Chapter Text
I don’t own Star Wars or any of their characters, they all belong to Lucasfilm and Disney. Also Judge Lauren Lake is a real person and a real judge on her own TV show titled Paternity Court.
There was a plethora of people walking up and down the halls outside the door. Murmuring into their walkies and to each other about what was about to happen. Right now, I was looking at my reflection in a mirror. Not sure what to do with the woman who was staring back at me. Having just had my hair and makeup done by professionals. From a television studio for a court show.
That’s why I was here. I was about to go out in front of at least two dozen people to appear on a court television show. Paternity Court, to be exact. I’d received a letter in the mail from one of their producers. Telling me that my sleazy ex-boyfriend Armitage Hux had petitioned for a DNA test on our daughter Alice.
He knew damned well that she was his. I hadn’t been intimate with anyone other than him during our entire relationship and it wasn’t like I didn't give him an opportunity to do this before. He was doing this to look like a victim on television. Not to mention the internet. They’d gobble this all up in an instant. He wanted fame and he wanted me to look like a terrible person with no morals.
We’d just had our cheeks swabbed for the DNA analysis. I was worried that Alice would’ve fussed with a cotton swab in her mouth. But she took it well and with no fight. Any discomfort was made up for with the lolli she received when they were done.
Right now, she was occupied by playing with her favorite toy on the ground. Completely unaware of what was going on around her. But she was good at picking up on my energy so I fought to keep myself calm.
I suddenly felt two large hands rest on my shoulders. Then the sound of a soothing voice came to my ear, “It's going to be fine, sweetheart.” He pressed his thumbs to the back of my neck and began a circling motion to relieve the tension I was feeling. “You know the truth and so does he. The only one who’s going to look stupid is him and you don’t need him anyway.”
A blissful sigh escaped me as I leaned back against his well-toned chest. It was my fiance, Ben Solo. The man who had been there for me and Alice from the beginning. Coming across me by chance while I was still pregnant and living my darkest hours. He let us into his home, his life, and then his heart. After mine had been broken, I never thought I’d find love again. But Ben broke through the walls that surrounded my mind and heart. As if that weren’t enough, he loved Alice with everything in him. He saw her as his own even though they didn’t share blood. He’s the only father she’s ever known in her short life.
There was some truth to his words. He wasn’t. “I know we don’t need him. But I want Alice to have a chance to know her father.” I reminded him. “I owe her that much. And it is his right to know his own child.”
“You know I would never stand in the way of that.” He pressed a gentle kiss to the back of my head. “I just want you both safe and I don’t trust him.”
When he rested his chin on my shoulder, I gave a small peck to his cheek. “Me neither, but we’re here now so there’s no point in going back.”
He let go of my shoulders so I could lean down and pick up the tiny tot. His dark brown eyes lit up with adoration when she was nestled safely in my arms. He placed one hand on my waist to pull me against him and used the other to stroke her short curls. She smiled brightly at the attention and grasped his tie with her tiny fingers, demanding more attention. He smiled when she pulled him down to her level and gave her a kiss on her chubby cheek, making her giggle in response with pure joy.
I couldn’t help but smile at them both. Alice had had him wrapped around her tiny fingers since birth. He was the first to hold her because I’d fallen unconscious shortly after giving birth, having suffered a placental abruption. It was he who helped me during those sleepless nights. He who would read to her and sing her to sleep when I couldn’t. She would light up like a Christmas tree whenever he came home and he, his usual appearance so gruff and intimidating, would melt in an instant as soon as he’d see her.
These two were the center of my whole universe. Their happiness and well-being were all that was important to me. Nothing else mattered. But that didn’t stop me from being nervous about all the things that were going to come to light in a few short minutes.
Ben’s large nose nuzzled my temple, interrupting my internal musings. “I know you’re worried. Don’t be. I’ll be standing next to you the entire time.”
Before I could respond, a knock came from the door and I called out, “Come in!”
A head poked in from the door, one of the producers. “Hello, Ms. Nima, Mr. Solo, they’re ready for you now. Would you like some more time to prepare or are you ready to proceed with the trial?”
Ben gave me a confirming nod and I turned back to her, “We’re ready.”
“Okay then,” she spoke briefly into her earpiece and then waved us over. “I can take Alice to the nursery if you’d like. Unless you’d rather it be you.”
