Eight-year-old Joelle Williams hid behind her door in the dark while she heard the pleading from her mother downstairs. Her younger four-year-old brother, Daniel, clung to her while she covered his ears from the nightmare she called their lives. She could hear her mother, Angie, pleading to her husband, Joelle and Daniel's father, to stop hitting her. Once again, he had come home drunk, and whenever he had too much to drink, he turned into an angry man, and always seemed to take it out on the rest of them. Joelle was only hoping that he would fall over and pass out before coming up the stairs after them.
Suddenly, everything was completely quiet downstairs. She couldn't hear her mother cry anymore, nor could she hear her father moving around. She held her breath, listening like a hawk for a sign of movement. She put her hand over her brothers mouth to dull out his sobs. She then heard his footsteps start on the stairs.
"Daniel, listen to me." She whispered quietly. "I need you to go down the fire ladder out the window and run. I need you to run to Kendra's house across the street and stay there. Do not come back until I come and get you. Okay?"
He nodded slowly.
Joelle quickly locked the closed door to her room, knowing it would only buy a little bit of time, since it wasn't hard to break into the room. She then ran to the window and pushed it open, and then threw the rope ladder out the window. She then helped her little brother into the window.
"Just take your time, just like we had practiced, and do not turn back. No matter what you hear, do NOT turn back. You got it?" She said.
He nodded, his hands gripping the top rung on the ladder with his small fingers.
"Now go."
She then heard her dad turn the handle on her door.
"Go!" She whispered loudly. She wanted to go with him, but couldn't. She wanted to save him. He didn't deserve to be hurt, and she knew if she stayed behind, her father wouldn't follow him. If she left too, he would go and get them both.
She stayed at the window and watched her brother climb down slowly. Her father was banging at the door, yelling profanities at the young child.
Once she saw her brother reach the ground, she ran from the window and hid in the closet. Just as she closed the door to the closet, she heard her father kick her bedroom door in.
"Where are you you little slut?" Larry, her father, yelled.
Joelle hid in the corner of her closet, wishing he would trip, fall, and then pass out. It was her only hope to get out of the pain that she was destined to get at this point. Unfortunately, she wasn't lucky this evening. She saw the door to her closet fly open and her father standing there, rage in his eyes, staring at her. He reached down, grabbed her by her long blond hair, and pulled her out of the closet. He put his hand around her neck and stared her down.
"You think you can hide from me you little bitch?" He yelled, and then threw her against the wall. Tears stung her eyes as the pain from the hit took over her body.
Joelle didn't scream once. She knew that there was no point in fighting it. It only made her father angrier. She let his fists hit her face, let him scream the words that no child should ever hear. She just kept praying to God that it would be over soon. Before she knew it, she blacked out.
"Daniel? What are you doing here?" Patti Wilkinson said when she opened the door. She immediately then saw the small little boy crying. He quickly ran to her and put his arms around her, shaking.
"What's going on?" she asked, kneeling down and putting her arms around him.
"Dad's drunk again." He managed to get out between sobs.
Patti looked across the street to the two-story house that he had come from. She could see the emergency fire ladder from the window, and shadows in the room it was coming out of.
"Daniel. I need you to tell me where you're mom is?"
"I don't know. She was screaming, and then it stopped."
Patti quickly picked up the little boy, shut the door, and locked it. She then ran to the phone and dialed 911.
"I need someone out here immediately. I am pretty sure that my neighbor is attacking his wife and daughter."
"And how do you know this ma'am?" The operator said.
"Their four-year-old son just showed up at my door crying and I can see shadows of someone hitting something."
"We're sending someone out immediately." She said.
Patti stayed on the phone, consoling the young boy who was still crying uncontrollably.
"It's okay Daniel. Help for your mom and sister are on their way."
Patti then heard footsteps behind her. She spun around nervously to see her eight-year-old daughter, Kendra, and five-year-old son, Collin, walking down the stairs.
"What are you two doing up?" She asked.
"We heard the door. What's going on?" Kendra asked.
"Nothing. Just come sit on the couch with me." She said, motioning for her two kids to join both her and Daniel, who was started to calm down a little.
"What's wrong with Daniel?" Kendra asked.
"Nothing. He just had a bad dream. Please, come sit and let's try to get some sleep."
` She could start to hear sirens in the background in a distance. She started to rock and could feel Daniel start to fall asleep.
"Mom, what's going on?" Kendra asked when she saw a police car stop in front of her best friend's house.
"I'll explain it all when you get a little older." She said. "But they are there to help Joelle and Angie right now."
"Help with what?" She asked, starting to go towards the window, but Patti quickly stopped her.
"Don't worry about that." She said.
Patti watched out the window as a few officers forced their way into the front door. A few moments later, she saw Larry being led from the house in handcuffs, barely able to stand up on his own. They put him in the back of a squad car and slam the door shut. She could still hear sirens coming from a distance, and was praying that she wouldn't see an ambulance, because then she knew that things were bad. She unfortunately did not get her wish, and saw a couple of ambulances show up.
"Kendra. I need you to keep an eye on Daniel and Collin. Can you do that for me?" By that time, both Collin and Daniel were sound asleep on the couch.
"Where are you going?" Kendra asked with a worried look on her face.
"I need to go and talk to them. I will be right back. I promise." Patti said. She then let herself out the front door and started to walk across the street. She looked around and couldn't believe her eyes. One of the police officers came up to her when he saw her crossing the street.
"We need you to stay back." He said.
"I have their son at my place. I was the one who called it in. Please, let me know what happened."
The cop sighed, and she could tell by the look on his face that things were bad.
"Please don't tell me their dead."
"Their not dead, but it's not good." He said.
