It didn't last.

Within six months, Franklin left. For someone younger that is.

Still a minor, Aasha had little choice but to take Harmony back to Inglewood and throw herself at the mercy of Social Services. They put up with her for a home for young mothers.

That too... didn't last.

Aasha eventually moved in with her new beau, a twenty-eight year old mechanic named Umberto Ortiz. Although his eye didn't wander as far as Franklin's, his parenting skill left a lot to be desired. In April 1988 a neighbor caught him whipping Harmony with a extension court. That leads to Umberto's arrest and Harmony's first court appearance. She was two.

Once Umberto was out of the picture, Aasha moved on to John M. Jackson, a forty-two-year old music producer with an unruly Afro and a shepherding role in the brief forgettable career of the eighties funk band Picadilly. Although no a millionaire, John did get Aasha and Harmony out of Inglewoo and into a lovely three-bedroom house in West Hollywood.

Here's where the trouble began.

For both Harmony and Aasha, the years 1989 to 1997 were a nightmarish strongs of abuse at the hands of Jackson. At the age of five, Harmony was sent to ER for numerous fractures and contusions caused by a ball-peen hammer. Seven, she and her mother were treated for second-degree scald burns. Aasha nearly die the following year for multiple stabbing with a corkscrew. Each time the assaults were blamed on freak mishaps or anonymous attackers. Each time the social workers were left wary but helpless.

It all came to a tragic head in December 1997, when eleven-year old Harmony was hospitalized for internal distress that was soon revealed to be-are you ready for this?-a miscarriage.

With the help of Sherry Greenleaf, Aasha and HArmony fled to Inglewood yet again and took refuge in a women's shelter. But without a decent source of income, Aasha could no longer afford the twelve-dollars a night the shelter charged.

She and Harmony soon moved into the Dominguez Hills apartment of Kenneth Prince: Franklin's son, Harmony's biological half brother, and Aasha's former (and obviously forgiving) foster brother. Before long, he and Aasha became lovers, and she bore him a second child. This new addition to the family would be, like Kenneth, Harmony's biological half sibling. Confused? Don't worry. Things are about to get terribly simpler.

June 17, 1997, at 1303, John M. Jackson used an aluminum bat to break into the apartment and the skull of Kenneth Prince. A hysterical Aasha tried to stop but a firm swing to her temple instantly ended her life and the other one inside of her. She was twenty-seven.

He didn't just break the door, the skull, the serene but also the leg of Aasha.

Four hours later, Harmony came home from her last day of school and discovered the bodies on the floor. She was a year younger than Madison.

John M. Jackson was caught, convicted and sentenced to three consecutive life terms. This all happened with lightening speed and little fanfare. Domestic crime, especially among minority masses, were never big news to bigin with.

Like the mother, Harmony became an orphan, a ward of the county. She bounced through a dozen of foster homes before landing into a decent home.

Despite all this, she went on to become a model student. At fifteen, she made the local news by winning first prize at a regional poetry competition. This brought her to the attention of Jay McMahon and Sheila Yorn, a pair of freelance documentarians. The next two months were spent feeding the camera with hundreds of hours of video: interviews, follow-around, you name it. Her story was so compelling that four of the other eight subjects were dropped and the remaining three were relegated to supporting roles. On seeing the rough cut, ABV began negotiating to air the whole series. Suddenly a tragic heroine was about to become the biggest thing to hit public television since Barney.

Tragic always find it's spot in things. Sometime during editing, Jay and Sheila hit a major skid in their twelve-year romance and split. Worse, they waged a long and vicious battle on the rights to the unfinished documentary. By the time of check, its nearly four years and the tape remains a white hot property a central legal chalk boundary by the court.

I could imagine the anguish Harmony felt. This documentary could make her attain fame, her day in the sun, her backstage pass into the hearts, minds, and checkbooks of guilty counterparts. Sorry, toots. It's back to the scenary of you. But hey, you came real close. Don't lose hope. Best of luck in the future.

If there wasn't already enough evidence to prove the existence of God through His inexplicable beef against Harmony Prince, here comes the final kicker. On December 16, 2004, just halfway through her junior year, she was hit by a speeding police cruiser.

Harmony had just stepped into the corssroad at La Cienega and arbor Vitae when the copcar, in absolute no one in pursuing, turned a sharp corner and rammed her. It was just enough time the driver reacted and skidded upon Harmony. In span of a second, Harmony was thrown into the windshield, over the siren, and then spiked down to the ground like a touchdown ball. Her body rolled twenty feet before coming to a stop.

Obviously it was California's problem. The incident causes major row between two major cities.

From the physical aspect, Harmony was extraordinary lucky with clean breaks and fractures on her limbs. Her spine was left in mint condition. Everything was good, unless you didn't count the brain.

After three days of coma, she emerged with her memories intact with little physiotherapy involved. Since she was no longer a minor and thus no longer the state's liability. She could not longer pass off as a beneficiary. With 90% of brain functionality, she couldn't qualify for any state disability benefits either. Much less she had the mind to hired a crappy lawyer since she probably would score a high-five-figure settlement from the government. But all she got was a $212 of "good luck" money and a few references for private homes.

Thus on January 25, 2000, Harmony Prince was set free into the World, left to God's good grace.