PART 1

A typical afternoon at the Malloy house would include Tommy coming home from his day at college and Tyler and Tandi coming in from school. This, however, would be no typical day. Katie was already at home waiting for her three youngest children. The first to arrive was Tyler.

"Hi Mom! Tommy here yet?" Tyler hollered to his mother as he came in and ran upstairs to change clothes. "He was gonna take Tandi and me out to see Trent. Trent said he wanted to see up at Thunder Karate for a minute. Hey, is Tandi here yet?"

"Tyler, if you are going to talk to me, come down here and talk. I can't hear a word you are saying!"  Katie said as she left the living room and walked over to the bottom of the stairs.  **Boys,** she thought.
**All three of them are the same way. I guess they got that from their father. Thunder did the  same thing.**  When she heard the front door slam, she jumped and turned to see who was there. "Young lady! What is the problem?"

Tandi stopped to look at her mother before running up the stairs. "Nothing is wrong with me! Just leave me alone!" she shouted.

"Tandi, come back here!" Katie said. She was trying not to yell at her only daughter. Tandi had been acting strange for almost a year now. She would not eat, she rarely slept, and her mood swings...

Tyler was just leaving his room when he was plowed over by his sister. "Hey! Watch it Sis!"

"Tyler, leave me alone, okay.   I don't need this right now."

Tyler happened to see there were tears in Tandi's eyes. "Tandi, are you okay?"

"Fine," was the only answer she managed to mutter.

"Look, hurry up and change. Tommy is  gonna be here any minute to pick us up so we can go to Thunder Karate to see what Trent wants."

"I'm not going Tyler."

"Come on Tan --"

"Look, I am not going at that is it! End of story!" And with that, Tyler watched as she slammed and locked the door to her room.  **I wish I knew what was wrong with her.**

Tommy pulled up a few minutes later and blew the horn.

"Be back later Mom!" Tyler said as he left the house and jumped in with Tommy.

"Where's Tandi?" Tommy asked.

"She's not coming."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. Something's up with her. She came in this afternoon crying.   She yelled at Mom and me for asking what was wrong. She  told me she wasn't gonna go with us. Let's just go, okay?"

At Thunder Karate, Trent Malloy was finishing his class for the day. After the class had been dismissed, he turned his attention to the two figures huddled in the corner and smiled at them.

"Hey! Well, CD said we could have the birthday party there since Butch was having that football thing at Uppercuts. Any ideas on what to get Mom for her birthday?   By the way, where's Tandi?  I wanted to get her input on this as well."

"She's not coming," Tommy said.

"Why not?"

Tommy and Tyler looked at each other. "Ask Tyler." Tommy said.

"Tyler?" Trent was not exactly sure what kind of answer he was going to get. He knew Tandi had been rather excited about the whole birthday party thing last week.

"She just told me she wasn't coming, that's all."

"Well, I guess I'll just talk to her later." Trent looked at his two younger brothers and smiled. "Since we are here, anybody feel like working out with me?
Walker called and said he couldn't make it..."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

About 6 pm the guys finally came home. Katie was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on dinner.
**Pizza Casserole. Not my favorite, but the kids like it.**  When she heard the door open and voices filed with laughter enter, she asked, "Anyone hungry?"

"Smells good in here Mom. What's for supper?" asked Trent. "Pizza Casserole?"

"Trent! What a lovely surprise!" Katie was genuinely excited to see her oldest son home. "Not my favorite either, but Tommy, Tyler, and Tandi love it."

"Speaking of which, is Tandi around?" As soon as he asked the question, he felt she should not have.

Katie's smile diminished as she answered, "She's upstairs in her room. She hasn't come out since she came home."

"What's wrong?"

"Trent, I don't know.  She's not been herself for a week now. I'm running out of thinks to do and say. Why don't you go up and talk to her. See if you can get her to talk to you. Please?"

"Okay, Mom," he grinned. Katie could have sworn she saw a glimpse of Thunder in him.  **It must have been the light,** she thought.

Trent slowly walked up the stairs. He had no idea what was going on with his sister and would be totally unprepared for what he met. "Tandi? Are you in there?
It's Trent. Can I talk to you?" He waited to hear an answer from her before asking again. He didn't get one. "Tandi?"

"What do you want Trent?" Tandi grouched.

Trent was not sure if he was to feel hurt or angry from the tone in her voice. "I would like to talk to you, please."

"Start talking."  **He sounds like Mom, ** she thought.

"I would like to see you while I talk to you. If that is possible," Trent said as he leaned, with his back to her door, on the wall.

Tandi picked herself up off her bed. She looked at herself in the mirror and did not hardly recognize herself. Her face was so red! She took her pillow and wiped the tear streaks off her face and put some powder on to take out the redness before opening the door. "Trent?"

Trent turned and stood face to face with his sister.
His baby sister. He could not get over how she looked.
"May I come in?"

Tandi turned and walked back to her bed. "If you want." She sat down.

Trent came in and shut the door. He eased to her bed and sat down next to her. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." Tandi kept her eyes on the floor.

"You don't seem to be."

"I'm okay. What do you want?"

"I wanted your opinion on what to get Mom for her birthday. Tyler, Tommy and I are kinda stuck and at a loss for ideas. You got any?"

"No."

"Tandi?" No response. "Tandi, look at me."

Tandi slowly turned her head to Trent, but her eyes stayed fixated on the floor.

"I don't know what is so interesting down there, but I wish you'd look at me, "Trent said.

Tandi sighed and slowly looked up. Her eyes fixed on Trent's. Trent could tell she was hurting. He'd seen that look before in the eyes of many people before.
He'd seen it in the eyes of the people he and his partner, Carlos Sandoval, tried to help through Thunder Investigations. It was the look of fear. He reached out to move her soft, fairly wavy, auburn hair from covering her left eye. "Oh, God," he said softly.

"Trent, it's not as bad as it looks. It doesn't hurt *that* bad, really."

"What happened?" he asked. He was not sure what to say. The bruise under her eye was the size of  a softball.  **But, it is in the shape of a fist!**

"Nothing. Did Mom say dinner was ready?" Tandi said as she stood up and tried to avoid the question.

"Tandi, sit do--" Trent's sentence was cut short as he grabbed Tandi's arm. She grimaced in pain and let out a faint moan. He loosened his grip, held her wrist, and pushed up her sweatshirt sleeve.  Trent's eye's grew wide.  **More bruises!**  "What is going on?"

Tandi could not look at him. All she could do was cry as she collapsed into his arms. Trent hugged her.
**Dear God. Please tell me this is not happening! She's only thirteen! Please God, no!**