Marnie Lothar

At 4 years old, Marnie is introduced, by her mother, to a man who will become her new stepfather. Her mother met him during her work in a local tavern, where they fastly flirted and dated. They decided to move out into his house, accompagnied by Marnie. The young girl doesn't mind at all this new union, even though she doesn't share special links with her stepfather, just being okay with her presence.

But with time, the atmosphere at home fastly decreases. Marnie's stepfather starts to hit Kirstena, and mistreats her. He screams at her, insults her, belittle her. He has strong anger issues, and doesn't hesitate to vent his frustration on her. It's at this period Marnie frequently runs away from the familial house, for avoiding his stepfather's wrath, scared. She begins to hanging out, playing with children of the streets until late at night, with mostly orphans at this hour.

At 7 years old, Marnie's stepfather forcates his wife to stop her little jobs for " keeping clean the house, for giving him a good environment when he comes back from work". Dumbfounded, she does what he demands. It's at this same period he starts to punch Marnie. But frequently, Kirstena succeeds to intervene and takes hits instead of her daughter.

At 8 years old, Marnie starts to frequently fight with other children, copying the climate of tension of home. When she comes back at home, her mother is horrified by hematomas on Marnie's body, and doesn't hesitate to scold her for her bad behaviour. Marnie often asks, if it's so bad, why her stepfather is doing exactly the same thing, so. And often, her mother explodes in tears.

At 9 years old, the man of the house claims that his wife is good for nothing, but they still need more money for live decently. He decides to prostitute her and become her pimp. Kirstena  protests, but she's heavily beaten by her husband. Having no other options, feared, she resigns herself to take back her old work. More the time advances, more Marnie sees her mother's distress, less she can bear her mother's pain, and understands the problem of her stepfather's attitude, even if paradoxally, she's herself violent with other children. Even if Marnie can't say anything, under penalties of punches on her and her mother, she strongly desires to rebel against her stepfather.

When Marnie is 10 years old, she witnesses a scene of a rare violence. One day she comes back at home, her stepfather, taken with anger, kicks her mother, defenseless on the floor. He yells at her, unleashed, she didn't bring enough money this day and is an incapable. Despite Marnie's mother's begs, he doesn't stop, and violently beats her up while he harshly insults her. At a moment, he catches an iron hammer on the dresser he bought earlier for home improvements with others tools. Panicked, and under the adrenaline, Marnie fastly takes a candlestick on the console next to her and hits her stepfather's head from behind. Rang, he drops the hammer on the floor, and falls on knees. Marnie drops at her turn the candlestick, and rushs to see her mother, confused by what happened. Then, she fastly runs in front of her stepfather, grabs the hammer on the floor to put it out of his sight, but he catches her other wrist, still half stunned. Terrified, and not having enough time to think, Marnie has the reflex to brutally strike his skull with the hammer, always held in her other hand. Her stepfather immediatly collapses on the floor, dead.

After few seconds, Kirstena, who witnessed the scene, after having recovered her senses, tries to shake her husband and to call him by his name. But, while Marnie has difficulties to realize what she has just done, always with the hammer in the hand, her mother can just confirm her husband's death. Instead of screaming, or just seek help, she looks at Marnie, gets up and hugs her for reassurate her. Then, together, they decide to hide the corpse into the parcel of garden they have behind the house, at the arrival of the night. Marnie, just realizing what she has done, feels at this moment, something between relief and worriness.

Weeks pass, but even if their husband and stepfather isn't there anymore, the mother and the daughter feel monitored, and spied. They feel uncomfortable to leave the house, feared someone discovers the hidden corpse during their absence, but also feel uneasy to stay at home, feeling his presence, even after his death. One day Marnie's mother comes back from shopping, she meets, close of her house, some colleagues of her deceased husband. Pressured, she decides to abandon the home, taking Marnie and everything she can with them, scared of reprisals. Together, they finally move out in a different part of the capital.