*Title In Construction/Progress*

Chapter 5--John--The Explanation

"My boyfriend and I drove out to the countryside," she begins. "To, uh," her face reddens. "To..um, hang out." She stammers. I blush, knowing what they were really planning to do.

"We were lying on the top of his truck, enjoying the stars, and and then....," she trails off. She gives her head a little shake and her filthy hair swishes, but she stops as her eyes wince in pain.

"He just...he was drunk and I didn't want to do what he wanted to do anymore and then he freaked out," she explains in one breath.

"What," my voice cracks embarrassingly. I clear my throat and continue, "What did he do?"

"He smashed a beer bottle over me head. Hard. It didn't break the first time, but it did the second time. Even after it broke, he kept pounding my skull until the bottle was in too many pieces to hold," she fingers her scalp where her hair is clumped together in a dry, crusty, brown stain.

She takes a shaky breath.

"He pushed me off the top of the truck. I might have been okay if I had just fallen off, but I landed on a tree stump. I think I broke a couple ribs. I was paralyzed in pain and I couldn't move or breathe, since the wind was knocked out of me. I heard him climb down the side of the truck. He grabbed me by my coat and lifted me up, screaming nonsense in my face. Then, he dropped me and kicked me, repeatedly," her eyes began to water and her breath caught in her throat.

"I tried to crawl away from him but the pain was too intense. Everything seemed under water, probably because he beat my head. He pushed my head into the snow, trying to suffocate me."

Tears run down her face. I have a big urge to reach out and wipe them away, but my hand stays glued to my side.

"I pretended to pass out; I went limp. He waited for a moment and then got back in his truck and drove off. After about ten minutes, I started to drag myself through the woods, across the snow-blanketed forest floor. It was slow-going because I was so dizzy. After about ten minutes, I saw your cottage. It took everything I had, but I managed to drag myself onto your porch. Then, my body just gave up on me; my brain crashed," she finishes. "Now I'm here," she sums up.

My dad and I stay quiet for a moment, processing all this. A loud bang from the front door interrupts our thoughts.