Once upon a time, there was a little girl. She was the youngest of three girls in her family. She had a mom and dad, who loved their children but were very busy trying to keep everything afloat. They were Christians who prayed at every meal and went to church almost every time the doors opened. From the outside they looked like a happy loving family. Daddy worked hard-long hours to provide, and Mommy volunteered in the church and school. The oldest sister Dawn was a typical first-born, a little bossy, perfectionist, and seemed to do everything right. The middle sister, Beth, was a rebel, deciding she would never attain the "perfect" status, she went the other way. She was brilliant and strong. The youngest, Lorettia, was quiet, struggling to be seen and heard over her older siblings. She went back and forth between trying to be perfect and rebelling, following one sister and then the other.

A typical family, like any other, had ups and downs, good times and bad. Life was pretty good for the little girl, till Beth went to school. A switch flicked. Sibling rivalry up a notch, tension through the roof. Little girls.... 4, 6, 8. Life changed.

Mommy and Daddy were stressed, money tight, too much on their plates. Dawn loved school, worked hard, did well. Beth hated school, couldn't sit still, couldn't focus her brain or stop her body. Pressure mounting. Lorettia didn't understand. Anger, yelling, stomping, slamming, Beth unravelled. Time outs, spanking, Beth hid it now, from Mommy and Daddy. But not Lorettia. Explosions over toys, trying to play together led to disaster. 

Years pass. 6, 8, 10. All in school. Busy, busy, busy. Running here and there, school, church, family get togethers. Lorettia learns fear. Dawn seems separate, apart, out of the fray. Beth is rampaging, a ticking bomb, pressure building, exploding on Lorettia.