Demons and Whispers - a Memoir of Abuse

Eight-year-old Billie Crawford could not bring herself to commit suicide. The Bible taught that taking her own life was a mortal sin, one that would ensure her eternal damnation. When her father entered her room, closed the door behind him, and began removing his pants, there was only one way to escape. "Jesus, please take me," she whispered with her eyes tightly shut, "Jesus, please! Take me!"

Billie's prayers went unanswered. For six long years she fought the rapes inflicted by her father, rapes silently disregarded by a brutal mother and humiliated siblings. Maturity offered no end to her agony, for shame and trauma were permanently bonded to her heart and soul. Failed relationships and physical confrontations were the inevitable consequence; only late in life, through endless counseling augmented by mind-altering drugs, did psychiatrists offer her a measure of relief from the injustices of her nightmarish childhood.

When you read Billie's story you will inevitably be left with the question: How can parents treat their offspring with such ignorance and cruelty? Billie has no answer, but she does offer a modicum of hope and advice for others who suffer in silence.