Post by Misha on Apr 30, 2014 11:50:01 GMT -5
...........
Mom invited them in and that is when all hell broke loose.
Father was in the kitchen when mom brought them in there. When he spotted the "pretty lady" and her friend, he stood from the table and started yelling at mom.
"What the fuck woman? Are you that stupid?" A glare given to both of the "intruders" after his outburst. The "pretty lady" looked to him rather disapprovingly and the man began to move until the woman held her hand up.
"Sir, you need to take a seat. We are here because of a call from a concerned person."
"A concerned person? You mean someone sticking their nose in -MY- business...." His temper flaring even more.
"Sir, if you don't calm down and take a seat, this interview will be rather short and your child will be removed from the premises. I will not tolerate this type of behavior."
A soft but firm look on her face. My father actually stopped to think about what she had said. Slowly he moved back to his chair. Sitting down, with his chin in the air and his eyes hard, he watches her and the man with her.
The "pretty lady" looked to my mother, who stood there with her head bowed and hands crossed in front of her. She looked as if someone deflated her...shoulders slumped over and shrunk in on herself. "Ma'am, please, take a seat." The woman gestured to the seat near my dad. Mom took it with no comment, nor any movement of her bowed head.
"Now, as I stated, a concerned person phoned my office and reported that they had heard loud voices and a child crying." She pulls out a notebook and begins flipping through it. "Sounds of screaming and crying (child) and loud voices (male/female). Now my job is to make sure that the child/children in the house are safe." She looks back toward the hallway where she spotted me peeking around the doorframe of the living room. She motioned for me to come to her and I shook my head.
"Little one, come here please." Her voice was soft and calming, but daddy's could sound like that when he was drunk and wanted me to come to him. Again I shook my head.
She slowly stood and made her way to the doorway of the living room. I could see past her. The look on my father's face, knowing even at the age of four what it meant. I backed away from her which only caused for her to come further into the room.
I had toys all grouped in one little area that was kind of my play spot. When the woman looked from me to the toys, her face faltered for a split second and then the smile returned. The scene before her was that of a little girl and a man (Barbie dollish/Polly Pocket-ish dolls) in bed together while what appeared to be the mom was in another room with another man. The "pretty lady" looked at me with a smile that could light up the room and asked me what I was doing.
"Playing house ma'am. You are pretty." Not thinking twice about the words that would come out of my mind. (I was 4 and totally honest with people. No jaded opinions or whatnot at the time).
"Well thank you, Collette." She looks back to her friend that she brought with her and shakes her head.
"Collette, how would you like to go for a ride with Ryan and I?"
At that my mom and dad started fussing and yelling.
"No...please...no." (Mom)
"You ain't takin my kid anywhere you freaks." (Dad)
The lady and Ryan both moved almost as one unit. The woman scooping me up and Ryan guarding her back as my dad started to advance on her.
And me in the middle of chaos and hell, confused and crying. This is the first time that I was taken from my parents and placed with people that I didn't know.
"Finally back home." Her mom stated as she unlocked the door to the shabby little house that we had been in since I could honestly remember. Opening the door, my mother and I walked in to find my father sitting in the living room, passed out once again. A soft sigh crossing my mother's lips, signaling me to be quiet with a finger to her lips.
Stepping as quietly as I could, I made it to my room. Backpack in tow, I settled in to start working on the pages that were sent home from school with me. Nothing too difficult considering it was only kindergarten work...colors, shapes, numbers...things like that. I had just finished coloring one of the pictures that I really liked when I heard my father, woken from his drunken sleep.
"What do you freaks want now?" Guess that followed someone knocking on the door but not that I heard it.
A muffled reply and an angry roar "Over my dead body!!!"
A pounding of footsteps and then the door opening to my room. I saw the "pretty lady" again followed shortly behind by my father. The look on his face was murderous and the glare was aimed at me. Seeing this look, I went to scurry under the bed, which was my favorite hiding spot...usually because my father was too drunk to move the bed to come get me.
