Page 5 of Deceptive Lies

There were too many of them.

Twelve against one wasn't fair.

Her mom always said picking on one kid was never fair. If all your friends were being mean to someone, you were supposed to stick up for that person and help them.

But no one was helping her dad.

They were all hitting him.

Red.

Blood.

It was all over her dad.

She had to help him.

Had to make the men stop.

Why were they hurting her daddy?

He was a good daddy, she thought as she ran down the stairs. He read her bedtime stories every night, and he went to every one of her ballet recitals. He had tea parties with her and let her put makeup on him. He was a teacher at her school, teaching the fourth grade, and she wanted to be in his class next year. He coached her cousin’s soccer team, and he helped out at the Kids Club at their church.

When she got downstairs, she saw her mom standing in the doorway watching.

Watching as those men hurt her daddy.

Why wasn't Mommy helping?

If Mom wasn't going to help then she would.

She’d help her daddy. She loved him so much.

“Daddy!” she screamed as she ran toward the front door.

As she tried to get through it, her mom grabbed her, held her back, and stopped her from getting to where the men were still hitting and kicking her dad, who now lay on the grass in their front yard, right under the tree where they had their tea parties in the summer.

He wasn't moving.

“Daddy,” she sobbed again. A couple of the men looked over at her, but they didn't stop.

They didn't care.

They wanted to hurt her daddy.

“Why?” Willow begged the men she was old enough to understand were killing her father right before her very eyes. “Why are you hurting my daddy?”

“Because he’s nothing but a disgusting child killer,” one of the men sneered, delivering another hard kick to her father’s head which no longer looked the way a head was supposed to.

“No,” she whispered as she collapsed into her mom’s arms.

They were wrong.

Her daddy would never hurt anyone, especially a kid, and he’d never ever kill anyone. Killing was bad, and her daddy knew that.

He wouldn't.

“He wouldn't,” Willow said, waking on a sob.

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