Summerfield: Inspired by a true story

She slowly put both of her arms at her sides. There were two more burns. One was just above her left breast, and one down near her side, which looked much worse than the others. Alan felt like he wanted to puke. His mind went blank for a moment.
“They really hurt Al,” she cried. “Can you make them better?”
He didn’t know what to say or do. He had seen and heard some bad things, but this was truly the worst. Alan held her lightly and she put her head on his shoulder.
“He was really mad this time,” she said. “I told him no. I asked him not to. But the more I did, the madder he got at me. He started to hit me and then he started burning me with his cigar. The more I screamed, the more he’d relight it and do it again. Why didn’t he just kill me? I wanted him to kill me. I kept asking God to let me die so it would be over, but He didn’t listen to me either.”