• The cab car pulled out of the driveway with Juniper in the back seat. No matter how hard Kel tried to imagine Juniper like always, angry face, dark black eyes and snarling lips she still saw Juniper being cuffed and placed in one of the cruisers.
    Kelsey Marie Donovan has no recollection of what happened to her before she was 5. She woke up one day in a bed she didn't recognize staring into a face she didn't recognize. It was scary not knowing where she was; who she was. Even now, 10 years later she remembered the first words Juniper said because those were the first words she remembered ever hearing from anybody.
    "Well it's about time."
    Kel didn't know what time it was but she did know one thing. Juniper was mad. She felt a sense of sadness knowing that she'd somehow disappointed this stranger.
    Juniper had to teach Kel everything. It wasn't to bad because 5 year olds don't really have very important memories. They moved so Kel didn't have to be so worried about not remembering people and her life started from there.
    Kel was about 7 the first time it happened. She'd been playing with her friends when an older bully in the neighborhood came along and pushed her. She'd fallen into the dirt and ruined her tights. Of course when she went home Juniper had a fit. Kel ended up having to stay home from the first grade for that week in a leave of sickness. Her illness? Odd coloring to the eye due to a punch in the face.
    Of course Kel didn't tell anybody her mommy hit her. At first she didn't realize that wasn't normal behavior. But she was a smart kid and noticed nobody elses mommy's hit them. The scaries thing happened however. Eddie, a boy in school ended up getting taken away from school. This was in the 4th grade. Kel had been a victim of Juniper's abuse for quite awhile now but had become an expert at hiding the fact.
    Mrs. Alred, her 4th grade teacher at the time explained that Eddie's dad had done mean things to Eddie and his mom. Eddie's mom was sick in the hospital and Eddie was going to a Foster home until he could be reunited with his mom.
    That's when Kel realized that if she told anybody about what her mom did to her she'd be just like Eddie, only she didn't have any relatives to be reunited with. She'd be all alone and the one thing she feared most was being all alone and not knowing anything about anybody. In fact, she still had nightmare's about when she was 5 and didn't know anything. What could be more scarier.
    Kel was 15 when it happened for the last time. Ever since she was about 11 she'd been interested in stories of kidnappings. She'd done a report on kidnappings in the 5th grade and got an A+. Of course after that she was hooked. In a test she'd even been told that her best career choice was a detective. One for special cases like kidnappings.
    It was Saturday and Kel had come home with a bunch of printouts from the local library about old kidnapping cases. The unsolved ones. What better way to practice than to try to solve some cases. Before getting started she ate dinner. While she was cleaning up Juniper came into the kitchen with that look. Angry face, pissed off black eyes and evil snarl.
    "Umm... mom?"
    "What the HELL is this?"
    Juniper was angry. No, she'd skipped angry and jumped strait to furious. She was holding up the printouts.
    "I'm studying them. Why?"
    It was sudden. Juniper just attacked. She jumped at Kel and screamed, "You can't take her away from me. i refuse. I got her back and you want to take her away? i won't let you. I'll kill you first."
    "Mom!"
    Juniper pulled a knife from the knife block. Kel didn't know what to do so she kicked Juniper in the croch and ran. She ran to the phone, dailed 911 and screamed as pain erupted in her raised arm. The knife was in her arm which felt like fire. A fire that was identical to Juniper's eyes.
    "Stop it!" Kel screamed, trying to run away. She'd had her share of bruises, she'd been whipped and has scars from welts but never had Juniper snapped so bad that she'd actually been attacked with a weapon that could kill. "Stop!" She screamed, pain bluring her eyes. "Please."
    With the knife still in her arm Kel scrambled to her feet blindly and ran out the door. She fell, tripping over her feet and ripped the knife out screaming and crying. Juniper was pale, her eyes huge and her actions almost zombie like. Was she drunk? High? Kel didn't remember her mother being drunk before dinner. What had caused this sudden action?
    Kel heard a siren from the distance, somewhere outside of her worlds proximity. All that was in her vision was Juniper coming after her. Blood, hot and red was running down her arm staining her clothes. It was fast and sudden. A cop tackled Juniper to the ground, another scooping Kel up and getting her away. Kel screamed, cried, and covered the worlds sight with the mans strong chest.
    Things were blurry after that. Paramedics said that she'd suffered through shock and that she needed to go to the doctors for stitches. At the hospital the police questioned her. Where was her father, what had happened? Kel didn't know. Until she saw the printouts that had ticked Juniper off.
    On the first page was a picture of her when she'd been about 4. She'd been kidnapped and her case was unsolved. Her name was not Kelsey, but Libby and she had another mom, another dad, even siblings. One older, and one younger.
    But as Kel sat in that hospital room healing and recuperating while police contacted her 'family' all that was in her mind was Juniper stabbing her, and the sight of Juniper looking completely lifeless as she sat in the back of the cab car.