Sumeya was surprised by my sudden acknowledgement of her presence a bit thrown off, but she quickly recovered. ‘Do you think I’m beautiful?’ She...asked me insecurely. I looked at this spectacular creature before me, those sensual pouty lips, that perfect sculpted nose her jet black hair peeking through her scarf and wondered how she could wonder if she was beautiful. ‘Sumeya, you are beautiful beyond description, why would you even ask?’ Sumeya could only answer ‘I just… I really… I want you to. Fred had taken her away from her parents and finally she felt she had freedom, but then she soon realized she had only traded one abusive captor for another.Fred liked to drink and when he got drunk he turned mean. The first time he struck her they had only been married a few weeks. They were having an argument and she said something flippant and he backhanded her across the face so hard he cut her lip and made it bleed. Then he apologized profusely and promised never to do it again and she. . . Bambi offered me the privilege of visiting her innermost thoughts and we bonded more closely with each passing day. At Christmas time we were left to our own devices, without other friends or relatives. The university was shut down for the holiday and we were left with more free time than usual. It was a good time, preparing for the big day and I made popcorn while Bambi was supposed to be stringing it on threads for tree decorations, except she ate more than she strung. When I accused her. An ugly girl with no boobs and a penis - but a girl."My tattoo," I heard from behind me. "You have my tattoo". I turned inthe mirror and looked over my shoulder. Sure enough, there it was - asmall rose on my left cheek. I ran my fingers over it. It had been therea while. "Look, Rachel, this just isn't possible. I mean, have you evereven heard of something like this happening before?" Of course shehadn't. This was real life - not a lame 80s movie. "I'm scared. I don'tknow what's going on," she.