“No, that’s fine,” I assured her and gently placed Alice in her waiting arms. Then I pressed a gentle kiss to Alice’s cheek. “I love you, Alice. Mummy and Daddy will be right back, Luv. Be good,”
Ben was next to give her a kiss and straightened her headband. “Miss you already, Princess. I love you.”
She leaned her small head against the producer’s chest and then they were off down the hall. My eyes trained on their retreating forms until I felt a small tap on my shoulder. I turned to see that it was another one of the crew members with lavalier mics for us to attach to our clothes. The microphone was a little awkward because it had to go up under our shirts and clip onto the collar at our chests. The receiver was attached to the back of our pants or into the back pocket, hidden by the clothes provided to us by wardrobe.
We were then led to a waiting room of sorts with benches on either side of the double doors that led into the courtroom. Another producer told us to sit for the moment just as another couple came in behind her.
My hazel eyes zeroed in on the familiar green ones of my ex. We held eye contact while I felt the rage and betrayal of his actions soar through me once more. His lips twisted in an arrogant smirk as the woman next to him took his arm and looked at me like I was dirt under her stiletto pumps. Nearly two years later and I still felt the same hurt weighing on my chest.
There was pressure on my hand and I looked to see that Ben was squeezing it in reassurance. He looked at them past my head, his eyes narrowed in on the couple as he leaned down to kiss my hair. I relished in seeing Armitage shrink back a little. Ben was only an inch taller than him but it was more than enough to be intimidating even when he was sitting down. I don’t recall there was ever a moment where anyone wasn’t afraid when they first met him. Myself included. Both times. But once you got to know him, he was actually a big softie. A big softie with almost two-hundred pounds of pure muscle and could look very menacing when he wanted to.
This was one of those times. He continued to stare at Armitage in open challenge as his hand released mine to tighty clasp our fingers. The warning in his eyes was clear. The corner of his lip turned up ever so slightly when the message was received and they turned to suddenly admire the painting that hung on the wall in front of them.
The four of us waited for several minutes before another crew member entered and told us to wait to be called.
I could hear the audience talking to each other in the other room. So much talking going back and forth. I had to admit, I wondered how much audience members were paid to be here? To watch people go back and forth in regards to legalities. Or in this instance, paternity doubts. Then, we heard the call from the male bailiff, “All parties in the matter of Hux vs Niima, step forward.”
The crew member gestured towards Armitage and his fiance to enter first before motioning for Ben and me to follow. They were already passing the small swinging doors as we descended down the aisle.
When they made it to the plaintiffs podium the uniformed bailiff, Mike Jerome Putnam greeted Armitage and his fiance and had swore them in. To tell the truth and nothing but the truth so help them. After he finished with them he came to us and did the same. We too swore as we raised our right hands.
Once we were all sworn in, he announced in a loud clear voice “All rise!” Called the grey-haired bailiff when Judge Lauren Lake entered the courtroom.
When the beautiful African-American woman took her place at the bench, she called out, “Please, be seated!” The audience behind us all sat down while Ben and I stayed standing at the defendant’s podium.
The bailiff stepped towards the bench and greeted the judge, “Hello, Your Honor.”
“Hello!” She greeted him with a kind smile.
He handed her a folder, “This is the case of Hux vs Niima.”
She took from him, grateful, “Thank you, Jerome.” Then to everyone else, “Good day, everyone!”
We all responded, “Good day.”
She then opened up the envelope and proceeded, “Mr. Hux, you are here to prove that you are not the father of your ex-girlfriend Ms. Niima’s daughter, Alice. You say that you have been tricked by a conniving woman who cheated on you multiple times throughout the relationship, then attempted to trap you with a baby and has wrongfully placed you on child support while knowing you're not the father. You also claim to have concrete evidence that will prove that you are not Alice’s biological father. You hope today’s results will clear the air and Ms. Niima will leave you alone so you can get married to your fiance and be taken off the birth certificate as well as the child support, is that correct?”
My ex-boyfriend Armitage Hux bobbed his head with a confident smirk, “Yes, Your Honor.”
Then the Judge looked at me, “Ms. Niima, you claim that Mr. Hux wanted to have a baby with you, but when your birth control failed and you became pregnant with your daughter, he left you broke and alone. You had to go through your whole pregnancy without his support and you say if it wasn’t for the man who is standing with you now, your fiance Mr. Solo, you and your daughter may have ended up on the streets. You say when today’s results prove that Mr. Hux is Alice’s biological father, you hope that it will encourage him to step up and be in her life. If he doesn’t want to, you ask that he terminate all his parental rights and give consent for your fiance to adopt her after you marry, is that correct?”
