Chapter 10 "All of their punishments were like that. They took what I did and turned it against me."

"But you didn't do anything wrong."

"You think that mattered to them?!" Melissa shouted. "Everything I did was wrong to them. And I paid for it all."

"Wasn't there something you could do.talk to someone who would help?"

"Michael I was thirteen. Who do you think listened to me?"

"Didn't you have a social worker, or someone like that?"

"Of course I did. But you heard what I just said. He forced me to eat pretzels. Do you honestly think that anyone believed that story? No matter who I went to.they all thought I was making it up."

Michael was disgusted. "I don't know how anyone can treat another human being like that."

"I got away when I was fifteen. I spent two years in that hellhole. But I finally got away."

"How? Where did you go?"

"They got tired of me. I was sent to another foster home."

"That had to be an improvement."

"You lead a sheltered life Michael. Things did not get better.they never did.until I met you."

"I don't know if I want to hear any more."

"Don't do this to me Michael."

"I can't stand to hear about you being hurt so badly."

"I have to do this.I need to talk.please help me."

"No...No more."

"Michael."

"You wanted to die and now I know why. What else do I need to hear?"

"You need to hear everything or you will never know me. You've told me your entire life story. I know you inside and out. But you don't have that.and if we're going to share our lives, we should share everything."

"What more can I know?" Michael wondered. "What more do I need to know?"

"You haven't heard the most important thing of all."

"These people say they will care for you.and they destroy you.I don't know how much more I can take."

"You think this doesn't hurt me.to talk so openly? But I have to.and you have to listen."

"I'm sorry Melissa. I wasn't thinking about you.and I should have been. Please go on."

Melissa took a deep breath and willed herself to continue. "I was tossed around between homes for the next few years. I think I was in a total of three in the course a year. But then I ended up at my very last foster home. I was just about sixteen."

A wave of anxiety passed over the room. Melissa froze in her seat with the mere thought of the house. Michael saw her reaction and went to comfort her. "It's alright Melissa. There's nothing to be scared of."

When he placed his hand on her knee, Melissa shot up out of her seat. "No!" she screamed, running from him. "Don't touch me!"

"Melissa it's me.Michael.I won't hurt you."

Melissa began to calm. "Michael."

"Yes I'm here."

"I don't want to remember anymore."

"You don't have to.I don't need to know. We're going to start our lives together, have a real family.and nothing that happened in the past matters anymore."

"I'd like to believe that." Melissa said. "But it's not true Michael. You know that as well as I do. Everything about my past effects who I am. But this is very hard to talk about."

Mr. Martin made no attempt to hide his true desire for taking Melissa. Her first night there, he made his intentions known. After allowing Melissa to dress for bed, he came to say goodnight. But his idea of goodnight was far different then any Melissa had ever known.

"Now you just lay there quiet and we won't have any problems." He told her.

Melissa was scared out of her wits. Every bone in her body was shaking. But she dare not make a sound. She had dealt with cruel people before but this was a new kind of abuse.

Mr. Martin came over to the bed and dropped his pants. Melissa gasped. She had never seen a naked man before. He got on top of her and inched her nightgown up to her hips. Thrusting himself inside her, he moaned with pleasure.

"He abused you.sexually." Michael could hardly speak the words.

"Yes he did."

"What did you do?"

"I left."

"Left? But you were only sixteen!"

"I couldn't take it anymore. All of my life I'd been forced to do what others told me. Go where I was instructed.and all those places were horrible. Mr. Martin had pulled my last string. I had to get away."

"Where did you go?" Michael wondered.

"I got a job at a movie theater. I made enough to rent a room above some people's garage. I hid there for two years."

"You had to hide?"

"The Martin's were looking for me as was my social worker. I knew I'd just be sent back somewhere terrible if I was found so I kept quiet and waited until I could finally be free of the messed up system I had been a part of."

"So they never found you?"

"No, thank god they didn't. I was finally free when I turned 18. I was of age and they couldn't get me to go anywhere. That's when I headed to Arizona."

"What did you do there?"

"I met someone.online. I went to see her. She lives in Arizona."

"So I was wrong when I though those people were your family."

"You weren't that far off."

"What do you mean?"

"Anne is my sister."

"From one of your foster homes?"

"No.my real, biological sister."

"You're sure?"

"Yes I'm sure. I would go to the library and spend all my time online.mainly trying to find ways to get away from the foster system. Well all that time, I was also trying to find my birth parents."

"And you found them?"

"No...But I found Anne. I used all the information I had to track my roots back.and I discovered that Anne was dropped off at the same hospital as I was.only she was already five years old. So she went to the orphanage faster then I did. I was in the hospital for some time, since I was so young."

"How did you figure out she was your sister?"

"I had to do some begging at the orphanage, but I finally got the name of the hospital. I went there and miraculously, there was a nurse working who had been there the day we were dropped."

"She remembered."

"She said I looked like my mother.and then asked how my sister was.I had no idea I had a sister.she gave me the name and I headed back to the orphanage."

"That's amazing."

"I got her address and wrote her. She responded by email.and we continued to get acquainted online."

"So you went to stay with her?"

"Yes. But when I got to Arizona, I couldn't stay. All the things that had happened in my life kept creeping back up on me."

"So you headed to Colorado."

"Yes." Melissa replied. "And you saved me."

"I was so happy when you were finally well." Michael said. "I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you."

"So we got our house."

"I know the rest." Michael smiled.

"No.you don't know why I left."

"For Missouri."

"Yes."

"You remember?"

"I told you I remembered everything."

"So why did you leave?"

"I didn't go willingly."

Melissa was sitting out on the porch of her new home. She hadn't moved in yet, but the men working inside told her it wouldn't be long. She loved this house.something about it just spoke to her heart. Michael should have been home any minute from work. HE was meeting her at the house so they could have a picnic there. The city, where their apartment was, was too crowded and noisy to enjoy themselves. They often went out to the house just to get away from it all.

Hoping to meet Michael along the road, Melissa set out across the grassy area in front of the house. Their land stretched a mile across the plains to a small creek, and another mile on every other side. It was an amazing piece of property. It was probably the largest untouched piece of land in the area.

Suddenly, something caught her eye and Melissa took off running. Before she knew it, she had reached the creek. She didn't know where to go. Looking around, she tried to find the man she had seen before. How had he found her? That didn't matter. What mattered now was that she kept away from him. Melissa slowly backed away from the creek and leaned up against a tree.

From around the tree, two large hands came, circling around the trunk, and Melissa's small figure. She tried to scream as the strong arms held her captive, but nothing came out. The man stalking her held one wrist tightly and came around to face her. "You thought you could leave me did you? Well now you will have no choice but to stay."