Her Best Chance.

You're safe.

Jen was the first to sit down, and she summoned for Lily to sit beside her. Colin took a seat next to the young girl, but soon shuffled over when she gasped and flinched away from him in terror.

"It's okay, you're safe." Jen assured her, but worry still consumed her.

The three sat in awkward silence
for a while, before Lily did something surprising, and spoke up.

"Can I talk to you? About what happened to me?" She muttered shyly.

Jen smiled at the young girl, and nodded reassuringly. "Go ahead, talk to us. Please."

"My childhood was pretty great. My dad left when I was a tiny baby - I was too young to remember anything about him - but my mommy and I, we didn't need him. All we needed was each other." She smiled at the thought of her mother.

"When I was five, she got a new boyfriend. Jason. He was nice at first, he made her happy." She paused and took a deep breath.

"I remember it so clearly. Monday, 24th October. Jason and my mommy had a fight, and she stormed out of the house. She drove to a bar. They found her car wrapped around her tree four days later." The last sentence broke her, as she burst into tears and buried her face in her hands.

Colin looked over at Jennifer, worry and unknowingness filling his eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Lily." Jen signed. She wanted to hug her, to hold her in her arms, but she knew that wasn't the best idea.

"Jason was really nice to me at first. He would hug me a lot, and tell me that I was making my mother proud. Then he turned to the alcohol, and he got nasty. It started off as petty strops. He would yell at me for nothing, and lock me in my room. Then he took me out of school, wouldn't let me leave he house, not ever. Then he limited my food to one small meal a day, and he sold all of my furniture for alcohol money. I slept on the floor in a bare room."

"Lily, you don't have to talk about this. Not if it's too hard." Colin said, noticing the pain hidden behind the poor girls deep, broken eyes.

"No, I want to." She spoke up. "I need to."

He nodded, and she continued.

"After that, he started getting abusive. At first he would just curse at me, and put me down. He liked to tell me I was useless, a bitch, a waste of space. Then he started hitting me." Her voice cracked, but she swallowed the lump in her throat.

"He got angry a lot for nothing, and he would hit me. Then he started making me do things. Sexual things. The first time he tried it on me, I kicked him and ran. Got as far as the local high school before he reached me, and dragged me back into his car. That night was the worst night of my life. I just-" She completely broke down, muffling her sobs with the jumper that Jen had kindly lent her.

"Sweetheart, what did he do to you?" Jennifer asked, a million thoughts swimming around in her head.

"He had a knife. He cut me all over my body. My chest, my arms, my legs, my stomach. My private areas. I was screaming, but he wouldn't let me go. He cut my skin with the knife until I was too weak to fight back, and he raped me." She smiled a faint, sympathetic smile.

"That's awful. I don't know what to say." Jen stuttered. "I'm so sorry Lily. You're safe now, okay?"

"I don't feel it. I don't feel safe."