Geraldine Donaher

Opening Scene: status quo before inciting incident, establishes tone, introduces antagonist, foreshadows conflict I sit back, grab some toilet paper and prepare myself mentally for the clean-up. That’s when I hear him coming into the house. I call him Tony. He doesn’t deserve a title. Doesn’t even care I stopped calling him ‘dad’. It’s always the door announcing his arrival, signaling me to become less. I shrink to be less annoying and have less opinions as he becomes more. He is more in control, more intimidating, more angry. It seems wrong. At seventeen, I haven’t figured out how to fix it. Maybe to become so less I become invisible. That might work. I could haunt him, freak him out by moving stuff around the room, smack him upside the head. So that’s how I know he’s here. The door hits the wall in the cramped hallway. That flimsy wall created a duplex out of our side of the twin home. It was years ago when Tony first banged through the wall - the doorknob whacking the unpainted plywood. The hole has since grown, pretty much every time he walks in. The landlord cares less about it than Tony. Maybe if you ignore something long enough you just don’t see it anymore. One of these days, the door will probably bash through the wall and Mrs. Estes, who lives upstairs, will be able to see into our living room as she walks up to her apartment. She’ll have a full view of this wonderful life. He yells, slurring his words, “Barb, where the ‘ell are ya?” He sounds messed up. I do what I need to do then pull up my pants. I know better than to flush. He’ll know I’m in here. Jesus Christ, my whole life is crap. I creep over to the window and lift it just enough so I can shimmy out and down into the alley. Sometimes he passes out on the couch and all I have to do is wait in the bathroom until I hear him snore. No such luck tonight, my stomach knots as he bangs on the bathroom door. Usually I have time when I hear him come into the house to unlock the bathroom door before I leave through the window. That’s how I kept his coming-in and my going-out a secret. But no time for that now. He’ll know how I get away and take the lock off the door…like he did to my bedroom. The bathroom won’t be an easy escape anymore. God, I hate him. “Girl, you in there? Where’s yo’mudder?” He bangs on the door again, “Unlock d’f-ckin’ door.” It comes out in a whispered threat. He lowers his voice before a rampage. I need to leave. Now. I twist as I slide through the window, hanging onto the sill just long enough to smile as I think about everything left in the toilet. It’s worth the years of merciless name calling he’ll spew at me. He’s not clever: Shithead, Asswipe, or Stinkshit is the worst he’ll come up with. I drop into the weeds and run to a parked car two houses down the alley. I crouch between the front wheel and concrete wall just as I hear the bathroom door smash open. Tony bellows from the window, “Allee, get yo’ sorry ass back ‘ere! Y‘ear me girl?” I hug my knees and roll my head forward into a tight ball, becoming one with the car. I am a shadow. I have become so less, I don’t exist. He can’t hurt me if I don’t exist. “Stay o’there al’nigh!” He screams louder, “’ear me? Don’t come back!” He walks away from the window but he’s still yelling, “Christ! Look at t’shit! Only you Allee can make such a god-awful mess.” I used to hide behind the couch and suck my index finger whenever he shouted or started throwing things. But when I was 10 years old, furiously sucking, he dragged me out by my hair and shouted up in my face, “Stop being such a baby or I’ll give you something bigger to suck!” I didn’t know what he meant by that but I knew it was bad because my mom rushed over and pushed him away. It was the first time I ever saw her push back. He's big and hairy, towers over her. She told me to always run. But that day, she attacked. He forgot about me and went for her. I ran. I had asked my best friend, Tanaya, what he meant about sucking something bigger. She shrugged, “Guys like it when you do things with their, you know, stuff.” She’s so smart about the things I never think about. I just stared at her. My ten-year-old-self didn’t believe her. “God, Allee, you’re going to grow up sooner or later. Don’t you worry, I’ll help you keep it all straight. Girl, you better run if he goes for his zipper. Hear me? Run, fast!” She laughed at that. Probably because she didn’t think a dad would ever want his daughter to do anything with his - junk. She doesn’t have a dad. I never sucked my finger after that, behind the couch or anywhere else. Instead, I hide behind parked cars in dark alleys and think about cutting my cheek, below my eye, and dragging it diagonally toward my jaw, like the markings of a warrior princess. Why? I have no idea. But cutting my cheek seems a better alternative than sucking Tony’s … Well, you get the picture. Cutting does seem messed up, though. So I don’t tell Tanaya. Or anyone else.

