Page 189 of The Lost and Found Girl

BY DAHLIA MCKEE

Pear Blossom Gazette

PICKED UP WORLDWIDE BY

MULTIPLE NEWS SOURCES, TV AND RADIO.

As far as the history of Pear Blossom, Oregon, has been written, only two truly remarkable things have ever happened there: the disappearance of Caitlin Groves and the discovery of a baby, later named Ruby McKee, on a bridge on Christmas Eve.

But the written history of Pear Blossom was hiding one of the town’s most hideous villains, and at the same time silencing one of its greatest heroes.

Marianne McKee is miraculous.

For all the world she looked like a normal fifteen-year-old girl, complete with standard teenage angst. But Marianne was hiding a secret.

For two years she was abused by a man who had the unquestioning good faith of a tight-knit community. His reputation and his power isolated and silenced her. But it was when the most terrifying thing of all happened that Marianne was able to find the strength to save not only herself, but other girls in town who might have been groomed and abused as she was.

Ruby McKee is the living testament to Marianne’s heroism.

While Ruby’s appearance on that bridge was mysterious to the town, Marianne knew the truth. And so did her abuser.

Marianne hid her pregnancy for nine months. Starving herself to keep her weight down, wearing baggy sweatshirts when she couldn’t hide it anymore.

She gave birth alone, in the upstairs bathroom of her family’s farmhouse.

That child probably saved her life.

It is likely she saved many other girls from experiencing the same fate she did.

She was terrified of her abuser, who was later revealed to be the murderer of Caitlin Groves. And she defied him.

Marianne McKee was scared. She was hurt. She had no one to reach out to.

She believed her abuser when he said the world would believe his word over hers, and the sad truth is, he may have been right.

But Marianne was also brave.

She is a hero.

She is a miracle.

And her story needs to be told.