The "pretty lady" snagged me up around my waist just before I could actually make it under the bed. "It's ok Collette. There is no need to run."
Just as she says this my father says over her shoulder, "Yes there is little Mouse. I will have your hide..." With that he reaches out only to be stopped by Ryan's massive arm hooking around his.
The "pretty lady" skirts around Ryan and my father, aiming for the door and downstairs. I feel myself being carried away once again. The last thing I remember hearing is my mother's pained pleadings.
"Please...no...not again. I will do better this time. Please leave her..." The rest fades as the door to the car is shut. Once again I am taken to a place of people I don't know.
This cycle continued to repeat itself but not with my parents again.
Home after home, family after family...
"She is too difficult to handle..."
"She won't respond to us when we speak to her..."
"She doesn't get along with the other kids..."
These were the most common statements that I heard when the "pretty lady" would come to see how I was doing in whatever new home I was put in. For everything that changed...she remained the same.
The last home I was in, I finally decided that I had enough of being moved from place to place because people didn't want to try to understand me. I packed up what few things I had (some clothes, my stuffy, and one book) and snuck out in the middle of the night.
As my feet tread the streets, my brain tried to figure out where I was going to stay. This area was rather familiar considering that I walked it every day back and forth to school. It wouldn't work because there were too many people that would recognize me.
I finally found a place that seemed like it would work. An alley, dark and damp but far enough out of sight and unfamiliar.
I curled up with my bag as a pillow and stuffy in my arms. I woke to a drizzle of rain that almost had me soaked by the time I realized it.
This became routine daily. Walking and looking for a place to sleep...as well as avoiding police.
Soon she became to recognized on the streets of Bristol...TIME TO MOVE ON!!!!
Her travels took her south at first, down into Virginia, North Carolina and then South Carolina. Eventually, she got a bit messed up on directions and began to head west.
A few truckers help her along the way, taking her to their destination which so happens to be the way she is going. Who isn't going to believe a lost little girl "trying" to find her way home?
Finally Collette had made it to Texas. The heat was absolutely stifling hot. Back home the temperatures would have been half what they are now.
A darkened alley behind a burger joint made for great pickins for the young one. She could easily hide behind the dumpsters or in some of the larger boxes if she needed to. For her this was paradise…or so she thought.
Five years on the streets had toughened her up and made her smart. She was pretty good at spotting the “dangerous” areas, finding a good spot to sleep or to set up “camp” and the best places to eat. She just had to learn each one again when she went to a new city. Dallas was much bigger than a number of the cities that she had stayed in, so she disappeared into the crowd much easier.
She had finally gotten comfortable in Dallas, which may not have been the best of things. She began to meander farther and farther from her “normal” area, heading toward the south-side…the seedier side of town.
In her wanderings, she found a few more interesting spots to scavenge. The food choices were a bit better than what she had found in her original areas. The police didn’t bother her as much nor did the people try to chase her out of the area that she was searching.
A year or so passed of her luck running fairly well. She blended with the crowds, scavenged when she needed to and had a safe place to stay.
What turned that around was a night that she was out behind one of her favorite restaurants, scavenging for her dinner. Her head was far enough in the dumpster that the only part of her that was sticking out was her upper thighs to her feet.
A pair of hands wrapped around her ankles and she feels herself being yanked out of the dumpster. Her head bounced off the edge of the door frame of the dumpster. Dazed and bleeding, she feels herself being dragged and then stuffed in the trunk of the car.
After what seemed like forever, she felt the car stop. Her body went rigid and her eyes shut as tight as she could.
Again the same set of rough hands that had grabbed her were on her again. She felt herself being lifted and carried someplace. Once she opened her eyes, she was in a non-descript room. One where the walls were blank…no pictures, no markings…nothing. The windows in the room were placed at the top of the wall, almost as if it were a basement. The door was locked from the outside (believe that she tried the handle on more than one occasion since being in there).