Edited before submitting on Feb 3, 2024: Premise: In their search for love and security, vulnerable teens are targeted by abusers and then trapped into secrecy. 1. Story Statement: A vulnerable Philadelphian teen must break out of the secrecy of abuse so she can free herself from survivor guilt and her friend from domestic sex trafficking. 2. Antagonists The abusers: Tony (Allee’s father), Stretch (Tanaya’s boyfriend) and Mouse/Frank The goal of an abuser is control. Research shows that abusers target vulnerable teens. Tony Gray is an alcoholic bully who uses his strength, degrading comments, and victim mentality to control his daughter (Allee) and wife (Barb). He knows the girls will stay with him because they are powerless against the hidden dangers lurking in the streets and shelters. Barb worries Social Services will take Allee away from her if she speaks up, so she says nothing. Tony’s abuse, along with his drinking, escalated slowly through the years until it became normalized in their home. Tony kills Barb and is arrested in the third chapter but throughout the novel Allee is haunted with memories of his abuse and degrading comments. Tony used fear and guilt to control. Stretch is Tanaya’s coercive boyfriend and he is sex trafficking the girl’s in the local high school. Though Allee is not sex trafficked, she watches as he charms the girls, minimizes Tanaya’s concerns about his infidelity, and uses manipulation for control. Stretch uses his charm to control. Mouse (and Frank) are Stretch’s support system for manipulation. They help with the girls, the driving, the parties, and anything else Stretch needs. Mouse secretly hates Stretch and is jealous of his power. Mouse appears creepy and powerless - but he is dangerous as he grasps for control. 3. Break Out Titles: The City’s Allee Olney ‘09 You Have No Rights To Me (I love this last title but it’s a poem by Ramona Pina and I think I’d need permission to use it) 4. Comparables: Edgy YA contemporary Girl in Pieces (Kathleen Glasgow) meets Mare of Easttown (Netflix series) with an added element of domestic sex trafficking. Monday’s Not Coming (Tiffany Jackson) As I wrote this novel, April Charles, Monday’s older sister, helped me envision how matter-of-factly young girls handle being trafficked. They consider it 'a way out' of existing hardships. 5. Core wound and Primary Conflict: After years of learning to survive by keeping quiet, a Philadelphian teen struggles to find the power of her own voice so she can free herself from survivor guilt and her high school community from domestic sex trafficking. 6. Inner and Secondary Conflict: Inner: Ever since her dad killed her mom, Allee can’t resist the urge to cut her forearms. Every cut is a release from the survivor guilt running around in her mind. She thinks if she tells her counselor she'll be sent away to live in an institution. Ashamed of her behavior, Allee decides it’s better to keep it a secret so people don’t think she’s crazy. Social Environment: Allee’s best friend Tanaya pulls Allee into the secret world of domestic sex trafficking. Tanaya sneaks out of their bedroom in the middle of the night to be with a boyfriend, Stretch. Allee watches a different kind of abuse entrap her friend – the coercive boyfriend. When Allee warns her, Tanaya accuses Allee of being jealous. To protect the friendship, Allee decides it's better to keep her mouth shut. 7. Setting: A North Philadelphia neighborhood, Olney, set in 2009 when iPhones were just starting to become popular. Olney is a poor section of the city filled with diversity. Twin home made into a duplex: The rented house where Allee and her mom suffered years of abuse. Rowhome: Tanaya’s home and where Social Services place Allee to finish out her senior year of high school. Olney High School: School Counselor and American Lit teachers are instrumental in Allee’s journey to self-awareness so she can start to heal. Stores from 5th Street to 3rd Street: Pop’s Pizza Shop, More Bang for Your Buck dollar store, public library, laundromat, Larry’s corner store Snake Road: Secretive party spot where Stretch can find vulnerable teens to exploit them. Cherry Allee in Fairmont Park: A place to rest and appreciate beauty in the midst of so much pain and suffering. House on an abandoned street off the Roosevelt Boulevard: The last place Tanaya is seen alive, Rickety’s makeshift dwelling is a few houses down just inside an alley.