‘You had much fucking girl?’ I was asked. ‘Well how many?’ ‘Once a few weeks ago, it was my first.’ ‘Fuck, we can make some money from ...his one.’ As he was talking to the others he bought the belt down on my back, again and again. Then my arse and top of my thighs. I was crying out loud. It didn’t make any difference, he just kept on beating me. A few fell between my legs and caught my cunt lips. It was so painful I couldn’t scream. This went on for what seemed like ages. The one guy . Kelly. It wasn’t fair. How could I compete with a ghost? God, I needed something to distract me. What I really wanted was a fix. No matter how much I ignored it, the feeling, the need, never truly went away. Background noise, in a sense. I focused on Kelly’s image, memorizing her face or, more precisely, her expression. The way she smiled, her head tilted slightly to one side, one eye slightly lidded. Then I gazed at my reflection, doing my best to imitate it. Where she managed to look fun and. So, he found a new girlfriend, and I found a new boyfriend. And we continued to spend as much time with each other as possible. The other relationships didn’t last because we eventually realized that being best friends wasn’t enough.Risking our friendship, we agreed to try going out on a date. If it didn’t work out, we would pretend that it never happened and continue to be just best friends.We had a great time, and by our second date, we talked about when we would get married in the future.Not. None have been with men.”I twisted around to face Sheila and Alice. “I’ve only been here a short time,” I glanced at my wristwatch and fingered the necklace I wore, “and most of that time was alone with Alice in the dark.”I half-laughed, brushed my thinning hair with my hand, turned sideways, and scanned the attentive faces in the auditorium.“Since my arrival, I have made the acquaintance of some remarkable people and shared time with Sheila and Alice, many, many moments with Darlene, and a.