Ed - 3

 The girls family wanted her daughter to spend time with them in TN. Now, her step-mother and little brother were coming to get her.

The girl was in a panic. She was afraid someone would end up getting hurt. She didn't want her family hurt. She needed to get away but she didn't know how. She couldn't tell them because she knew that Ed would be right there watching everyone.  She wondered if she could signal somehow. No. That would be too risky.  Her only hope was that her step-mother might sense the situation and come back with help and get her out of there.  The girl's fear was that her step-mother would be hurt. That his anger would be aroused because of her. Unexpectedly, it ended up being her brother that caused him to become angry. 

The exchange was very quick.  They came in and got the baby and her things and were ready to leave. The girl had missed her brother so much and her heart was just swelling with love for him.  Ed noticed. 

They turned to leave and said goodbye.  The girl raced upstairs to watch them leave hoping that they weren't really going to leave her there. 

She looked out the window. She heard Ed come into the room.  

"You wanted to sleep with him didn't you?", he said between gritted teeth. 

The girl looked puzzled.  

"Who?"

"Your brother!!!!!"

(He was only 13 years old!!)

The girl took a quick look out the window as their car slowly backed up out of the parking lot as Ed's hands slammed against her ears. She dropped like a sack of potatoes. 

The girl didn't notice that her ears were bruised. But at work....her co-workers did. 

Ed - 2

 One day Ed wanted the girl to make mashed potatoes.  He was in a very bad mood.  She knew that if she didn't do it exactly right that things would get very bad. 

She didn't know if he wanted real mashed potatoes or instant. She was too afraid to ask. She chose wrong. 

Ed walked into the kitchen and saw that she had not made what he had wanted. 

He screamed in anger and grabbed the pot of mashed potatoes and flung them onto the ceiling. 

He grabbed the girl and drug her to the door and flung her outside and locked the door. 

She sat on the step for about an hour.  No coat. No shoes. In the snow. 

He finally opened the door. All smiles. Let's eat!!

Ed - 1

 17 years old

The girl lived with Ed for 9 months. The story of how she got there can't be told yet becauseno one wouldunderstand. He was 45. He was mean. He was sick minded. The girl was terrified of him. She was so afraid of him that she was too afraid to even tell anyone because she was afraid that he would hurt the person she told. She did sneak off to a payphone once and called the police. She told the police that he was telling her that he was going to kill her. The police, "it's just words".  

Every day for 9 months Ed physically abused her in one manner or another.  Most things that happened in those 9 months she will never tell another living soul. 

But she had food.  Every day she had food. 

She had gotten a job at the apartment complex she lived in. Before she left her husband he had made her get a job. Her son was just a little baby. She hated leaving her babies with the baby sitter. The baby sitter was a young girl herself and also had a small baby. Her husband wasn't coming home until late at night. His sisters told her how to get set up on food stamps.  He was wanting to escape and leave her on her own. 

Ed lived nearby in another section of the apartment complex. He was a painter.

One day a girl that worked for the apartment complex wanted to be her friend. They were about the same age. The girl was excited to find a friend. But, the new friend showed up at her apartment one day. This was bad.  Very bad. Because it wasn't a safe place to be.

The new friend showed up unexpectedly and was let in. Ed was being friendly and smiling. Smiling and nice words was just a ploy for Ed to make you feel relaxed.  The girl had learned that him smiling could be very dangerous.  But her friend didn't know that.

Ed looked at the girl and said, "you need to use the bathroom.  Go now."

The girl was afraid for her friend. She couldn't leave her alone with him.  She told Ed that she didn't need to go to the bathroom.  

Ed smiled at her and repeated himself. She again said that she didn't need to go. He screamed at her "go to the bathroom now!!!!"

The girl started to head in that direction when her friend stood up for her.  She berated him for treating her bad. 

Ed grabbed the girl and flung the apartment door open and shoved her off the top of the stairs.

As the girl fell she could hear her friend screaming. 

The friend descended the stairs and told the girl that she needed to get away quick.  But the girl couldn't. She had nowhere else to go.  She had no choice but to go back inside the apartment and face Ed.

Ed. The one story the girl very rarely speaks of. The worst part of her life.