>>10069653She takes a sip of the wine and sighs. "Nikki was a quiet child, but when she was in her early teens something changed. Started getting into fights with girls that bullied her. And won too. Sent a few of the bitches to hospital. I was glad, thought she finally figured out how to stand up for herself. Then one day I caught her talking to herself and realised she was like mum. She didn't really figure out how to stand up for herself, she was just doing what she was told."
"So I... I punished her. Every time she talked to herself, I'd beat her. Until she feared the beatings so much she stopped doing it. I hated what I had to do to her, but I did it for the right reasons. I did it to save her. And it worked. She was fine, for years. Until she turned 18, ran away from home and came to this town. At some point after that she started to hear the voice again."
"She's an adult now, I'm not going to beat it out of her like I did last time. I... I don't think I could do that to her again anyway. So, if you want to know why she does whatever it is she does, or if you even need to be concerned about it, it all depends on just what that voice is telling her to do. If you're as intimately involved with her as you think, maybe if you ask, she'd tell you. Thankfully, as far as I know, it's never told her to hurt herself, like our mother's did. So at least, there's that silver lining. In truth, all it's ever done is help her protect herself. But that doesn't make it ok. Because one day, whatever it is she's hearing in her head could change and become what led to our mother killing herself."
Cassie takes a deep breath. "That's all I can tell you, Amy. I hope it helps. Now tell me about that dealer."
