When I was growing up, I had a TV in my room. Family Ties was my favorite. Alex P. I really, really liked him. And I would turn the volume all the way up so I couldn't hear what was going on downstairs. The screaming, the cussing. We were not the Keatons.
My mom had this vase. It wasn't expensive, but she really loved it, and he threw it at her. It shattered into a million pieces. And that was right before he beat the crap out of her.
Arlo made me feel like I could do anything, overcome my fears, be my best self. You're asking me to say that the last ten years of my life meant nothing.
I'm asking you to look at the next ten years, the next twenty years. I believe you when you said that that empowerment and that strength is in you. And, Lilah, I know that you're smart enough to make the right decision because, Lilah, let me tell you something. You only have two choices: You can be silent and spend the rest of your life in prison. Or you can make a deal and testify against him, and maybe... maybe you can get out by the time you're fifty. And believe me, that's a lot of life left.
[to Arlo] You know what the worst thing is? What really pisses me off is not that you conned women out of their own money. It's not that you convince women that it's in their best interest to sleep with you. It's not that you demean women or humiliate women. What really disgusts me is that you make women feel good about themselves. Empowered. Addicted to feeling invincible. You know, I can see that you're intelligent. Empathetic. So, you make women feel safe. They feel heard. And because they trust you, they share their deepest insecurities, their weaknesses, with you. And then you use those vulnerabilities to destroy them. You, Mr. Beck, are the worst kind of predator there is.
AArlo
[applauding sarcastically] That was beautiful, Lieutenant.
You said if I looked at the bastard who hurt me in the eye and I told him how he ruined my life, that would start the healing. He’s dead, goddamn it! There is no healing!
[at her rapist’s grave] The last 3 years of my life I’ve been living on the street, using newspapers and garbage bags to stay warm. I let strange men use my body in exchange for food, protection, drugs. I was 18. I was supposed to be finishing my second semester of college. I lost time with my friends, my studies, my dad. You got your few measly minutes of sexual gratification, and I lost my life. I will never forgive you for what you did to me, Professor, but hopefully I can move on with help from my family and my friends. I’m going to survive. Yes, I am.
