The Monster of Mangatiti Page #2

Quick... ly.

Schoolwork before breakfast?

You have got him fired up.

Oh, thanks, Bill. You don't have

to do this every morning, you know.

Oh, I need something hot when I get

back from the cattle. You sleep, me work.

Sunrise and me - we're

best of mates. Eh, Benn?

It was just lovely. I-I didn't have

to do much. You know, I mean, wash

my dishes or wash my clothes, and,

you know, maybe sweep the floor

and teaching Benn correspondence.

You know, we went for horse rides,

and he did all the cooking, and,

yeah, it was just...

it was quite picturesque,...

and, um, it was just really nice.

Oh, and, uh, if you hear a bang later,

don't worry. It's just the hunters trespassing.

So five sixes are?

Hey! Come on. You can't get

through with it that easy. Six sixes?

I understand now, looking back,

that that first month was actually

a period of grooming, um,

for what he intended to do anyway.

Um, but at the time I... I didn't

understand that.

Another hour, I reckon. Maybe we

should make a cuppa while we wait, eh?

Hey, um, if you'll show me how,

maybe tomorrow morning I can do

the porridge. And dinner.

You can't do everything.

Oh yeah.

Thanks. If you don't mind.

I mean, you do some cooking, and,

uh, I'll get a chance to finish

off the schoolhouse.

Oh, that reminds me -

take a trip into town tomorrow, get

Benn's next correspondence stuff.

Great. Maybe I'll go

write a letter, then.

Miss Petrie. And I'd like to put

some money into Miss Petrie's post

office account, Ange, if, uh, that's

no bother.

Sure. I'll get a form.

You need some shampoo, too, eh?

I do, yeah, but I need to post this.

I'll get this off for you. You check

on Benn. Wait for me. Then we'll

go to the store together, eh?

You don't need to be paying for

shampoo. 'All found', I said, eh?

OK. Thanks, Bill. That's lovely.

There we are. Thanks, Ange.

I'll fill that in later.

I'll tell you what - me and Benn'll

head off tomorrow arvo and, uh,

you can have a nice,

hot bath in front of the fire, use

some of that shampoo we bought ya.

There you go. Come on, Benn.

Let's give Heather some privacy, eh?

We'll take a ride

for a couple of hours.

Enjoy your bath.

Whoa. Bugger.

Benn! Forgot my smokes. You wait

here a minute, OK? Be back in a minute.

He's fast asleep.

Oh good.

It was very very cold. It never snowed while

I was there, but it was bitterly cold.

Bloody freezing.

Hot coffee and warm toes, eh? Warm

yours too, if you like. Better than

your freezing bedroom. There you go.

You can take it in

there, if you like.

Because I'd spent a month with

him and I quite trusted him,

I confided in him something quite

awful that had happened to me, um,

relatively recently that

I hadn't really told anybody else.

Nearly two years ago...

I had a car accident,...

and I ended up in,...

um...

Got a few battle scars myself -

pigs going me,... the ex.

You OK?

They're different kinds of scars.

I'd had to go to hospital for

a couple of nights, and while I was there,

I was indecently assaulted by a

doctor. Maybe that's what made

me feel vulnerable to Bill.

I'd already been made to feel

powerless. I already felt that

people could do things to me

that I couldn't do anything about

and that no one would ever believe

it could have happened.

You're a beautiful woman.

I can see how a man

might be tempted.

But forcing himself

upon you like that,...

it's just... crap.

He's a bloody loser.

You've just gotta put it all behind

you now. You know, put it all behind

you, and you win, he loses. Yeah?

Come on.

You're a beautiful girl.

The first time,

I did consent to sex.

But it was not far into it when

I came to my senses and realised, 'I

don't wanna be doing this. He's old.

'What am I doing?'

But I felt it was too late.

I remember the next morning I

actually got my period, which

was quite good, cos I thought,

'Oh well, there's an excuse I can use,'

because I didn't want to do that again at all.

And I thought that

would keep him away.

You awake?

I know you're awake.

Breakfast in bed for my girl.

Special treat for the woman I love.

Oh, I fancied you from the

first time I saw you, eh.

What a night! We're gonna be good

together, you and I, eh? You'll

see. You're young.

We're gonna have lots of babies,

aren't we? But work before pleasure. Hmm?

I gotta get into it.

You enjoy your breakfast.

Over those next few days, he just

starting acting really weird.

Like, scary weird. It was like he

was a different person. Like, he was happy,

really happy.

It was very very scary.

Then after, I don't know, maybe about four

or five days, he came to my room and...

and hopped on the bed. And I said

I didn't want to, but he would

say things like,

'Oh, but, you know, we already have'

and 'I love you' and 'we can have babies'

and all this kind of stuff and would

just... just force himself on me.

I think because I thought that

I had actually consented as an

adult, I felt responsible.

So even though I was saying no and

he wasn't listening, he made me feel

like I couldn't say no.

And it just got increasingly scary.

I'm done! 11 and 12 times.

I'm coming.

Don't forget Bluebell.

But I... I... I have to

take Benn through his-

He can go with ya. He likes Bluebell

more than he likes his schoolwork.

Don't you, Benn?

Do as you're bloody well told!

He started getting...

angry at things,...

getting violent. How he spoke

changed. So, he started swearing a lot.

He was cruel to animals.

He became quite aggressive.

Keep up, ya mongrel! Keep up!

Beating horses, beating dogs with alkathene

pipe, kicking - yeah, things like that.

So I had this person who was really

nice, then I had the same person who

was, kind of, this elated weirdo,

and then this person who was aggressive

and angry and violent and scary all in one,

and I never knew which one he was

gonna be from any hour of the day.

And all the time,

my things kept going missing.

He slowly took away anything that connected

me with my life outside the valley.

I found your wee pills, your

contraception pills. Huh?

Crafty.

Please. Please.

I'm... I'm filthy.

All that cleanliness

crap, it's overrated.

Germs make you stronger.

What do you want me to do, eh? You

want me to clean myself up as well?

You want me to use that deodorant

sh*t, huh? Soften myself up with

soap? Is that what you want? Eh?

Is that what you want?

You'll move into my room tonight.

Don't stop - 200 strokes.

You'll move into my room tonight.

No. I... I won't.

Wh... What'll Benn think?

Please. Please.

He's still awake.

You'll move into my room. Tonight.

That's my mirror. You don't look at

that. You understand? Oh, and stop

your crying. I'm sick of you crying.

OK? No more tears.

The psychological abuse was a big

part of it. I was only 19, just a kid.

And I didn't know how

to handle the situation.

And then things got worse.

I felt so scared and sad when

I realised I was pregnant.

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