At the tender age of three, Lauren Kavanaugh was subjected to physical and emotional abuse. A closet that was dark, infested with lice, and coated with urine was where Barbara Atkinson and her stepfather Kenneth kept her stashed away to protect her from being discovered. It was only after the nasty couple made the decision to torture Lauren that they allowed her to emerge from the closet that was four feet by nine feet.
Lauren’s mother and stepfather subjected her to sexual assault, physical brutality, and malnutrition over the course of five years. Lauren lived through all of these experiences. She was subjected to a series of beatings consisting of a paddle and other sharp and harsh objects, in addition to being burned by cigarettes.
While she was lying in the dark, she spent her time listening to the sounds of her six siblings playing and laughing outside. Lauren would spend her time alone in the closet during family vacations, while the rest of the family would leave town.
While Lauren was sitting in the dark closet, she frequently fixed her gaze on the minuscule light that was able to enter through the crack at the bottom of the door. In point of fact, if she stared at it for a considerable amount of time, her mind would open a portal to another area. Despite Lauren’s insistence that it was her “escape hatch,” medical personnel determined that she was suffering from dissociation.