I nodded then my fiance Ben and I replied, “Yes, Your Honor.”
Judge Lake turned to look back at Armitage. “Mr. Hux, why don’t you explain to me how this all started. You say there’s no way that Ms. Niima’s child could be yours. Can you explain why you’re so sure?”
“You see, Your Honor, Ms. Niima was unfaithful to me from the beginning.” He told her and the audience let out a noise of surprise and disapproval. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, my insides twisting in disgust at the lie. “I have pretty strong instincts and I knew deep down that she was cheating on me. So, when she told me she was pregnant, I felt for certain that the baby could not possibly be mine.”
“Tell me the nature of your relationship with her.” She then said. “Were you boyfriend and girlfriend, friends with benefits or something else?”
“Boyfriend and girlfriend.” He said.
The Judge turned to me, “Is that true, Ms. Niima?”
I nodded, “Yes, Your Honor.”
She turned back to him, “So it was a committed relationship?”
“It was on my end, anyway.” He nodded his head towards me. “She wasn’t committed to me at all.”
I bit my tongue to stop from retorting. At the same time, I felt the gentle press of Ben's hand on my back. Reassuring me without speaking. You’ll have your chance. Don’t let him rile you up. You’re better than that. Was what it felt like he was telling me…and he was right.
The Judge spoke up again, “Where did you two meet?”
“Sophomore year of high school. My parents had just moved us from Ireland.” He explained, which was true. “But we didn’t start dating until a year later. We got an apartment together after we graduated. That’s when things started going down hill.”
“Explain,” she told him.
He let out an exaggerated sigh. “I guess that, given her upbringing, she felt that since she’d finally gotten that taste of freedom, she wanted to do whatever she wanted with whoever she wanted. She was hardly ever home. She’d be gone for hours at a time and I would have no idea where she was. I knew she was cheating.”
The audience let out an “Ooooooh” and the Judge turned to me again, her eyes contemplative, “Ms. Niima, do you agree with what Mr. Hux is saying? Is he telling the truth?”
I shook my head, “No, Your Honor. Not all of it anyway.”
“Okay then,” she leaned forward, her full attention on her now. “Please tell the court your version of the relationship.”
My heart started pounding when all the attention became focused on me. I swallowed as a lump formed in my throat, nervous.
“Take your time, sweetie, I know this is hard.” She said softly, her eyes full of understanding and patience. I heard Armitage snort and her eyes shot to him in warning. “Mr. Hux, she let you tell your side of the story so far without interrupting. I ask that you show her the same courtesy and keep the noises to yourself.”
He blushed, embarrassed for being caught. “Sorry, Your Honor.”
I never liked being the center of attention. The only reason I agreed to this was to prove my daughter's paternity. I hated that it had to be done publicly and for millions of people to be in my business as we aired out our dirty laundry to the world.
But this wasn’t about me. I was here to get answers for my daughter. Alice deserved to know the truth. None of this was her fault. This was my responsibility...but I also wasn’t alone. I looked up at Ben briefly and he offered a nod of encouragement.
I took a deep breath and let my mind bring back all the good and bad memories. “I didn’t have the best childhood, he was right about that.”
“How do you mean?” She asked, curious.
I bit my lip before answering, “My parents were drug addicts and didn’t take care of me. They abandoned me with some mean strangers when I was five. I guess you could say they basically sold me for drug money.”
Fifteen Years Ago
The scorching hot sun was beating down hard on my skin. It’s bright light made it hard for me to make out the silhouettes of the two figures walking away. I desperately tried to follow them but the mean lady who lived here was holding tight onto my arm. I couldn’t pull away so all I could was cry after them, “Mama! Papa! Come back! Please, don’t leave me!”
The lady pulled me harder, towards the front door. “Shut up! You live here now!”
“No I don’t!” I shook my head and started to cry. Reaching out towards my mother and father, I beseeched, “I’ll be good! I will! Mummy, Daddy, please take me with you!”
Maybe they couldn’t hear me. Or perhaps they’ll come back for me later. Yes! That had to be it! They were coming back. They wouldn’t just leave me. I felt better the more I thought about it. I stopped resisting the lady and she yanked me inside, slamming the door shut. Blocking my view of my parents walking away.
