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now...'There is a
huge elephant in the room that she can’t say anything about'. I felt really out
of place constantly. I found myself hiding out mostly making the chances of
bumping into him during a midnight trip to the kitchen impossible. During the
next week things began to happen. Charges were placed and filed on both John
and also Roger the man who had attacked me. Apparently Roger had a previous
record of sexual assault and was placed in jail to serve time again. A
restraining order was in effect on John and for once I felt safe from him.
About a week later John was picked up leaving a bar for DUI, after punching an
officer and striking another one with a pipe he had retrieved from the bed of
his truck then trying to flee on foot he was placed in jail and now will
definitely serve time.
     
    He
couldn’t touch me!
     
    Casey was
spending a lot of time lately with Seth he felt left out...Poor Guy. Carter and
I spent time playing video games I became really good at a number of war games
and could really hold my own on NBA games. School had become easier people
stopped talking about me after stories stopped appearing in the paper about the
whole situation. They found other things to talk about. I buried myself in
homework most evenings in between video games and helping with my share of the
chores Karen left for us to do. I didn't mind helping in any way I could, Karen
offered me a real home and the fear of abuse was gone. I never found myself
looking over my shoulder.
     
    Winter
activities were approaching and the weather was changing fast. Karen took me
and Casey shopping often, I always felt horrible about her buying me things.
She insisted that she get me a cell phone added to her plan. I had never had a
cell phone before. I started dressing more like a girl and feeling better about
myself. I actually started doing my hair and wearing makeup. Even if I was trying
to get Dylan to pay attention to me more I still felt better walking into a
room and having people actually notice me. For the first time in my life I
actually started to feel like I belonged.
     
    John had
actually spent some real quality time with my old Camry after he was released
from jail that first night I left. He removed all the wheels and used a sledge
hammer to break out all the windows, headlights and Tail lights. He then used a
spray can to decorate it all up with some real catchy phrases. "You little
whore", "Rot in Hell", "Little Bitch"...etc. and then
dumped rotting garbage throughout the entire thing. Needless to say that to fix
everything he had damaged it would have cost more than what it was worth. I was
able to get some things from the house and the case worker was waiting for the
paperwork to be completed to allow me to get the rest even though I was pretty
sure after John's Camry Masterpiece there really wasn’t going to be much I
would be able to get. I decided to get a job to be able to buy my own things
and stop Karen from trying to make up for what my parents had done to me in my
life. I knew it wouldn't completely stop her from buying me things but at least
I could try to cut it back a little. I got a part time job at a Cafe serving coffee.
It was a relaxing little place ran by an older couple. People would bring a
good book order a cup of coffee and relax. The owners Mr. and Mrs. Martin were
so friendly and relaxed. I actually looked forward to going in after school and
seeing them. Casey would drop me off after school on most nights or I would use
Karen’s car when she didn’t need it.
     
    The
winter dance at school was coming up and I really wasn't as hyped up as Casey and
most of the other girls were about it. The guy that I would have loved to go
with is now the same guy who is ignoring me and regrets our first kiss. I
really hadn’t planned on even going. Of course Casey wasn't having that I was
going or she wasn't! Seth was a little aggravated about that decision so I
figured I would make it easier on him and tag along