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As she lay in her bed, she hears her father beating her mother. She can hear her mother's muffled cries. "Stop Jackson, you will kill me, please stop!" She hears her mother fall to the ground. "You worthless Bitch! Why do I waste my time on you? You can't even do anything right!" she hears the door open and his heavy foot fall in the hallway. Her bedroom door opens, she can see her father standing there, breathing heavily. Jackson makes his way to her bed. "Carmen?" he calls out to her, "wake up!" terrified she doesn't move. This angers him, he approaches the bed and yanks her out of bed by her hair. This poor girl is traumatized, 9 years old, she doesn't know what to think. He rips her out of the bed and throws her on the floor. "GET UP NOW!" she quickly moves to stand, but it wasn't quick enough for him so he backhands her to the ground again. She lets out a terrifying scream, moments later her brother Henry rushes through the door. "YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HER!" He screams at his father. Jackson turns on Henry, shoving him to the door, "YOU ARE ALL WORTHLESS!" "THIS IS MY HOUSE, I WILL DO AS I PLEASE, NOW MOVE, CARMEN NEEDS TO BE PUNISHED! UNGRATEFUL, ALL OF YOU!" Henry steps in front of Carmen. "YOU CAN BEAT ME ALL YOU WANT, BUT DO NOT TOUCH HER, SHE IS A 9 YEAR OLD GIRL, And SHE HAS DONE NOTHING TO YOU!" Jackson stumbles out of the room, growing tired of not getting his way. He goes downstairs to make another drink. Bourbon, neat. Always Bourbon, neat. He pours himself a double. He knows as long as Henry is around he will never be able to hurt Carmen the way he really wants to. He decides that someone must suffer, someone must die. As he sits there sipping his neat Bourbon he makes his mind up. He can take out both of his children. But how? Henry is sixteen almost seventeen, he has his license, he can cut the breaks on the car. He can send Henry and Carmen out for an errand and take them both out. Jessie appears out of nowhere, slithers up to her father and remarks " I know what you are thinking by the look on your face. Wouldn't it be easier just to poison them?" "No, that's traceable. This has to look like an accident. Medical technology is too advanced." "Father? Why do you hate Carmen so much? I know why I hate her." "Because her mother protects her, Henry protects her, they treat her like she is the queen. You my dear are the queen in this house hold. "Jessie sits back awhile and thinks. She gets an idea. "Father?" "Why couldn't we just send them on a hike into the woods, and then some hunting accident happens?" Her father thinks on this for a while. He doesn't not like the idea, but he knows that it's not hunting season and it would look suspicious. No, this has to be a clean accident. He knows he cannot send Henry away to school, he will be finished in a months' time. Jackson never loved his children but Jessie. Since the moment she was born, he loved her. She was born with emerald green eyes and raven black hair. Both Henry and Carmen were born with fiery red hair and emerald eyes. He always felt Jessie was different. He just knew it. She instantly wrapped him around her finger. Anything she ever wanted, she had. To hell with the other two! Jackson had raven hair and emerald eyes. Mary-Alice had fiery red hair and emerald eyes. Mary-Alice loved her children more than him. He should be first, ALWAYS!

Carmen stirs in her sleep. Dreaming about that night. She knew her father was going to try and kill her and Henry. After the attack she had crept to the stairs and heard the conversation between her Father and Jessie. She didn't know what to do. She found Henry in his room and told him what she heard. He told her not to worry, he would think of something. To go back to bed.

She woke up very tired and restless. She knew she was no longer under his control, but yet, he haunted her. She was 24, putting herself through college, working a job she loved and she was about to embark on a trip. She looked at the clock, it was 3:30 am. It was her day off. She rolled back over and tried to resume sleep. To no avail, she wasn't able to sleep. She rose from the bed and decided to work on some of her college paperwork. She had a test soon. She had less than 9 months left before she would graduate college. She ran away at 17. She had already completed high school by the time she was 16. Entered college at 18. She was in the top of her class, both in high school and college. Her teachers were thoroughly impressed with determination.

As the sun crowned the sky, she dressed, she decided it was perfect weather for a nice walk. She took the bus to the local central park. Found a beautiful walking trail and embarked. Two hours later she returned to the head of the trail. Took the bus back to home. She decided that today she would try to call her mother again. Even just to hear voice. She dialed her mother. No answer. She decided she will try again later. She was never going to step foot in her father's house again, so a visit was off limits. She opened her laptop to make the final arrangements for the upcoming trip. She had to hand in her term paper, find a temp for her job and finalize travel plans. She also needed to get a new pair of walking shoes. She knew that where ever they were going, she would be walking a lot.

She stopped at a local diner to have breakfast an embarked on her shopping for the day. She decided a local sports and outdoors store would be the best for her shoes. As he was entering the building Grayson Alexander bumped into as he was walking out. She paused and looked up. How could this man be so breathtaking? He looked like a gentle giant. " I am so sorry Carmen, I wasn't watching where I was going. I cannot wait for the trip, are you ready?" " No, not yet, I am here to purchase shoes. I know we will be walking a lot, and mine are quite tattered." Grayson peered down at her shoes, they seemed to be only holding on by a thread. "want some company?" he asked. She gently smiled at him.