A little girl sat curled up on the couch staring at a hole in the wall in front of her. She knew that if she didn't get to her room soon she'd be the first her father would beat that night, but she was too lost in a daydream to realize what time it was. She was thinking about the times when her father would come home sober and how he'd fly her around the room like she was an airplane and how they'd snuggle up on the couch together and read until her mother sent her to bed.
She was torn out of her daydream by the sound of the front door slamming shut. She looked up to see her father staggering in with a beer bottle in his hand. "I'm not in my room…" she thought, and started shaking with fear. She had hoped her father hadn't noticed her curled up on the couch, so she stayed there as still as possible. But the large man had already started making his way over to the couch. He grabbed the little girl by the wrist and pulled her into a hug. She held her breath when he spoke because it reeked of alcohol. "Why don't you be a good girl and go get your mommy for me?" he slurred to her. The girl was too afraid to say anything so she nodded her head. The man threw his daughter to the ground and shouted "Answer me when you're spoken to!" He kicked his daughter a few times and watched as she struggled to stand back up. "Ungrateful bitch, you're just like your mother," he muttered as she ran into the kitchen to find her mother.
She found her standing at the sink staring out the window. The little girl tugged on her mother's shirt and looked up at her with scared eyes. "Daddy wants you," she whispered. Her mother patted her on the head and said "Hun, I think you should go to your room now. Okay? Will you do that for Mommy?" The little girl nodded and started running to her room.
When she got there she made sure to close the door tightly behind her. The lock to the door had been taken off, so she propped a chair against the door to act as one. As her father's yelling started, the little girl hid under her covers and hugged her teddy bear tight. She waited for her mother to yell back but her voice was not to be heard. There was a crash from the front room and her mother yelled out in pain. She heard the continuous noise of her father beating on her mother and she cringed every time she heard her mother yell. A thought then occurred to her; "Why isn't Mommy fighting back tonight?" she wondered.
The girl crawled out from under the covers and moved the chair away from the door. She tiptoed down the hall and into the kitchen, her teddy still in her arms. Her head poked around the corner of the kitchen doorway and into the living room. Her mother was lying on the floor with bloodstains on her clothes while her father stood over her with a broken beer bottle in his hands. He raised the broken bottle over his head and went to bring it down on his wife when his daughter ran out into the room screaming. The man stopped and turned to his daughter. "So you want to get your beating over with early, eh?" he muttered.
The little girl stood there as her father came toward her. She closed her eyes when he stopped in front of her, she didn't want to know what would hit her first. She was kicked across the room and when her back hit the wall the breath was forced from her lungs. She sat on the floor gasping for air as her father stepped over her mother to continue the beating. He picked her up by the collar and held her up so that her eyes were level with his. The girl could see her reflection in his bloodshot eyes and she saw how calm she looked. "That's going to get me a few extra punches," she thought. As if her father had read her mind he punched her with his free hand and then let her fall to the ground.
"Stand up!" he barked, and the girl stood. That's when the real beating began. The first blow was to the side of her head and she staggered sideways, only to be tripped by her father. While she was on her knees her father kicked her in the gut and she doubled over. "Get back on your feet! I raised you to take more of a beating than this!" he shouted drunkenly as she was on the ground.
The man continued to beat on his daughter until she could no longer stand. "Stand up! Get up! Listen to your father, you selfish little bitch!" he shouted at her.
"I-I can't…" his daughter whispered. A few silent tears rolled down her cheeks. She knew what this would mean for her and she hated to think about it. Her father walked over to the couch and picked up the broken beer bottle he had thrown when he started on her beating. The girl closed her eyes tight and held onto her teddy bear; she hadn't let go of it the whole beating.
She listened as her father's footsteps grew closer and when they stopped she prepared for the worst. She felt the bottle hit her temple hard and she began to feel light headed. The bottle was dragged downwards and she could feel the glass cutting through her skin. She wanted to scream as loud as she could, the pain was so unbearable, but she knew that would only make things worse for her. She let out a small whimper when the bottle was pulled down the other side of her cheek. Her father let out a chuckle and pressed the glass deeper into his daughter's skin.
"Katrina!" a voice called out. "Katrina…" the girl thought. "My name, that's my name! And my mommy's voice!" she remembered. She hadn't heard her name in so long she felt like she had forgotten it.
The bottle was pulled away from the girl's skin and she slowly opened her eyes. Blood ran over her face and she had to wipe it out of her eyes to see. The second she had wiped the blood from her eyes she wished she hadn't.
Her father pulled a switchblade from his pocket and she saw her mother's eyes widen. The look of pain and fear on her mother's face made Katrina want to run, but she couldn't stand. Her father took one step towards her mother and thrust the blade into her chest. The scream that came from her mothers lips was bloodcurdling and Katrina cringed at the sound. She wanted to close her eyes, to look away, to do anything but watch, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from her mother.
The blade was pulled from her mother's chest and she fell to the floor in a heap at her husband's feet. "Mommy?" Katrina whispered. When she didn't get an answer she began to worry. "Mommy?" she shouted. She had to wipe the blood from her eyes again and when she did she saw her dad turning around and starting towards her.
"I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die!" was the one thought that continuously ran through Katrina's head.
"Your Mommy's dead, and you're going to join her. A fitting end for a pair of ungrateful, slutty, bitches like you!" he shouted as he lunged towards his daughter. His foot caught on the rug and he tripped. He fell forward and landed inches away from his daughter. Katrina sat there and stared at her father on the floor in front of her.
The man's head looked up to his daughter who was kneeling over him. "Katrina…" he whispered and his head hit the floor.
"Daddy?" she said. "Da-" she stopped when she saw the blood pooling under him. "Daddy's dead…" she whispered. "Mommy and Daddy are dead…" She sat there staring at her parents' bodies for a moment, soaking up the thought that she was alone now. She felt empty inside, but she knew what she had to do.
She stood up on shaky legs and walked over to the phone on the table across the room, leaving her teddy lying on the floor, covered in blood. She dialed 911 and when the person on the other end picked up she said "I need the police and an ambulance. My name is Katrina Sterling. I'm seven years old and my Dad just killed my Mom and now he's dead too. I live at 905 County Road in Silverton, Colorado. I feel… really light-headed right now… I got hurt bad and I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to talk."
The person on the other end was silent for a moment. "You're seven? And you live, at 905 County Road in Silverton, Colorado, right?"
Katrina dropped to her knees and said "Yes. My vision is starting to get fuzzy… What should I-"
"Hello? Hello, Katrina?" the dispatcher asked trying to get a response, but the girl had already blacked out…
