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See Ch 1 for disclaimer...

Ch. 3

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Cathy surveyed the

damage that had been inflicted upon her. She still had the hugebump

on the back of her head, which had not gone any. Her ribs still

ached with each breath she took and Cathy prognosed that

they were probably bruised or cracked. Her hair now hung at

various lengths above and below her shoulders and she saw that

there was no possible way to salvage the long curly strands thatshe

had once been so proud of. Taking the pair of scissors

that she had managed to pocket from the medicine cabinet, Cathy set

about cutting her hair so that it was all one length.

OOOO

April 25th 2000

Dear diary,

The drinking is getting worse and worse and now I have no way

ofescaping. All his attention is focused at me and there is no

way I could get out of the window with the state that my ribs

are in. Now I'm almost beyond caring. At least if he hits me

it will overshadow the pain that I feel in my heart. The pain Ifeel

every time Mac calls me and I have to pretend to her like

nothing is happening. It's not like I don't want to tell her. Like

when she called me yesterday and I had gotten myself ready beforehand

to tell her the truth. However, when she actually

called, it was very different. The entire time, Jim stood over me so

I would watch what I would said to her. Writing to her isout of the

question as well, because the postmaster is a friend of Jim's, one of

his drinking buddies. I've got no one who can help me, because every

single person in this town is someone Jimknows, even the teachers at

my school. Before I at least had Linda who would fight for me. Now I have nobody.

OOOO

When Cathy got home from school one day, not too long later, she knew

something was wrong when she saw Jim's pickup truck in the driveway.

"He shouldn't be home from work yet," she thought to herself.

As she walked into the house, she surveyed the broken furniture and

smashed crockery. Jim sat at the kitchen table, the table

and chair the only ones in the house left intact. As he spoke

to her, she noted from the nature of his voice that he was

probably just coming down from a major alcohol high.

"You got any money?" he asked her.

"A few dollars, I think."

"Give it to me."

When Cathy didn't immediately respond, Jim got up and lunged

towards her, striking her across the face, sending her smashing into

the tile counter top. As she fell to the floor and tried

to recover her senses, Jim grabbed her rucksack, emptying the

contents onto the floor. He grabbed her wallet and emptied it

of dollar bills and even loose change. He stalked out of the

house, then Cathy picked herself up and took stock of herself. She

was bleeding at the mouth and one of her front teeth had

been knocked loose in its socket. She stood in front of the

bathroom mirror and pushed the tooth, hard, back into the tooth bed.

Despite the severe pain, she held it there, not wanting tolose one of

her teeth that was so apparent. If anyone noticed it and started asking

questions, she would bare the brunt of Uncle Jim's anger. Then she

set about clearing up the debris from Jim's tirade. If Jim was asking

her for money for his booze, Cathy realized, then that he had lost his job.

This also meant that he would be around the house a lot more from now on.

From now on, he would be looking to her for money. Cathy

figured that from now on she would not be able to keep an awful lot

of money in the house, for as she knew well, nothing in The House was

safe from Uncle Jim.

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