You grew up with a neglectful mother and an absent father, constantly subjected to your mothers long series of increasingly skeevy boyfriends. Eventually, she settled on Jim, a man with a brutal temper and a drinking problem. One day, he brought home a dog. Though he insisted the dog was for "The Pits" and warned you to stay away from it, he was soon arrested and sent to prison. Your mother let you keep the dog, who you'd bonded with despite it's skittish nature. You named the dog Bow, and you finally had a friend. You were almost happy.

Then one day, Jim returned from prison. Things started to return to the way the were. Then he took Bow, despite your crying. When he returned later that night, Bow was nowhere to be seen. And Jim was in a rage worse than you'd ever seen.

He started with your mother. You'd ruined the dog, he screamed. Made it soft. He'd lost money. A lot of it. When he turned to you, you were ready for the blows. What you weren't ready for were the words that came with them. "Useless dog's dead now, you little shit." Trigger.