Gram stayed for two weeks. Other than when we were sleeping, I didn't leave her side. She seemed to realize that I needed her for comfort and didn't have a problem with me under her feet at all times. She was my protection from the twins and Mommy, and she even seemed to enjoy my company.

Gabriel and Gabriella liked making life hard for me. It was fun for them to find ways to get me frustrated or in trouble.

Their favorite form of entertainment was to throw all of my toys around the living room.

When my mommy walked in and tripped on one of my Barbies, the look she sent my way had been enough to make me shake uncontrollably. She yanked me up by the arm and took me to my room so Gram couldn't see. She pulled her favorite belt off and whipped me until my back was numb. The words she spewed at me hurt the most.

She insisted, "You were a mistake and I don't want you anymore." When she left me, I stayed on my bedroom floor crying until Gram came in with an ice pack. She whispered how much she loved me and enjoyed my company.

The next day, Gabriel took a marker to my favorite baby doll and Gabriella ripped my blanket I had missed so much all those nights alone. They brought my ruined possessions to me in the living room with huge smiles on their chubby faces, while momma sat watching tv.

I remember whimpering and holding my favorite toys to my chest, but not crying because I knew better than to do it in front of Momma. Momma still yelled at me for not taking better care of my things and promised to give the twins a cookie for being honest.

Gram witnessed the whole thing. She beckoned me into her room and sewed the blanket for me. She tried to clean my baby, but the marker was permanent. I hugged her leg, silently thanking her.

Gram picked me up and held me tight. She whispered to me, "Joy baby, you used to be such a happy girl. I wish you'd talk to me."

I wanted so badly to speak to my grandma, but I was afraid. I was scared what Mommy would do if she heard, I was scared that if I told Gram, she'd blame me too, and I was scared my voice wouldn't work anymore, so I kept quiet. Instead, I put my head on her shoulder and my hand on her neck, wondering how I'd survive when Gram left in the morning.

I helped Gram pack and helped her brush her hair after she bathed. She had beautiful hair, just like Momma, and I lovingly combed my fingers through it. I watched her take a handful of medicine, her face morphing into a grimace before she gave me her sweet smile.

Gram offered to bathe me but Momma refused, saying it was our time to bond. I thought Momma was trying to hide my boo-boos and didn't really want to bathe me after all. She proved me right when bath time turned into another quiet beating.

❃❃❃

The morning Gram was to leave, I jumped out of bed to greet her. Before I got to my grandmother, though, the twins grabbed me and dragged me into the playroom, their fat fingers wrapped around my hair.

"Gabby, it seems Eden thinks she's the favorite child doesn't it?" Gabriel said to his sister, who nodded enthusiastically. "I think we need to show her she's wrong!"

Gabriel sat on top of me right on my belly and I quickly lost my ability to breathe. He was a lot bigger than me at seven, and his belly always protruded from his shirts. I struggled, lightly patting his back to tell him it was too much, too painful.

"Get her, Gabe!" Gabriella wasn't much different in size and she aided Gabriel by holding down my arms and legs with heavy books. Their laughter filled the room in cackles that sounded evil to my ears. I gasped and sputtered as quietly as I could, begging for someone to hear me and take my siblings off of me.

The pain was blinding when Gabriel shifted and I heard cracks near my chest. I screamed, using my voice for the first time in two weeks.

Gram came running with Momma following further behind. I was crying actual tears and screaming in pain. I tried turning to my side so Momma couldn't see, but the pain was too great. Gabriel and Gabriella stepped back immediately and kicked the books anchoring me down to the side of the room. "We were only playing with her!" Gabriella defended.

"It's not our fault she's so weak! Besides, it was an accident!" Gabriel taunted.

"She's like twenty pounds for crying out loud! You're, what, eighty pounds and substantially larger than she is! She's already bruised on her entire side and I'm going to have to pay for it with my own money. She's grabbing her side, it's obviously a rib or something. I'm not authorized to treat her," Momma shouted. She was very angry, but I couldn't find it in me to be afraid of her. My side felt hot and splintered and I was wiggling, trying to find the right place to lay and struggling to breathe.

Gram sat beside me holding my sweaty hand. It hurt to be moved. Momma scooped me up quickly. I thought she'd hold me just the right way to make the pain stop, but when she squeezed me to get a better grip on my body, I gasped for breath and squealed, knowing she didn't care if she was hurting me.

She threw me in a car seat, me crying and gasping the whole way, and turned to the door where Gram was. The twins stood in the doorway, wearing matching grins. "Mom, if you could watch them and feed them lunch while I get her sorted out, that would be great."

Gram smiled sadly and nodded her head, but walked out to the car. She leaned into the car and kissed my sweaty head with tears on her face. She touched her fingers to my cheeks. I reached up and rested my palm to her own cheek, trying to stop sobbing so hard, scared of what my momma would do. "Shanie, if you don't punish those spoiled brats, I will."

"They were only playing, Mother. They must not know their own strength." Momma said with an angry look towards me behind Gram's back.

"Your three-year-old daughter is screaming in pain and you can only defend them. Eden doesn't deserve that and I don't think I want her around to be the brunt of everything that goes wrong!"

My eyes began to droop and the pain became unbearable. My tears came down like a waterfall and my body shuddered with the horrible, unstoppable shock-like feeling in my chest. I gasped repeatedly causing my momma and grandma to stop their argument and come to an agreement, jumping into the car, dragging the twins along.

❃❃❃

"Mommy, she's so loud! Can't you tell her to be quiet? She smells bad! The baby peed all over herself!" Gabriella was holding her ears and trying to cover my car seat with a blanket to muffle the noise of my gasps and whimpers.

"Baby girl, she won't stop. I can try to ask her to shut up, but I doubt she'll listen. Besides were almost there and I'll take you to the cafeteria to get lunch. How does that sound?" Momma really loved the twins. I could hear it in her voice over the loud squeals escaping my mouth against my will.

I gripped onto Gram's finger with all the strength I had. My dress was soaked with tears and my urine. The fear of not being able to breathe forced all of my pee right out of me, something the twins were dying to tease me about. I could see Gram through my tears and hers matched my own. "We're almost there, Joy baby, and the nice doctors will help you get healthy again."

When we arrived at the tall building, Gram eased me out of the car seat and into her arms, gingerly walking in the door.

Momma took the twins to the cafeteria after she signed my name on the waitlist, not even looking back at me. Gram laid me out across a bench and patted my leg and shushed me quietly. I was still scared because I had not figured out how to breathe and my gasps were hurting my entire body.

After a long time, my shudders wracked my body and black spots covered my eyes. "Is there any way we can do anything for her?" Gram insisted. "She's suffering and needs medication!" Gram begged anyone that would listen. She looked very angry. I hoped she wasn't upset with me.

Some men dressed in bright blue outfits brought a long bed up to the side of the bench. They carefully deposited me on the long bed and wheeled me into a room with white walls and a large machine. I was held up and they used a machine called an X-Ray on me.

I was, then, moved into another room with the same white walls and a large white bed. After placing me on the bed, they dangled a line of something out of my inner elbow. After a few moments, my body began to calm and I fell asleep after hearing the man in blue tell Gram I had three broken ribs and asking how I'd received all of my other bruises.