She let go of me and left me in the room, disappearing into what looked like a kitchen. I held my little rag doll to my chest, scared. I looked around the room, scared. The wallpaper was dirty and torn as hung from various places. The floor was covered with glass and empty beer cans. What used to be a light carpet looked stained and matted. Almost all the furniture had duct tape holding it together so it wouldn’t fall apart. The only thing that didn’t seem to be broken was the telly sitting on a table in front of the settee. But the picture was fuzzy.
The lady came back into the room and threw a dustpan and brush at my feet. When I looked up at her questioningly, she pointed at them. “Get to work and start cleaning! You have to earn your keep to live here and if you want to eat.”
I picked the brush without a word and nodded. She then dropped down onto the settee and picked up the remote. I wasn’t sure where to start, the room was so messy. So I thought it best to begin with the broken glass by the telly.
When I started sweeping into a pile, she screeched, “Move, you little runt! I can’t see!” I dropped to my knees, instantly terrified. But when I did that, I landed on the glass. At my pained yelp she looked at me, annoyed. “Now look what you did!”
I bit my lip to keep from crying, “I’m sorry.”
She snorted, “You start with those tears and then I’ll really give you something to cry about. Get back to work!”
Knowing that woman wasn’t lying, I picked the brush back up and kept sweeping. I ignored the red liquid coming out of my cut as I cleaned for a few hours. When it was almost night, I'd already moved onto the kitchen. Instead of worrying about glass, I had to deal with cockroaches. Some big and some small. But they were all fast and it wasn’t easy to squash all of them.
The door opened and slammed shut, making me jump in surprise. In the next moment, a man entered the kitchen and threw something on the table. When he noticed me crouched down by the fridge, he looked back into the other room and snarled, “Tammy, what the hell is this?”
“That’s the Niima girl.” Came from the living room. “You said you wanted someone to clean this dump.”
The man sneered at me, “I meant a maid, not some kid!”
“Well, you get what you paid for, Greg!” The woman barked. “She cost $200!”
“How old are you, kid?” He demanded.
I gulped, “Five.”
He turned on his heel and marched into the living room. “Are kidding me with this, Tammy? $200 for some pipsqueak?”
“Hey, you could’ve been here for the sale instead of out with your buddies.” She said defensively. “Or you could have asked them yourself when they offered her while they were here yesterday.”
I listened to them argue about me for a long time while I just kept cleaning. They went back and forth about what they were going to do with me. Mummy, when are you and Daddy coming back for me? I don’t like it here!
The man, Greg, came back into the kitchen and yanked the door open to pull out a can of beer. He opened it and noisily slurped as his eyes looked by my feet. “What is that?”
I looked down and realized he was talking about my dolly. I picked her up and showed her to him, “This is Elizabeth! Like Queen Elizabeth!” He reached down and snatched her out of my hands before I could blink. “Oi!”
“What a piece of garbage!” He chortled as he looked her over, “You Brits and your queens. What a joke.” He then waved her in my face and pulled back when I tried to take her back. “You want it?” I nodded eagerly. He walked and opened the door by the sink, “Then go get it!” And then he threw her.
“No!” I cried in despair and tried to chase after it.
His sweaty hand grabbed my arm and slammed the door shut before I could reach it. He leaned down so close that I could smell the beer in his breath, “I don’t want that trash in my house. Now, if you don’t behave, then the next thing I throw will be you. Got it?” I gulped and nodded. “Good.” He then headed back in the direction of the living room, and yelled over his shoulder at me, “You’ll be sleeping on the floor in the living room. But not until you finish cleaning this kitchen. It better be spotless when we get up in the morning!”
I kept myself from crying while I continued to scrub the floor. Not wanting to see if the woman, Tammy, would fall through with her threats on making it worse. By the time I actually finished the kitchen, they were already in bed and it was pitch black outside. I couldn’t tell time but I knew it was late. I collapsed from exhaustion on the carpet in the living room and curled into a ball. There was no blanket and no pillows so all I could do was tuck my legs and arms into my shirt like a turtle. Alone in the room, devastated at the loss of my beloved toy, and that my parents hadn’t come back yet, I cried myself to sleep.
