Elizabeth sits on her bed, weeping, holding her once full of life but now silent stomach,  and wails, “Six months, for what? Nothing?” She then throws her head farther down into her hands, until all you can hear is a quite muffle.
“It’s okay, it’s not your fault. There’s nothing you could have done, Elizabeth,” says her husband, Calum.  Elizabeth brings her head out of her hands to reveal red puffy eyes.
“I know, I just really wanted to expand the family beyond the two of us,” she says in a distraught voice.  Calum glances over at the desk and now notices the pair of baby blue shoes, which still have the tag on them.
“I understand. We’ll just have to try again and hope for the best.”
As the years go by, Calum and Elizabeth start to lose hope of bearing a child. In August of 1997, Elizabeth becomes pregnant again. As excited as they are, they don't want to risk losing this wonderful gift. So, they don’t become too attached. They don’t pick a name or know the gender.
On May 10th, 1998, Mothers Day, Elizabeth becomes a mother. So happy and full of joy, Elizabeth names her new child Mallory, Mallory Abigail Loren. Calum, on the other hand, is not satisfied with this outcome.  Once Mallory is in the nursery, he screams at Elizabeth, “I wanted a boy!” Elizabeth cannot mutter the words to express how she feels about the comment from her own loving husband.
Calum stomps away to go sit in the lobby.  He sits there for an hour, until he pops his head back into the room in which he and Elizabeth had their argument.  But to his surprise, Elizabeth isn’t there.  He walks back out and asks the glasses wearing, purse lips, unfashionable lady at the front desk where his wife had gone.
She simply replies, “Oh, Elizabeth Loren? Well, she signed out about forty-five minutes ago.”
Without wanting further explanation, Calum walks out into the parking lot.  Calum snatches the keys out of his back pocket and hears a faint scream as he honks the horn.  As he approaches the white Toyota, he begins to see the outline of his wife holding a pink blanket. Calum starts the car and heads back home. 
Raising Mallory is easy, as she is a well behaved child.  Elizabeth is convinced having a second child is going to be as easy as riding a bike.
So Calum would not be disappointed, Elizabeth gets an ultrasound as soon as possible.  She was going to have a boy. Elizabeth and Calum decide on the name Timothy, after Calum’s great-grandfather.
Seven months pregnant, Elizabeth is feeling pain all over her body. The doctor prescribes her pain pills.
One night, Calum calls for Elizabeth but gets no response.  He yells again, and still no response.  Calum starts to run frantically all around the house. Calum stops at their bedroom and in front of him lying in the bed was his wife. He saw he wife’s tall body frozen, her lean fingertips curled up and her blonde hair spread out against the pillow. When he felt her hand, it was as cold as ice. Next to her lays an empty medication bottle.
Calum gasps, “Elizabeth? Elizabeth? Elizabeth, w-wake up, you have an a-appointment with Dr. Gaizka. You have to get up.  Elizabeth! No! No! No!”  Calum  holds onto Elizabeth’s hand, praying it will bring her back. With no luck, he buries his head in the blankets as Mallory walks in.
“What’s wrong Dada?”
“It’s Mommy.”
“What about her?”
“She went on a permanent vacation. ”
“Where did she go?”
“Upstairs.”
Calum grabs Mallory and holds her tight to his chest. A tear falls down his face and lands in Mallory’s hair. He doesn’t want to lose her as well.
As the years go by, Calum realizes how hard it is to be a single parent. Calum has no idea how to raise a girl, so  he tries to make Mallory a tomboy.  Mallory is all into it until second grade.  In third grade, Calum and Mallory are practicing softball, and out of the blue, Mallory throws the bat down.  Calum picks the bat back up and hands it to Mallory.  Mallory simply turns her head the other way.
Calum, who is quite confused, asks “What’s wrong, sweetie? Don’t you want to play ball with Daddy?”
“No” Mallory replies.
Taken aghast, Calum has no idea what to do. He feels angry.  He doesn’t get a boy, and next, he gets a girl who doesn't want to play sports.
He feels a tingling in his fist, and BAM!
