(Annabel: Caucasian, Brunette, 83 Pounds, 4 foot seven.)
(Sounds of static echo throughout a tiny, unkempt shack-like house.)
(In the center of the space is a small girl, anxiously flipping through channels.)
(It's around 7:30. She turns to the Ice skating channel as usual.)
(Loud bangs can be heard through the roof, they echo to the lower floors.)
(Annabel turns up the television set, in attempt to drown out the noises of fighting.)
(This is routine.....)
"Life Through Broken Lenses"
It's dusk in the small town of Lathrop, California, leaves rustle in the breeze.
The world is quiet as she goes to sleep, except for one lonely street.
This street has been in poverty for weeks, food is scarce, houses creek.
But there is one house that sticks out, one that's worn, slightly more beat.
In this home there is a young girl, Annabel, with a Mother, and a father that works.
At school she's an angel who always shows up first and never speaks out of turn.
The staff is proud of her, she's described as the happiest girl around the earth.
But at home, everything changes for the worst.
Her dad's a drunk, with a history for aggression,
Her mom is addicted to pills, meant to subdue her depression.
Every night when Annabel arrives home, yells chime through the halls.
It's about Seven-Fifteen, her mother lets out a blood curdling scream,
Annabel calmly walks to the living room, like she hears nothing at all.
Because this is normal to her, her parent's fight daily.
So she cranks up the volume, and turns to ice skating.
And quietly says to herself:
"Oh how I wish to skate like these magnificent bright ladies"
Her mother goes quiet, her dad comes downstairs stumbling and weak.
He turns to Annabel:
"Darling, mom's in bed, daddy is tired, I think it's time to head to sleep"
On her way up the stairs she says:
"Daddy I want to skate like the girls on T.V, can you buy these skates for me?"
He just chuckles and laughs "Maybe baby, get some rest, we'll see".
She goes to her bed, closes her eyes, finally at peace.
Ice skates, skaters, lights, fireworks, all in her dreams.
The sun rises and shines through the blinds, as if to shake her from her sleep.
Her day goes as routine, nothing out of the norm.
But on her way home she notices clouds gathering in different shapes and forms.
Little could she expect, she lays in the wake of the eye of the storm.
She comes home, sits in front of the Television, but the screen is cracked.
Someone put an object right through it, cracked it in half.
She wonders the house confuse, searching for mom and dad.
The house is void of noise, something was bad.
Her dad walks through the doorway,
"Where's mom at dad?" He's drunker than normal, he just laughs.
A few hours pass, the streets come alive with sirens, it's around eleven.
The neighbors crowd the streets around Annabel's house, asking some questions.
Two gurney's emerge with two bodies, and a man being arrested.
One was obviously one of an older women but the other is unknown.
All the can be made out is that it's a Caucasian girl, Brunette, and 4 foot seven...