Time passed undefined to her. There was no clock in room.
Mom invited them in and that is when all hell broke loose.
Father was in the kitchen when mom brought them in there. When he spotted the "pretty lady" and her friend, he stood from the table and started yelling at mom.
"What the fuck woman? Are you that stupid?" A glare given to both of the "intruders" after his outburst. The "pretty lady" looked to him rather disapprovingly and the man began to move until the woman held her hand up.
"Sir, you need to take a seat. We are here because of a call from a concerned person."
"A concerned person? You mean someone sticking their nose in -MY- business...." His temper flaring even more.
"Sir, if you don't calm down and take a seat, this interview will be rather short and your child will be removed from the premises. I will not tolerate this type of behavior."
A soft but firm look on her face. My father actually stopped to think about what she had said. Slowly he moved back to his chair. Sitting down, with his chin in the air and his eyes hard, he watches her and the man with her.
The "pretty lady" looked to my mother, who stood there with her head bowed and hands crossed in front of her. She looked as if someone deflated her...shoulders slumped over and shrunk in on herself. "Ma'am, please, take a seat." The woman gestured to the seat near my dad. Mom took it with no comment, nor any movement of her bowed head.
"Now, as I stated, a concerned person phoned my office and reported that they had heard loud voices and a child crying." She pulls out a notebook and begins flipping through it. "Sounds of screaming and crying (child) and loud voices (male/female). Now my job is to make sure that the child/children in the house are safe." She looks back toward the hallway where she spotted me peeking around the doorframe of the living room. She motioned for me to come to her and I shook my head.
"Little one, come here please." Her voice was soft and calming, but daddy's could sound like that when he was drunk and wanted me to come to him. Again I shook my head.
She slowly stood and made her way to the doorway of the living room. I could see past her. The look on my father's face, knowing even at the age of four what it meant. I backed away from her which only caused for her to come further into the room.
I had toys all grouped in one little area that was kind of my play spot. When the woman looked from me to the toys, her face faltered for a split second and then the smile returned. The scene before her was that of a little girl and a man (Barbie dollish/Polly Pocket-ish dolls) in bed together while what appeared to be the mom was in another room with another man. The "pretty lady" looked at me with a smile that could light up the room and asked me what I was doing.
"Playing house ma'am. You are pretty." Not thinking twice about the words that would come out of my mind. (I was 4 and totally honest with people. No jaded opinions or whatnot at the time).
"Well thank you, Collette." She looks back to her friend that she brought with her and shakes her head.
"Collette, how would you like to go for a ride with Ryan and I?"
At that my mom and dad started fussing and yelling.
"No...please...no." (Mom)
"You ain't takin my kid anywhere you freaks." (Dad)
The lady and Ryan both moved almost as one unit. The woman scooping me up and Ryan guarding her back as my dad started to advance on her.
And me in the middle of chaos and hell, confused and crying. This is the first time that I was taken from my parents and placed with people that I didn't know.
"Finally back home." Her mom stated as she unlocked the door to the shabby little house that we had been in since I could honestly remember. Opening the door, my mother and I walked in to find my father sitting in the living room, passed out once again. A soft sigh crossing my mother's lips, signaling me to be quiet with a finger to her lips.
Stepping as quietly as I could, I made it to my room. Backpack in tow, I settled in to start working on the pages that were sent home from school with me. Nothing too difficult considering it was only kindergarten work...colors, shapes, numbers...things like that. I had just finished coloring one of the pictures that I really liked when I heard my father, woken from his drunken sleep.
"What do you freaks want now?" Guess that followed someone knocking on the door but not that I heard it.
A muffled reply and an angry roar "Over my dead body!!!"
A pounding of footsteps and then the door opening to my room. I saw the "pretty lady" again followed shortly behind by my father. The look on his face was murderous and the glare was aimed at me. Seeing this look, I went to scurry under the bed, which was my favorite hiding spot...usually because my father was too drunk to move the bed to come get me.