***
Mallory walks into her classroom with a large purple bruise on the right side of her face. A mark on her short but lean body. Mallory tries to use her thick, brown hair to cover it- but she fails to do so.  Her teacher looks over at her and  freezes. She comes closer.  She takes Mallory by the arm and pulls her gently out of the classroom.
“Do you want to go see the nurse, honey?”
“No. No, I don’t want my dad to find out.”
“Who did this to you?”
“My dad,” she whispers, as if he could hear her miles away and would come immediately to hit her again.
The teacher then stops in her tracks and walks straight back into the classroom without another word.  Mallory follows her, not a questions asked.  Everyone in the class starts to ask her what happened.  She tells the story proudly, and she lets everyone know about her battle scar.
When Mallory gets home, she creeps up to her bedroom trying not to be noticed by her father. Unfortunately, Calum sees Mallory right before she grabs the door to her room.
He shouts “Mallory! I got a phone call from the school saying you were being quite disrespectful during class today.”
“I’m sorry Dad. I didn’t mean to get in trouble.”
“Come here, Mallory.”
Mallory shakes her head.
“Now!”
Mallory shamefully walks down the stairs.  Mallory reaches the ground floor and Calum grabs her. Unexpectedly, he hugs her. Mallory starts to feel something creep up her back, but before she can turn her head she hears a snip. She turns around and her long, bouncy brown locks are scattered and limp across the floor.  In horror, Mallory runs up to her room, slams her door and hides in her closet.
Mallory doesn’t come out of her closet until she is sure Calum is gone.  At 1:00 in the morning,  Mallory slips out of her room to grab some food. She finds Calum at the bottom of the staircase. He takes his belt it off. With the leather side in his hands, he takes the belt and  whips it across Mallory’s legs. Mallory feels pain surge up her legs. She tries to stay strong, but can’t hold herself up and collapses to the floor. She attempts to pick herself up, however her legs have endured too much pain for her eleven-year-old body.
***

Calum walks in the door letting it slam behind him. He is about to go off on Mallory when all of the sudden - Ring! Calum doesn’t recognize the phone number.  He picks it up cautiously.
“Hello?”
“Hello. This is the Kirksville foster department.The city is taking your daughter away.”
“What! Why? Where will my daughter go?”
“Well, the state has been notified you demonstrate domestic violence towards your daughter.  And as to where, she can either go into the foster program, or live with her closest relative.”
“Who’s her closest relative?”
“Her closest relative would be her aunt, Jessica Hofneil. She lives about three miles up the road from your current location. Is there anyth-”
Calum slams the phone back into its holder.
Mallory asks “Dad what’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Just go upstairs and pack up all of your belongings.” 
“Why?”
“Just go.”
It took all of thirty minutes for Mallory to have all of her possessions packed and in boxes.
The next morning, Mallory is taken to her aunt’s house. Her aunt’s house is a castle, compared to her old home. Mallory can still go to her old school and she can always have her dad come over to his sister’s house.
At six o’clock, Mallory and her aunt sit down for dinner, a luxury Mallory didn’t have with her dad.
The next morning Mallory returns to school as happy as ever. But, she notices something seems to be missing. It takes her all morning to realize the kid who sits behind her is absent. Diggory is a bit pudgy, and wears round glasses. Diggory doesn’t show up for the rest week. Friday morning, the principal comes on the PA to announce Diggory was reported missing on Monday and has been found dead. The class is devastated, Mallory included.
When Mallory gets home, she turns on the TV, but the only thing on is the news.
“This is just in. The police have confirmed, the death of eleven-year-old Diggory is, in fact, a murder. The police have suspicions about who the killer might be. Their prime suspect right now is forty-seven year old Calum Loren-”
Then, behind Mallory, a plate shatters. Crash!
Why? Out of all people, it had to be my dad.  He’s caused me so much pain, and now he’s killed a child and devastated Diggory’s family?, Mallory thought.
When Mallory walks into school the next day, she keeps her head down and doesn’t dare make eye contact with anyone. During class, her teacher asks her to leave the room upon request from the other students in the class. Every night, she watches the news and listens to the story with her aunt.
Later that week, another story about Calum comes on.
