she said, “I was six years old and my parents thought it would be fun to get us drunk. So, they filled my favorite red plastic cup with beer and filled a green cup for my little sister. When I refused to take a sip, my father punched me in the side of the head hard enough to slam my head into the wall where I split my ear open. The second time that I refused, my mother called me a stupid bitch, grabbed me by the back of the neck while my father forced the beer down my throat. Would you like to know what happened when I coughed it back up?” she snapped as she reached for the cards and dealt the next hand.
“No?” she asked when he said nothing. “But that’s the best part!”
“Your loss,” Kylie said with a shrug, that muscle clenching harder in her jaw as she dealt the next hand. “From that day forward, I swore that I would never drink because I was afraid that I would turn into them,” she said, as she gestured for him to look at his cards.
Watching her, he gestured for another card. She quickly tossed a card to him. “Stay,” he said, not bothering to look down at his cards as he waited for her to continue.
“Good call,” Kylie said, nodding absently as she took another card without looking at her hand and then another and then another. “Guess I lost,” she said, still not bothering to look at her hand as she picked up her glass and said, “Next question.”
“When were you diagnosed with a personality disorder?”
“Never,” she said, picking up the cards and angrily dealt the next hand.
“According to your parents you were, and they had to kick you out when you refused to take your meds,” Hunter said, checking his cards.
“Yeah, they’re real saints,” Kylie said, not bothering to play this hand out before reaching for her glass. “Except for the fact that they kicked me out because I finally stood up for myself. When my mother went to hit me because I wasn’t moving out of her way fast enough, I’d had enough, grabbed her arm, twisted it to stop her from hurting me and for the first time in my life, she backed off even as she threatened to get her gun and kill me. When my father came home, my mother told him that I’d attacked her. He told me that I had thirty minutes to get out or they’d call the police.”
“Then why did your ex-husband make the same claim?”
“Because I made the mistake of trusting him and he decided to use it against me. He was afraid that I was going to tell his family all the sick things that he was doing, but unfortunately for him, I decided to get a psych evaluation knowing that he would try using the rumors my family started against me in the divorce. The psychiatrist gave me a clean bill of mental health before he informed me that I had PTSD and clear signs of child abuse, but that was it. If you’d like to see the report for yourself, I have a copy upstairs in my suitcase,” Kylie said, meeting his gaze with a furious glare as she took another sip. “Next question.”
“What about your sister?”
“She’s exactly like them.”
“Why doesn’t the rest of your family want anything to do with you?”
“Because they believe everything my parents said about me.”
“And why would they lie?” Hunter asked, watching her for any signs that she was lying.
“Because they were afraid that I was going to tell them all the things that they were saying about them and did behind their backs. They were also afraid that people were going to find out what they were doing to me. So, to make sure that no one believed me, they told everyone, neighbors, my teachers, their friends, anyone and everyone that I was a liar at every available opportunity so that no one believed a word I said. As I got older, the lies got bigger and bigger until no one wanted to have anything to do with me,” Kylie said, taking another sip before saying, “Next question.”
“Why are you afraid of thunderstorms?” he asked, thinking about the moment that he saw her running into his office like the hounds of hell were on her heels.
“Not thunder,” she said, her words starting to slur a bit at the end as she took another drink. “The dark.