On reflection, Tina realised she had few memories of her life much before starting school. Maybe it was because this was when her memories of her life of torment began. Her parents were deeply religious people and life and there friends generally revolved around the church. Tina was sent to the only religious school in town and this was attached to her families church. Much of the school curriculum included religion and at home her life was dictated by religion. The Kennard’s never had a television in the home, believing that it only corrupted the minds of those who didn’t believe. Evenings would be spent around the table, reading and discussing various texts from the Bible. Tina was sure that by the time she reached High School that she knew more about the Bible than general reading, writing and arithmetic.

From her very first day at school, Tina was very shy and introverted. Through those early years she failed to make any real friends or connections. The school and the families that attended were very close knit, to other locals they were considered some kind of cult. Her life was completely ruled by a timetable. She was not allowed to play any sport, if she was not in school, she was always in the presence of one or both of her parents.

By the time Tina reached her teens she had found friends outside the religious inner circle and she had found her voice which she used to assert her authority. These friends attended the local High School and were definitely people her parents didn’t approve of. The reality was these kids were good people from good backgrounds they were just not the kind of people Tina’s family wanted her influenced by. They provided her a life full of knowledge that went beyond the confines of her religious family. Her life at home became more and more unbearable as she fought against her parents and their beliefs. Having spent years shielded from reality, the outside world provided her with a glimmer of hope that she may one day escape this nightmare and be free.

Tina’s new best friend wasn’t like anyone she had met before. She opened the young blondes eyes to a world that her parents had denied her, a world full of love, hope and dreams. Shane McCutcheon was seventeen, a few years older than the young blonde and many, many years wiser. The tall, lanky brunette had spent all of her young life in and out of Foster Care. Like Tina, her parents abandoned her as a toddler, though unlike the blonde she had never been adopted. It wasn’t until she really got to know Tina, that Shane questioned whether or not she had been fortunate in not being adopted and finding security within a family. She had learnt that Tina had virtually been kept a prisoner by the Kennard’s. Tina’s beliefs and understanding of the world seemed so skewed to Shane, that she couldn’t help but take the young girl under her wing and help open her eyes to what lay beyond the confines of her own little existence.

By the age of sixteen and now well and truly under Shane’s tutelage, Tina started skipping school and disappearing only to return late at night, without explanation. After each one of these situations, arguments, yelling and the slamming of doors could be heard from the small brick home of the Kennard’s. Out of there minds with worry, the couple resorted to pulling there daughter out of school and keeping her at home. Jack Kennard believed that hard discipline would right there daughter of her sinful ways. Unfortunately before too long, the Kennard’s ideas of punishment, resulted in physical altercations with Tina. Jack was a big man and though Tina was his daughter, he didn’t hold back when slapping her face. On a few occasions he had knocked her unconscious, on all occasions he would leave her bloodied and bruised. Jean Kennard would stand back watching, all the while shaking her head at her unruly daughter, repeating over and over…

“You bought this all upon yourself Christina.”

It was around the age of fifteen that Tina developed her first crush. For all young girls this is a life changing experience, for the young blonde it would it would set off a series of events, that would make life at home with her family hell and the centre of gossip amongst her religious community.