Cassandra: “I was 14 when I met him, and the beatings went on for nine years. He beat me black and blue with a pipe. After the first few whacks, you go numb and can’t feel it anymore. He threw me out of the car and punched me when I was sleeping. One night he almost killed me, and I ran out of my house naked and bleeding, trying to save my life. Penelope House is where I learned I had been abused. That is how men treated my mama, so I thought all of that was normal.

I thought it was normal.