Hey Moonbeams! I'm changing the book around a little bit. I think I'm going to make this Act 1 and call the Prologue "Daddy Issues" or "The Cycle". What do you think? I'm also making some major changes that will be in the final version on Amazon, hopefully out by Christmas!

Papa

"Oh...no..." I stood up. How long had he been standing there? "Papa. Don't..." I moved to stand in front of my sister and tried to block his way.

Delphine jumped up and ran to get mother.

"Papa...don't touch her." I moved closer to Claire and tried to keep him from staring at her the way that he was.

His rage was blinding him.

Papa was turning red, just like he had with Marguerite.

When he turned and stormed out of the room, I ran out after him. "Papa no! No!" He was moving too fast. I couldn't catch him. I ran upstairs and tried to hide Mother's knitting needles before he could get to them.

I wasn't going to let him do Claire like he did Marguerite.

I didn't even know Papa was standing behind me until I heard his deep voice growl, almost directly into my ear, "Child, do not interfere with God's work." I froze and tried to hide the knitting needles under my shirt before turning around.

I don't know why I did it. Of course, he saw where they were hidden. He was looking right at me. Without hesitation he reached under my shirt and snatched the needles from me.

Then he turned and headed for the door.

I ran after him.

"Mother!"

I knew she wasn't going to help us, even as I was calling for her.

Mother wasn't going to help Claire any more than she had helped Marguerite.

"Alice get Wally B! Get Wally B!"

Alice jumped up and ran from the house before Mother could stop her.

I heard Claire scream for Christian like he could hear her, and I just...didn't know what to do. Then everything got quiet. Too quiet. I walked slowly in the direction that I last heard Claire screaming, fully expecting to see her lying on the floor unconscious and bleeding, just like I had found Marguerite. But when I walked into the front room, she wasn't bleeding. She was...frozen. She had just stopped moving with her eyes and mouth wide open.

Terror.

That's all I saw on her face, and I thought maybe she was dead.

Did Papa kill her?

Tears fell from my eyes, but I didn't notice them. Mother and Delphine were huddled in the corner holding each other. Papa was on the floor with Claire, trying to pry her legs apart.

My God...help us.

Alice suddenly burst through the front door and almost knocked me over when she ran back into the room.

Wally B was right behind her.

He grabbed Papa by the neck and threw him up against the wall.

I don't know what happened next. And I don't know why I did what I did, but I grabbed that needle out of Papa's hand and stabbed him with it.

That was the beginning of the end.

For me and for Wally B.