. As she was toweling off her long brown hair, she heard her older brother Tyler getting up. It's about time! It's almost noon, and he knows I have to be at the studio by one
o'clock or Zac will worry. She smiled as she picked her favorite jeans out of her closet and pulled them on. She grabbed a blue tank top out of the clean clothes basket that her mother had brought up to her room last night. A note laid out on top of them clearly printed:
Jen,
Please put these clean clothes away. Dad left for his meeting this morning, and I went out to breakfast with Susan. We may go shopping later this afternoon, so you're on your own for most of the day. I know you're going to the studio with Zac but if you decide to go anywhere else, please call me on my cell. Also, Roni called last night after you'd went to bed, and
she knew you'd be tired from softball yesterday, so she just left a message for you to call her back whenever you got the chance. Hope you have a good day sweetie! Don't forget to bring your cell phone with you! Love you!
Mom
Jen smiled at the thought of Roni. She was one of her friends who knew her inside and out. Roni, short for Veronica had been practically a sister to Jen since they were babies. They did everything together. They always had. Veronica's mom Susan, had met Jen's mom when they roomed together in college. The two women had done everything together, dated together, married together, even had their daughters together. Jen was born two weeks before Roni was, and they always had their birthday parties combined. Jens thoughts trailed away for a moment to her father. She hated him, as much as she denied it to everyone else. She suddenly remembered the bruise on her arm and looked at it. It was about the size of a tennis ball and an ugly shade of purple. Jen was so used to the pain that it only bothered her when someone touched it. She gingerly took off the tank top and replaced it with a Tshirt she had received as a door prize from her mothers boss at the company picnic.
"Jen! Are you up?" Tyler's voice thundered up the stairs. She shook her thoughts away, grabbed her purse and her sandals and ran down the steps to the kitchen.
"Yes, I'm up." She answered. Her brother was her favorite family member. He never purposely tried to get in her way, and he was always ready to drive her somewhere if he didn't have anything else planned. Plus, he could keep secrets. Unlike some people in this house. She thought bitterly remembering the time her sister had told her friends that she had called off their dinner and a movie plans to go out with Zac. That girl will do anything for a little attention. Which was probably why she was dating the most notorious guy at school known for using the girls he dated.
"Did Savanna already leave with Jared?" Jen asked, inquiring about her younger sister and her boyfriend.
"Yep. They were in a lip-lock before they even left the kitchen!" Tyler rolled his eyes. Everyone frowned on their relationship simply because there was not a spare moment when they were together for them to simply talk. It was obvious that it was based entirely based on lust. That was why Jen's mom, Sharon, liked Jens boyfriend Zac so much. "He's always so polite. He never tries to do anything when I'm in the room, unlike Jared, who's all over Savanna before I can say two words. The furthest Zac has gone in front of me is holding your hand. He's definetely a keeper Jen." She recalled her
mother saying the other day.
"So, are you ready to go yet?" Tyler asked her, grabbing his keys from the kitchen table. Jennifer hopped down from the stool she had been sitting on and raced her brother out to his car. He won. Again. He always did. Jen hopped in and turned on the radio. She let her mind wander as it drowned out the music and focused in again on Zac. They had known each other since they were six years old and had been good friends ever since. It had only been 2 years ago when Zac had developed a crush on her. She told him the truth, that she wanted to wait before having a boyfriend because of everything
going on at home. At the time, Zac didn't know what that was and Jen wasn't volunteering any information. But one night Jen showed up at their house at one o'clock in the morning crying hysterically and begging for shelter. Thats when she told him the whole story. About the beatings, about the sexual abuse, about the drinking. She just couldn't keep it hidden anymore. That was the night that he told her that if it happened again he would take legal action. "I don't want this to happen again Jen. I swear if it does, I will do something to make sure it doesn't." His voice sounded so stern it had scared her. But she knew he was right. She could see it so vividly in her mind, Zac opening the door and gasping at the sight of her. She was wearing the Tshirt she had worn to bed and nothing else. She was crying and she knew that there was blood all over her face. He helped her into the house and into the bathroom. There he took a soft washcloth and wiped the blood from her face as he asked her quietly what happened. She couldn't stop sobbing and hiccupping, making it difficult to speak. But she finally got it out. Finally told him what had been going on for the past six years. He got a pair of Jessica's shorts for her to borrow and he just held her and told her everything was gonna be all right. The car stopped in front of the studio with a sudden jerk.
"Well, here you are. Call me if you need a ride home, ok? You have your cell, right?" Tyler asked her, glancing at her purse.
"Yeah, I've got it. I'll call you if I can't find anyone to take me home, okay?" She closed the door, and waved as her brother drove away. Then she turned and ran inside the studio and climbed inside the elevator. She pushed the number 3 and again, her mind wandered. The number 3...that was the number that she remembered that was written on her fathers hand that night. One of the nights he raped her. It was probably part of a phone number or something. But as he took his blazer off and unbuttoned his shirt, Jen knew what he was in her room for. She kicked and screamed, finally resisting him. She had always gone along with it, never arguing or stopping him. But now she did. The moment she felt his hands on her face, she pushed them away, sat straight up on the bed and looked down at her comforter. She remembered the pattern of daisies on it. She had loved that blanket. Up until that night anyway. Now the sight of it made her gag. She played with her fingers in the dim light shining from her lamp that she had gotten on her third birthday. The lamp that was molded into the shape of a beautiful little girl with blue eyes and blonde, curly hair. He just looked at her with surprise and when she
refused to make eye contact, tried again. She pushed his hands away again, only this time, he was ready for her. He grabbed her wrists and flung her down on the bed with tremendous force. She looked up to see his face directly over hers and she could still smell the beer on his breath. She fought and struggled. She could still hear him whispering "Don't move. Don't move or I'll kill you." She somehow couldn't listen and still struggled to be set free. She was trapped, there was no way out. Instinct took over and she screamed. Loud, shrill and long. He put his hand over her mouth and she bit him. With one hand free, she was able to take him off guard and push him off of her enough to be able to escape. He ran after her, following close behind her on the hardwood stairs. She slipped and fell six stairs, down to the bottom.
She woke up to her fathers intense breathing and she knew. She knew at that moment that she had lost. He saw that she had woken up then and hit her hard across the face seven times. She could still count them. One...two...three...the pain that came with them was so intense that her eye felt like it would explode. Four...five...six...she could see the blood on his hand and knew that she would have marks. Seven...she couldn't take it anymore and gathered all the energy in her body into one intense burst. She sat up and knocked him backwards. Then she ran out of the front door into the darkness, not knowing where to go, just running. She felt her legs carry her up Oak Street and she knew where her heart was taking her. She felt the cool breeze on her legs and the chill slipping up her shirt. She looked behind her and saw no one running after her. But she still couldn't stop running. She ran all the way up to Zacs driveway and up to the house. She saw a dim light from inside, in the living room. She knocked loudly on the door and nervously glanced around for her father. She burst into tears just as Zac opened the door. He saw her and gasped. She just fell into his open arms and cried. He
brought her inside and wordlessly took her into the bathroom. Jen heard a loud bell and knew that the elevator had arrived on her floor. She walked down the hall and into the studio room, where three guys turned and greeted her.