My Brothers' Keeper *EDITING*

Chapter 1

-Intro-

I was born on December 21st in the year 1990 to two loving parents, Christina and Robert Winters. At 1lb, 6oz I struggled for my life but I made it, I came home stronger than ever but still underweight. My parents treasured every moment with me from the moment I was born.

I grew up in a very small town in Tennessee, and I loved every second of it. I got to be a real child, with a simplistic up bringing. Dad worked, made an honest living at the farm. I stayed home with mom and grandma and helped where I could. I also had my best friend right down the dirt road, Robby. My parents swore that I would marry him one day, and maybe I should have.

Robby and I were always up to something. Riding bikes, building ramps, making little boats to float in the pond, which sunk half the time, but we had fun doing it. We played with the ducks, swung on the swings and just talked about kid things. Eventually this turned into a small crush, although neither of us would admit this at twelve years old.

When I was in my early teens, just before high school, my parents decided that it was time for us to move back up north for some time, due to my fathers job. When I was conceived my mother decided that they should move back south so that I would have the childhood she wanted me to have, the same one she did. I was miserable when we packed up, and I had to leave my grandma, my home town, and my Robby.

Moving here wasn't the best choice my family had made. I missed Tennessee a lot, but my mother and father had met in Illinois and that was where they had spent the first few years of their married life. I was very unsure about this new place, it was so different from what I knew. I didn't know anyone. I had to start over. This terrified me. I was caught up with the wrong crowd for a while, picked up smoking pot when I was given the chance. But other than that, I was a relatively good kid. I made honor roll at my new school and tried to participate in some cubs to make more friends. I still felt like the outsider though, almost like I was alone and didn't serve a purpose here. I had gotten a job on the other side of town at Menards, it was nice to have some extra cash when I was sixteen. It was about then that I started settling in.

I remember the two key things that changed my life forever, and I remember in vivid detail how it felt when they happened days apart.

I was at a small get together on a Saturday night with some people I knew from school, I was seventeen. We were smoking a joint, passing it around, having a good time outside by the fire. Eventually it got cold, so my friend Jessica and I went inside to get some drinks. There was a college boy, James, lingering around the kitchen. I remember him looking me up and down and asking if I was seeing anyone. I quickly told him that I wasn't interested, and left the room. When I came back he was gone, but I still picked my drink up and slammed it.

I don't remember in great detail being raped, thankfully. I remember trying to fight as he peeled my clothes off. I remember biting his lips as he tried to kiss me. I tried like hell to keep my eyes open and fight back as he unzipped his pants, but it was a lost cause. I was to far gone. I didn't have any way of defending myself anymore.

When I woke up in the morning I was in a basement with my clothes half on and no recollection of how I got there. I was sore, and my arms were covered in bruises. It took me a while to recall what had happened, but when I did I felt shame. I was a virgin, and that was just ripped from me by some stranger. I felt dirty. I wanted to crawl out of my own skin and wash it, but I couldn't. I was stuck inside of this body.

I started to sob and I scrambled looking for my phone. It took me a while but I found it across the room, figured out where I was and called for my mom to come pick me up. No answer. I called, and called. No answer. All I wanted right now was my mother. I needed to tell her. I needed her to be here. Getting up and walking outside and down the block, with no destination in mind, my phone started to ring.

Grandma.

Why was my Grandma calling this early on a Sunday morning?

"Hello?"

"Where are you sweetheart?" She asked. I could tell something was wrong. She was fighting back something.

"I need help. I need someone to pick me up... I need help."

Before I knew it, my father and my grandma were picking me up. But why was Grandma here? I didn't know she was coming up. They were both very quiet on the ride back to our house, and so was I. I wanted to get home before I said anything. However I was also concerned about what else was going on. This seemed off. Nothing seemed right.

We got back to the house and grandma made me some tea. She sat across from me with Dad, looking down.

"What's wrong?" Tears filled my eyes. I can't take anymore on top of what had just happened.

"Katie..." Grandma's voice cracked and she reached for my hand.

I looked at Dad. He had a blank stare on his face. "Dad?" I said quietly.

"Katie..." My grandma said once again, "Your mother... was killed by a drunk driver on her way to work this morning..." They proceeded to tell me it was fast, that she didn't feel a thing. And all I could think was how much I hated the world right now. How much I hated people. How much I hated the man who had taken my innocence and the man who had taken my mother from me.

I lost two things that day in May of 2007. My life was never the same.