The next morning, I was pushed out to the backyard and the door locked behind me so I couldn’t get back in. Greg demanded that I sweep and hose the deck, rake and pull some weeds. The yard looked mostly empty with some broken items laying out in the dirt where very little grass was visible. One lone tree stood at the center with its leaves being the only source of shade from the sun. After a few hours of what I thought was cleaning, I plopped down onto the hard dirt and got some relief under its branches.
When I looked closer, I saw a familiar stitched smile staring back at me. Elizabeth! I jumped up to my feet with excitement at seeing her. But just as quickly, my shoulders drooped at how high up she was. The trunk was way too wide for me to climb and I also couldn’t jump high enough. I spotted a plastic lawn chair overturned by the fence and dragged it so it was under the same branch. It helped me reach higher but not enough. Refusing to give up, I gathered more and more random items scattered around and stacked them all until it reached where I needed it to.
With a determined breath, I climbed up the makeshift mountain of junk and I reached up with all my might. My feet ached as I balanced my toes on the top of the lawn chair. Almost got it! Almost…just a little more! Suddenly, there was a loud snap and then I was falling. I closed my eyes, prepared for the pain when I landed on the hard ground. Instead, two branches wrapped around my stomach and my back hit the tree trunk.
I let out a breath of relief and lifted my lids. Then I saw that the trunk was in front of me and that it wasn’t branches holding me. They were two pale arms of a man. My eyes bugged out when I realized that someone was holding me and I started to flail and panic.
“Hey, woah!” He said as I tried to wiggle out of his arms. “Easy, it’s okay! It’s okay!” He set me down on my feet and I scurried away to hide behind the tree. When I poked my head around, I got a better look at him.
He was tall! Almost as tall as the tree! Kinda skinny too. His eyes were black, almost like the hair on his head. He was wearing a black tank top and matching backpack with torn baggy jeans and hiking boots. Big ears on either side of his head with a matching nose. A couple of moles I wouldn’t have noticed if he wasn’t so light.
As I was looking him up and down, he kept his large hands up, I guess showing that he meant no harm. When he came a little closer, I inched back. “Easy,” he said again, this time slower. More calm. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”
My eyes narrowed in suspicion, “How do I know that?”
He blinked, confused. “I saved you didn’t I?”
Well that was true. But still, I snorted. “You could be tricking me.” Then I gasped and pointed an accusatory finger at him. “You could be a bad man in disguise!”
“I promise I’m not.” He said, keeping his hands up.
I hid behind the tree again. “Then why are you wearing so much black?”
“Er...” He sounded almost shy, “I like black?”
“Bad guys always wear black!” I informed him. “Everyone knows that! Frollo, Maleficent, Cruella, the Headless Horseman, Chernabog―”
“Wasn’t he a demon?” He interrupted.
“So?” I went on. “Then there’s Hades!”
“Ummm, he’s blue.” He pointed out. “With fire for hair. Come on, you know that’s cool!”
“Who wears black.”
“Actually, it’s more like a shade of charcoal.”
“He has black smoke instead of feet!”
“Well,” he paused, “What about Gaston from Beauty and The Beast ? He didn’t wear black.”
“He had black hair!” I said in triumph. “Just like Scar!”
He snorted, “Ouch, he’s my favorite.”
“Ah-ha!” I shouted with triumph. “Bad guys like bad guys!”
“I’m not a bad guy!”
“Prove it!” I demanded. “I’m not coming out until you prove it!”
“Okay then, how?” Did he just laugh? “What can I do to prove that I’m not a bad guy.”
Hmmm, I didn’t think about that. I looked around. A test. A test. What could I use for a test? My mind repeated until I caught a glimpse of my dolly still stuck in the high branches. “Get my dolly down from the tree and then I’ll believe you!”
“Ummm...sure.” He said. I hid a snicker. There was no way he could reach her! I had to find everything I could to stack up to where it was tall enough. With the chair broken, he couldn’t do it and then he’d have to leave.
Suddenly, red-colored yarn appeared in the corner of my eye and then I was met face-to-face with my precious toy held in his large hand. “Here you go.”
I grabbed her from his hand, stunned. “How did you do that?”
He was still on the other side of the tree when he explained, “Well, it wasn’t hard for me to reach it.”
“Her!” I corrected him.
He laughed gently, “‘Her’, excuse me. Anyway, I could reach her very easily. I’m a lot taller than you.” I poked my head out again to glare at him. “Can you come out now?”
I kept glaring at him instead, “You tricked me!”