“The police are still convinced the man who killed Diggory is, in fact, Calum Loren. The police believe his motive has to do with his daughter, Mallory. The Foster Department and Mallory’s teacher state he physically abuses his daughter.”
Mallory tells her aunt, “My teacher kicked me out of the class because other kids didn’t want me in the class.”
“How about this. I’ll take you to school tomorrow. Go to class and I’ll talk to the principal about the whole situation. If the kids start acting rude, just go to the office and I’ll take you home. Does that sound good?”
“Okay.”
As Mallory’s aunt had promised, Mallory was driven to school. Mallory walks to her class, her confidence ebbing. Multiple kids shout things like, “I hate you and your dad!”
Mallory tells her teacher her aunt is at the front office waiting for her if any of the kids started being rude to her. They return to the car which they left fifteen minutes ago.
When they get home, the news turns on…
“Breaking news. Evidence has just been found against Calum Loren, the prime suspect in the Diggory case. In Diggory’s fingernails, they found DNA almost identical to that of Mr. Loren. There will be a trial December second.”
Mallory clicks the TV off and gets in the car and demands to see her father.
“Mallory! I’m so glad you’re here. We really need to clear things up about the whole Diggory thing.”
“Dad, I can’t believe you would kill Diggory. Now the whole school hates me.”
“What are you talking about? I didn’t do it.”
“Who else would have done it? You abuse your own daughter, so why would you  feel bad killing someone you don’t know?”
Mallory and her aunt walk out the door and go home. It’s a long night with no talking.
Mallory and her aunt arrive at the court hearing five minutes before it starts. To Mallory’s surprise, half of Kirksville is crammed in the tiniest courtroom imaginable. It is a good thing Mallory and her aunt have reserved seats at the witness stand.
During the trial, the proceedings  seem to be really promising for Calum until the prosecuting lawyer brings up Calum’s DNA in Diggory’s fingernails. Calum renders speechless, and is sentenced to a lifetime in prison.
***
Mallory is so happy she doesn’t have to see her father ever again. Her aunt, on the other hand, is quite upset.
“I can’t believe my own brother is in jail for the rest of his life.”
“Aunt Jessica, what’s wrong? Aren’t you glad that the monster is finally out of our life.”
“That so called monster is my brother” I have to get him out of jail, she thought.
Jessica knows she is not intelligent enough to find new evidence in the favor of Calum, so she begins to collect money for his bail. His bail is set at one hundred thousand dollars.
Jessica does everything to raise money. She puts up a donation website and hotline, she sells old clothes, she provides needed services around the community. But, after one month Jessica is only at a thousand and seven dollars. Jessica looks around her house for things she no longer needs. Then it struck her, she did not need this large house all to herself. She calls a real estate agent to come put a value on her house.
The next morning, Freddie Fourie, a real estate agent,  values Jessica’s house. The value of her house is valued at $86,000. Jessica’s jaw drops, she only needs $14,000 more.
Jessica works three jobs over the next month to raise the rest of the bail money. She sells her house for $86,000.
After selling the house Jessica and Mallory are basically living in a box on the side of the road near Walmart.
Mallory thinks, how did my life go from living in a castle to living in a box?
In the evening, Jessica takes the bail money to the prison . Calum is free.
“Dad!” Mallory screams in horror, “You’re back!”
“Yes, I am.”
Weeks later Calum receives a phone call from the Foster Department.
“Since your name has been cleared, your have full guardianship over your daughter ag-”
Calum sets the phone down and goes over to Walmart. He picks up Mallory and Jessica and takes them back to his house.
On the ride back, Calum says,“Mallory, you can come live with Daddy again.”
“ No, I don’t want to.”
“But my name has been cleared, and I’m no longer a killer.”
“You might not be a killer, but you are definitely an abuser.”
Not  acknowledging Mallory’s statement, Calum keeps driving back to his house. When they get  home Calum turns the news on. 
“This is just in, former suspect, Calum Loren, has been bailed out by his sister Jessica Hofneil. Police are now taking a look into Michelle Kakidio. But for now, the case is still underway.”
“See, I’m innocent.”
“I don’t care.”
Fed up with Mallory’s attitude Calum grabs a hold of his belt. He pulls it off with a conniving smile on his face.
Slash!