In our last installment, we left Lisa Brimley, our main character, waiting for her father, who had just come into the house drunk, she thought. She was hoping and wishing he would not come into her room to molest her. Now we join her for a surprising continuation

The footsteps drew nearer, but after that first couple of moments they seemed different. They weren't the stumbling, drunken footsteps of her father. They weren't even her father's. Finally, they were accompanied by a voice.  "Sharon!! Lisa!! Are you alright?!? Wake up!! It's Phil."  She knew her uncle's voice. But why was he here in the middle of the night?   And why did he sound so frantic? Lisa leaped out of her bed and headed out of her room toward her uncle Phil. Her stepmother was already there by the time she reached him. He was standing at the end of the hall panting, beads of sweat dripping from his face.  "What's wrong, Phil?!?," Lisa asked, not sure she wanted to know.  "It's your dad." he finally managed to say to Lisa, "Something terrible has happened. He was killed two hours ago. I tried to call, but I guess your phone's dead."

By this time, Lisa's stepmother was crumpled on the sofa in tears. Lisa didn't know how to feel. She hated her father. But no matter how much she hated him, she still loved him. He was her father, and when he wasn't molesting her, he was actually okay. But she still couldn't forgive him. She just sat down in the big reclining chair, in shock. Phil was leaning against the wall crying. No more words were spoken for at least a half an hour, after which Lisa found the strength to ask the inevitable question.  "How did it happen?"

Phil turned almost completely white at that question. He didn't want to tell them. But Lisa had to know. She prodded him. Finally he began, "Well, it's a pretty gruesome story, and half of it I'm not sure I want to believe. I don't know if I should tell you because if it's not true I don't want you to think badly of him."  Losing her patience, Lisa screamed at him, "It's too late for that. Just tell me! I need to know!!!"  She could tell her uncle was very taken aback by that statement, and her stepmother was just a basket case. All she did was sit on that sofa and bawl. Phil cleared his throat, then continued, "It seems--and remember this is just what I was told--it seems that there was a group of three young girls at the airport he was at. They were all about 14 or 15. Supposedly, he followed them into the bathroom and pulled a gun on them, tied them up and raped them. Apparently the airport was pretty empty and there was nobody around to catch him. Anyway, these girls told their parents he did that, and I guess the mother of one of the girls had a gun and shot him several times in the head at close

range. That's what the police in Atlanta told me. They found my number in his wallet with his identification and figured I was a relative."  He paused, "I'm sorry you had to hear that about your father. But remember, that's just what those girls said."

It all added up in Lisa's mind. It was true. It had to be. She knew what kind of sick creep her father was. She just didn't know she wasn't the only one. She hated to hurt her uncle and her stepmother, but she just had to tell them, if not for her own sake, at least for the sake of those poor girls.  "I think it's true," she heard herself say.  "I believe he raped those girls, just like he's been doing to me since I was really small, and I hate him."  She looked up to see uncle Phil and her stepmother staring at her in horror. Neither of them spoke. Lisa looked at her stepmother, who looked away, unable to take in all that she had been hearing. Lisa continued, "I wanted to tell you so many times, Sharon, but you loved Dad so much I knew it would tear you up. I didn't want you to think it was your fault. I love you too much to do that to you. You're the only real mom I've ever had."  Her stepmother stood up and started toward her bedroom.  "I just can't deal with all of this. I'm sorry!!"  Lisa was left with uncle Phil, who took her into his arms and cried with her.  "Give her some time, Lisa," Phil said, trying to soothe her.  "She's having as hard a time believing any of this as I am. I think we both know you're telling us the truth. But it's still not easy for me to believe my brother could do such things. And it's not easy for her to imagine her husband doing any of these things to his own daughter, let alone three strange girls in an airport."  He stayed there holding Lisa and rocking her until she cried herself to sleep. Then he took her into her room and put her to bed. He went back into the living room and stayed on the couch until morning.

Over the next few weeks, Lisa and her stepmother began to deal with the whole situation together, with the help of uncle Phil and his wife, Bethany. They came over every day to help with even the simplest of household tasks, such as cooking meals. They prayed for Lisa and her stepmother and helped with all the legal junk they had to deal with after Dad's death. Lisa wanted to stay with her stepmother, and her stepmother in turn wanted to adopt Lisa. She had wanted to while her dad was still alive, but they had never gotten the ball rolling, which made it ten times as hard now that he was dead. But Phil and Beth were behind them all the way, so it shouldn't be really hard. Phil and Beth always seemed to have hope, no

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