“Did not!” He exclaimed as I went back behind the tree. “You asked me to get it― her down from the tree and I did. Don’t get mad because I could do it and you couldn’t.”
My jaw dropped, offended. “Oi!” I stomped out and placed my hands on my hips, my dolly still in my fingers. “I could’ve done it if the chair hadn’t broke!”
His face broke out in a big smile, “Ah ha! You came out!”
Realizing my mistake, I puffed my cheeks out and turned away. Crossing my arms and hiding my face from his view. He kept laughing while I glared at the fence. “Why are you here, anyway?” I asked, keeping my arms crossed and my eyes on the fence, refusing to look at him.
“Well, I saw a little girl about to fall from a good height, so I felt like playing hero.” He said as he came around and squatted down in front me. His eyes were kind and not black. Looking closer, I could see that they were brown. I felt my scowl loosen from my face as I regarded him carefully. Those eyes dropped down to my knees and he frowned, “What happened?”
“Huh?” I looked down to see what he meant. Then I remembered the cut I got on my knee yesterday. “Oh that, it’s nothing.”
His frown deepened, “It doesn’t look like nothing.” He reached with his hand and I backed away again. “Does it hurt?”
“A little,” I admitted, embarrassed. It actually hurt worse than it did before. It looked worse too. The skin was red and the blood had already dried, making it crusty and painful to bend the knee.
“Did you show your parents?” He asked, his eyes still on the wound.
I shook my head. “They’re not here.”
“When will they be back?”
“I don’t know,” I confessed, feeling unnerved when I said it out loud. I had hoped they would come pick me up this morning. But they hadn’t shown up yet. When would they?
My thoughts were interrupted when he took off his backpack and sat on the ground. He unzipped it and pulled out a large glass bottle. I eyed the clear liquid warily. “What’s that?”
“Vodka,” he answered as he unscrewed the cap. “It’ll help clean up any germs that are on the cut.”
I looked down at my knee, alarmed, “There are germs?”
“Most likely,” he said as he rummaged through his bag some more. When he pulled out a shirt, he muttered to himself. “It’ll have to do.” Then to me, “Maybe you should sit down. It’ll be easier.”
I did as he said and looked at the bottle again. “What's Vodka for?”
“Drinking,” he said, then he stuttered, “But not for you! You can’t drink it until you’re twenty-one.”
“How old are you then?” I asked, curious.
He stiffened, “That’s not important.” He took the shirt and poured some of the liquid onto it. “I’m going to rub it on the cut, okay? It’ll sting for a little while but it’s better than letting it get infected. It will hurt a lot worse if we don’t.” He reached for my leg and I flinched, scared. His eyes softened, “Hey, it’s okay. I just wanna help.”
I bit my lip, nervous. “You promise it’ll help?”
He nodded, “I promise.”
Normally, I didn’t trust strangers. But, I didn’t want the scratch to hurt any worse. Giving up, I looked away and gave a stiff nod. When he pressed the damp cloth to the cut, I whimpered.
“Sorry,” he said, but kept cleaning it. “I know it hurts.”
I shook my head and held tightly onto my dolly. I tried to be brave, “It’s not too bad,”
“Well, you’re very brave.” He appraised. “Out here alone in the heat. Why aren’t you inside?”
“They told me to stay out here and clean the yard,” I explained.
“Who’s ‘they’?” He asked and I didn’t answer. “We’ll get back to that. There! All done, see?”
I opened one eye to peek at it and it was better. It wasn’t dirty and the dried blood had been wiped off. He took the same shirt and tore it with his hands. Picking up one of the shredded pieces, he wrapped and tied it around my knee. “This’ll hold for now. The cut isn’t deep, which is what I was worried about, so that’s a good thing.”
I looked at the makeshift bandage with wonder. “Thank you,” the cut wasn’t hurting as badly as it was a second ago anymore. There was a little sting but easy to ignore.
Once it was tight enough, he got back up to his feet and held his hand out to me. I accepted it, thankful as he helped me off the ground. Out front, I heard a car door slam and turned my head towards the sound. “You should go.”
His head turned to where I was looking, having heard it too, and his lips pressed into a thin line. “Thanks, but I wanna have a word with your family.”
“They’re not my family,” I informed him.
He paused for a moment and looked back at me, “Then who’s watching you?”
