House of Splinters (Hardcover)

She hated Maryetta with all her heart. She could call her that when she talked to herself or thought to herself but when she spoke directly to her, she had to call her mom or mother. She shivered at the thought of what happened the first and only time that she had called her mother by her name, she had bruises for weeks after. But the hitting was not always the bad part; it was the way her mother looked. Her face would get all twisted up and her mouth would pucker causing her lipstick to smear, her mascara would leave big black marks under her eyes making her look like an evil clown. To this day Susan could not stand clowns, she was the only seven year old that she knew that absolutely hated them. Susan wrestled her panties on past the towel and looked at her pale complexion in the mirror; she hated the way she looked. There was a time when she did not pay any attention to such things but now that she looked so different from the other kids, well it was just too hard not to notice the differences.