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.It was now double the size of a matchbox.Oh Christ.“What is it?” Cindy called.“A love heart?”“A Unicorn?”“I know – the Stars and Stripes?”“I have to go, sorry guys.Have fun.” She shut the window, pulled the curtains closed then dashed into the bathroom.She switched on the light and gazed at the blotch that covered half her chest.“Oh God,” she whimpered.“What’s happening to me?”She stepped closer to the bathroom mirror and examined the growth more intimately.She suddenly felt dizzy.“It can’t be possible.”She saw the photo reflected in the mirror – a faint and blurry image, but there was no mistaking the house and the trees and the three people and dog.They were all there, smiling at her, the man and mutt broken by the crease.She dashed out of the bathroom and over to the bed, to the photo that lay on the sweat stained sheets.She picked it up.The picture was almost entirely faded.“What’s happening!” she cried and fell to the floor, clutching the photo to her chest, the photo folded on its crease as it was meant to be.The phone rang.Not Belinda or Cindy this time.Julia got up and staggered to the phone.With an unsteady hand she picked up the handset.“Hello?”“Jules it’s me.Are you okay? You don’t sound too good.”As much as she wanted to tell her sister everything, she just choked back tears and answered, “I’m fine.”“Okay.Listen, I’ve got something really amazing to tell you.”“I don’t want to hear it,” Julia said.The photo was hot in her hand.All she wanted was to savour its energy, be with it and nothing else.She didn’t want any distractions.“But Jules…”“Just leave me alone!” She dropped the phone, the receiver dangling off the coffee table by its cord.“No more,” she sobbed and fell to her knees.Am I going crazy?She wanted answers.Needed them.The image on her chest meant something.It wasn’t just some cancerous growth or mutant bruise – it was a sign, it had to be.“Tell me, please.What do you want?”Clutching the photo to her heart, as if it were her lifeblood, she saw…The little girl screams and tears are flowing down from her eyes as the man starts forward, eyes glowing with evil lust.“I have something for you,” he croaks.He digs into the bag and pulls out an old rag and a knife.The little girl screams and begs the man to leave her alone.She tries to run, but the man grabs her by her golden hair and punches her in the face.Sobbing now, the little girl lies still on the mattress, while the man shoves the rag into her mouth.He clutches the knife in his hand and with his free hand, undoes his pants, freeing his erect penis.“I have something else for you.Something you’ll really enjoy.” He grins and laughs and kneels down, pulling the little girl’s nightgown up around her waist.“Don’t worry, this won’t hurt.Just stay quiet and it’ll all be over soon…”She is the girl.She’s hurting, scared and afraid.She knows the bad man that’s been hurting her and touching her.But she doesn’t want to think about that now.As the bad man presses down on her, she squeezes her eyes shut and thinks of Mommy and Daddy and Sammy and, yes, even her rotten brother Craig.Of last summer when they all went to the beach and swam and played volleyball and Mommy kept on hitting the ball into the water.She made Daddy go in and get it.Sammy was running around chasing the gulls, silly doggy.As the pain rips through little Amanda, she keeps a firm hold of her photo and tries to block everything out.Everything except the good memories.Like the day she took the photo.The one she managed to grab before the bad man had taken her.The one that he hasn’t found yet, because she keeps it hidden, keeps it folded and hidden so the bad man won’t find it and tear it up.She clutches the photo hard and tries to remember the day, the very first time Daddy let her use his camera and Daddy and Mommy and Craig all stood outside their house while she waited for them to stop kidding around so she could take the picture.Even Sammy managed to stay still long enough for her to take the picture.“Cheese,” she had said, then pressed the little button.After they had gotten the photos back, Daddy had said that hers was the best one out of them all and he let her keep it in her room, beside the bed, which is where it stayed until the bad man came
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