The "pretty lady" snagged me up around my waist just before I could actually make it under the bed. "It's ok Collette. There is no need to run."
Just as she says this my father says over her shoulder, "Yes there is little Mouse. I will have your hide..." With that he reaches out only to be stopped by Ryan's massive arm hooking around his.
The "pretty lady" skirts around Ryan and my father, aiming for the door and downstairs. I feel myself being carried away once again. The last thing I remember hearing is my mother's pained pleadings.
"Please...no...not again. I will do better this time. Please leave her..." The rest fades as the door to the car is shut. Once again I am taken to a place of people I don't know.
This cycle continued to repeat itself but not with my parents again.
Home after home, family after family...
"She is too difficult to handle..."
"She won't respond to us when we speak to her..."
"She doesn't get along with the other kids..."
These were the most common statements that I heard when the "pretty lady" would come to see how I was doing in whatever new home I was put in. For everything that changed...she remained the same.
The last home I was in, I finally decided that I had enough of being moved from place to place because people didn't want to try to understand me. I packed up what few things I had (some clothes, my stuffy, and one book) and snuck out in the middle of the night.
As my feet tread the streets, my brain tried to figure out where I was going to stay. This area was rather familiar considering that I walked it every day back and forth to school. It wouldn't work because there were too many people that would recognize me.
I finally found a place that seemed like it would work. An alley, dark and damp but far enough out of sight and unfamiliar.
I curled up with my bag as a pillow and stuffy in my arms. I woke to a drizzle of rain that almost had me soaked by the time I realized it.
This became routine daily. Walking and looking for a place to sleep...as well as avoiding police.
Soon she became to recognized on the streets of Bristol...TIME TO MOVE ON!!!!
Her travels took her south at first, down into Virginia, North Carolina and then South Carolina. Eventually, she got a bit messed up on directions and began to head west.
A few truckers help her along the way, taking her to their destination which so happens to be the way she is going. Who isn't going to believe a lost little girl "trying" to find her way home?
Finally Collette had made it to Texas. The heat was absolutely stifling hot. Back home the temperatures would have been half what they are now.
A darkened alley behind a burger joint made for great pickins for the young one. She could easily hide behind the dumpsters or in some of the larger boxes if she needed to. For her this was paradise…or so she thought.
Five years on the streets had toughened her up and made her smart. She was pretty good at spotting the “dangerous” areas, finding a good spot to sleep or to set up “camp” and the best places to eat. She just had to learn each one again when she went to a new city. Dallas was much bigger than a number of the cities that she had stayed in, so she disappeared into the crowd much easier.
She had finally gotten comfortable in Dallas, which may not have been the best of things. She began to meander farther and farther from her “normal” area, heading toward the south-side…the seedier side of town.
In her wanderings, she found a few more interesting spots to scavenge. The food choices were a bit better than what she had found in her original areas. The police didn’t bother her as much nor did the people try to chase her out of the area that she was searching.
A year or so passed of her luck running fairly well. She blended with the crowds, scavenged when she needed to and had a safe place to stay.
What turned that around was a night that she was out behind one of her favorite restaurants, scavenging for her dinner. Her head was far enough in the dumpster that the only part of her that was sticking out was her upper thighs to her feet.
A pair of hands wrapped around her ankles and she feels herself being yanked out of the dumpster. Her head bounced off the edge of the door frame of the dumpster. Dazed and bleeding, she feels herself being dragged and then stuffed in the trunk of the car.
After what seemed like forever, she felt the car stop. Her body went rigid and her eyes shut as tight as she could.
Again the same set of rough hands that had grabbed her were on her again. She felt herself being lifted and carried someplace. Once she opened her eyes, she was in a non-descript room. One where the walls were blank…no pictures, no markings…nothing. The windows in the room were placed at the top of the wall, almost as if it were a basement. The door was locked from the outside (believe that she tried the handle on more than one occasion since being in there).
Time passed undefined to her. There was no clock in room.