"YOU ARE LESS THAN THE STRAY WE KICKED OFF THE PORCH LAST WINTER," SHE SCREAMED WHILE FORCING ME INTO THE FROZEN DOG KENNEL. I huddled there, pregnant and shivering, as my mother-in-law, Eleanor, locked the gate and told the neighbors I was a 'charity case' who didn't deserve a bed in her pristine home. She thought she was purging her family of a parasite, but as the temperature hit zero, the suburban silence was shattered by the deafening roar of military helicopters descending on her lawn. Gen

HE SCREAMED "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" AS I KICKED DOWN THE BASEMENT DOOR, BUT THE ONLY THING I HEARD WERE THE AGONIZED WHIMPERS OF THE FOUR SOULS HE LEFT TO ROT IN THE DARK. The sound wasn't loud. That was the worst part about it. It was a low, rhythmic scratching against wood, followed by a whimper so faint it sounded like a child crying into a pillow three rooms away. I froze, my hand hovering over the doorknob of the basement entry. The hallway of the mansion was silent, draped in the kind of e