She then saw a stretcher with Angie on it, covered in blood. She gasped at the sight of her best friend unconscious on the stretcher. Once she was in the ambulance, it sped away quickly. She then, out of the corner of her eye, saw another stretcher come out. On it laid the small eight-year-old, who also was beaten unconscious, laying there black and blue and covered in blood as well.
"What hospital are you taking them?" Patti managed to get out.
"Regions Hospital," The officer said to her.
"Thank you." She said.
"Can we ask you some questions?" The officer asked. "It will help the case against Mr. Williams, even though we caught him in the act."
"The act of beating her?" She asked.
"No…" He said, trailing off.
"Act of what?" She asked again.
"He raped her ma'am." He said.
Patti felt nauseous then. She reached out to the officer, feeling dizzy.
"Come with me and sit down." He said, helping her to a chair that was not far away.
"You have to be mistaken? Rape? I always suspected the beatings, but was never sure. I'd always find bruises on the kids, but Angie never said anything about it. Never would I ever of suspected this." She cried.
The officer stood while Patti cried, letting her take a moment. Patti could not get the image of the young child being raped by her own father.
"Did you want us to take the son?" The officer asked after a long silence.
"Can he stay with me? He will feel more comfortable with the familiar surroundings than going with child services." She said, trying to collect her composure.
"Yeah, that's fine. I will let them know. Do they have any other family?"
"Nobody else here in San Diego, but I can call one of her brothers up in Seattle." She said.
"If you could do that, that would be great. They will need family at this time."
Patti nodded, and then headed back towards the house. It was close to midnight by this time, and didn't want to call Angie's older brother this late, but knew she had too. She walked into the house to see Kendra had also fallen asleep on the couch waiting for her mother to come back. She quietly picked up a blanket that was on the back of a chair and covered up the kids with it. She kissed each of them on their foreheads, and then walked into the kitchen. She grabbed her cell phone and scrolled down her contact list to Sig Hansen, one of Angie's brothers. She never really understood why Angie had asked for Patti to have the number in her cell phone, but now it was all clear. She slowly pushed the talk button on her phone, and then waited for Sig to answer the phone. After a few rings, she heard someone groggily answer.
"Um, yes, is this Sig Hansen?" She asked shakily. Patti didn't know the man, but knew by everything that Angie had told her that he can be hard headed, stubborn, and cranky, and she knew waking him up wasn't going to help any.
"Who's asking?" he asked crankily.
"This is Patti Wilkerson. I am a good friend of your sister Angie's." She said.
There was a long pause on the other end.
"Something is wrong. I know it. Why else would someone who I don't know be calling me in the middle of the night? Do I want you to tell me what I know you're going to tell me? I have a strong feeling I already know what the bastard did, but it's not real until you tell me. I have told her for years that she should never have been with that man, but no, she doesn't listen to anybody. So just say it. Say it to make it real. Say it to break my heart. What did that bastard do to my sister?"
Patti was speechless.
"Please just say it." He said.
"I'm sorry." She said. "Angie and Joelle were rushed to Regions Hospital here in town not too long ago."
"Wait, Joelle too?" He asked, caught off guard.
"Yeah." She said.
"I'm on my way." He said, and hung up on her.
Patti slowly set her cell phone down. She took a deep breath, and slowly sat down at one of her kitchen chairs. She then dialed the number to her neighbor next door, who she knew was awake since the whole street was awake with curiosity with what is going on.
"Patti, what is going on?" Janet asked on the other line.
"I really can't get into it right now. Can you watch my kids and Daniel? I need to get to the hospital."
"Of course, I will let David know and be right over." She said, talking about her husband.
Patti hung up. As soon as Janet showed up, Patti got in her car and headed over to Region's Hospital. She went to the front desk and asked where the mother and daughter were. The nurse let her know the floor and room number, since they were in the same room together, and then Patti headed up to where they were. When she got there, the two were still not awake. Patti took a seat between the two beds, grabbed a magazine that was in the room, and waited.
Sig Hansen ran to the nurse's station to find out where his sister and niece were at. He had to call in a few favors from friends who own planes to get there as fast as he did, but he was there. He had always had nightmares that something like this would happen to his sister. He never liked the man, even before he married his sister. The only good thing that had come out of the relationship between Angie and Larry were Joelle and Daniel.
Sig walked into the room to see a lady in black with a camera taking pictures of his young niece, who was not awake. His sister was in the bed next to her, awake, and between the two beds was a lady with blond hair, crying a little. He heard his name softly and turned to see his sister looking at him with one eye, the other completely swollen shut.
"Hey, Angie," He said, walking to his sister's bedside.
She started to cry, grabbing onto her older brothers hand.
"He raped her. The son of a bitch raped her." She managed to get out between sobs.
His heart sunk. He looked over at the investigator, who was taking pictures of his niece. She had a look on her face showing him how sorry he was about the circumstances. There was a long silence between the five people in the room.
"Has she woken up yet?"
Patti, who was too afraid to move until that point, shook her head in response.
Sig got up and walked over to his niece who lied there peacefully. He knelt down by the bed and looked at her. She was barely recognizable. She had a patch of hair that had been pulled out of her scalp, both of her eyes were swollen shut, and he could see a red mark on her throat that was in the shape of a hand.
"Where's Daniel?" He asked.
"At my house sleeping," Patti said.
He nodded.
"You know what this means, right?" He asked his sister, who was looking at him.
"I need away." She said.
"You're coming with me." He kissed his nieces forehead, and stood up. "I will let Mom and Dad know, and you're coming home with me."
Angie knew at that point, it was the best thing she could do at that moment. She needed to get her kids out of town, and safe. She knew living in Seattle was the best option for that.