“No one,” I shrugged, “The people that live here left for work. Like I told you, they told me to stay out here and clean the yard. They must’ve just come back.”
“Wait,” he stopped me, “The people that live here? This isn’t your house?” I shook my head. “If they’re not your family then who are they?”
“I don’t know their names.” I confessed. “My parents left me here.”
At that, he went stiff, “They left you here?”
“But they’ll be back for me!” I said quickly. “They have to...right?”
“I wish I knew.” He looked at me with pity and came back down to my level, “Listen, I’m gonna leave for now. But, I’ll come back tomorrow okay?” I nodded and he patted my head. “Good. I’ll see you then. My name is Ben. What's yours?”
Don’t give your name to any strangers. He was the only person who’s been nice to me since I came here. Should I do it? I wanted to. He seems like he wanted to be my friend and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He helped my cut too. I let out a defeated sigh, “I’m not supposed to tell it to strangers.”
He nodded gently, “That’s okay. That’s smart! You’re a very smart girl. Now, I promise I’ll come back tomorrow. Try not to get any more scratches!” I watched in awe as he quickly climbed over the fence, out of sight.
He kept his promise. Every day for over a month. Each day, he’d climb over the fence and spend time with me in the backyard. Changing the bandage each day until it was completely healed. We’d just talk for the most part. At some point, he noticed that Greg and Tammy weren’t feeding me much because he noticed that I was getting weaker each day from malnutrition. Then started bringing me Lunchables and Smuckers sandwiches. I still didn’t trust him completely which was why he always brought me something sealed in a package to prove it hadn’t been tampered with. Even after all that, I refused to tell him my name. But he never pushed me. In the end, he became my only friend.
He told me that he was in town for the summer staying at his uncle’s house some few miles south of where I was. That his parents were making him stay there because they thought it would be good for him. He confessed that he got in trouble a lot. Usually fights in school. So they wanted to see if time away from the bad crowd he hung out with would help him. He admitted that he did love his uncle, but he didn’t like being told what to do. Yet, he found that he didn’t mind it too much since meeting me.
Each day that passed, I still wondered where my parents were. Some days I’d even ask him if he’s seen anyone resembling them. Eventually, I went to Greg and Tammy and implored them to find my parents. Or at least call them to come and get me. I must have cried and begged for hours before Greg finally snapped and hit me across the face. He then threw me out in the backyard and chained my ankle to the deck to teach me a lesson. I was left there all night and most of the next day. No food or water for eighteen hours in the middle of July in Utah. Normally I’d drink from the gardening hose but the chain prevented me from reaching. It was only a few feet away, but it may as well have been a mile.
That was when Ben found me. I’d gone under the deck to shelter myself from the rays of the sun. I barely remembered seeing him. After being out in the heat for so long I was in and out of consciousness. He’d called his uncle who told him to stay there and came straight over. Also warned him to not touch the chain until the police arrived, much to Ben’s chagrin. But his uncle convinced him that it would be best to leave it to prove that I had been, in fact, shackled by Greg and Tammy. While they waited, Ben desperately tried to keep me awake and hydrated. He pulled on the hose so hard that he nearly broke the outside tap as he rinsed me so I would stay cool and tried to get me to drink some of it. My throat had been so dry that it was near impossible to swallow without choking.
He kept me in the shade and never let go of my hand until the police finally came. His uncle had watched us through the cracks and when they showed up, he led them to us. They had cause to climb over the fence and called for an ambulance just as Greg and Tammy had turned into the driveway.
I vaguely remembered them trying to point the finger at Ben. Calling him a pedophile and trespasser. Luckily, the police were able to do the math. They freed me and then I was taken away by the paramedics while Greg and Tammy were being detained. Ben stayed with his uncle to be questioned. He asked them if he could ride with me so I wouldn’t be alone, but he was denied. The last I saw of him was through blurred vision of his tall and skinny silhouette before the ambulance doors shut and I passed out once more.
At hospital, I was questioned by a social worker after I woke up. She asked about my parents and then Greg and Tammy. I told them all I knew and when she was done, I asked to see Ben. Telling her that he was my friend and that I wanted to thank him. She told me she’d “see what she could do” and then left me alone in the room. I was discharged a week later and then placed in foster care when they couldn’t locate my parents or any living family. Moving from state-to-state until I turned eighteen. I never did find out what happened to Ben. That was the last time I ever saw him.
Until many years later.
