Ishigreensa

"Of course, sweetheart," he said pulling out a skirt. "I know it's not ideal. We'll fix your situation as soon as I can figure out how to legally go about doing it, okay?" He handed her the skirt. "Go ahead and put that on." He then started to pick up her discarded things to put them in the bag taking the package of diapers (pull ups) out of the bag so that he could put her wet things in the plastic bag. Once he had her finish cleaning herself up and getting dressed, he took her to the front counter, where claims are sometimes handled and handed them the bag, the open diapers, and showed the receipt. "I'll be back to get those things from you, but the little miss and I need to finish shopping." He nodded and let them go off to get their shopping done.

"You did?" he asked her in surprise, another hint that she might be more mature than she was letting on. "And you cleaned it up well enough it's not going to irritate your condition?" he asked her. "Look, I don't know everything there is to know about infections, especially with girls, but I do know that not keeping the area clean and dry can irritate whatever is going on." He wandered over to the toilet to check if there was anything he could tell she might have done while he was gone, and after checking if any amount of color was in the toilet to give away any indication of her condition, he sighed and shaking his head, he pulled out a pair of panty-diapers, pull ups, made for bedwetting teenagers. They had sleepy bears on them. "Alright, well, until we figure out why you are wetting your pants, especially in the daytime and get it treated, I'm going to have to ask you to wear these." He looked at her seriously in the eye. "You don't want to go around everywhere in wet pants all the time, do you?"

Larry went from the skirts to the teen diapers, and found some pull ups for her. They said they were for bedwetting, and pulled on like panties, so it wasn't like they would show anything if someone saw under her skirt, so that should help her. He got a few diaper changing supplies, some powder and pad inserts for the diaper, and then he finally came back to the bathroom after paying for the stuff. He explained to the store clerk that his thirteen year old niece had wet wet herself, so they would know why they were still in the store, and she was wearing the brand new skirt for which he planned to keep the receipt in his shirt pocket in case they were confronted later. He went to the bathroom door, and knocked. "Honey? It's uncle Larry. Open up. I got you the stuff you'll need, honey." He went in on her once she opened the door and quickly closed the door behind them. Turning to her, he reached out to take her hands while looking into her innocent little eyes. "For now, I got something to help with the dribbles, sweetie. Then tomorrow, we'll have to go to the interview so I can get a job to take better care of you. After that, we will need to start the process to get you put in my care legally so I can take you to see a doctor." He led her over to the sink....

Larry nodded with a sigh. He smiled sheepishly at her. "Well, I'll be back soon, honey. You can go ahead and take those pants off. It's not good to wear wet pants too long. It's not good for your skin or if something else is going on, then maybe you should take your panties off, too." He left the bathroom for her wondering what could be wrong with her that she didn't know she was peeing her pants. Maybe she did know and was just too ashamed to say it. Either way, it sounded like some kind of kidney or bladder problem to him. Her problems seemed really bad though. She was out on the street, and didn't seem to understand how dangerous the area she was in, was. She had no stranger danger sense as far as he could tell. And now, she was having an issue with her bladder, and had no apparent way of figuring out what was going on, though to be fair to her, he wasn't sure a thirteen-year-old would know. He looked around at the young teens section for a black skirt for her as he thought about things.

Larry sighed. He didn't know what was going on, true. But intentionally or not, she was right. He had called her out on this. He couldn't really tell that she was still peeing because it was so slow. As far as he could tell, she was already wet. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I know you went into the bathroom the two times I sent you, but honey, you are wet, and you weren't wet that much at the motel." He stopped trying to hug her knowing she was upset. "I want you to stay in here while I go get you something to change into. You said you like skirts, right? I'll just get a plain color one so it's neutral and could go with whatever else you want to wear. Do you prefer a color?" He sighed. If she really didn't know what was happening, then he'd probably have to get her under his guardianship so he could get her to see a doctor. He had never heard of someone not noticing they had to pee even if they had an infection. He thought infections made it hurt to pee, and caused you to feel like peeing often, but he never thought it would cause you to pee without noticing that you were going. He waited for her to tell him what color skirt she would prefer, and then he would try to find that and some diapers for her to wear for now.

And that question may never be answered. We shall see. They maybe bad at their jobs, or the system may be so over-crowded, and they have a quotas and other pressures put on them, that they just give up and fall in line to the system's demands. While I know for a fact there are a lot of people that have gotten lazy about their jobs in this field, I have to wonder what took their spark away, because most people that go into the field actually hoped to help kids in their own ways. Not going to answer the Vanessa question right now (evil grin). I'll let you wonder on that one.

Larry sighed. The girl was acting like it wasn't a big deal, but over the next seven minutes or so, he started to see her basically peeing in her pants as she sat there calmly. He wasn't sure what kind of messed up home taught her to not think it was a big deal to wet her pants, but something was certain in his mind now. This child was not socially or mentally capable, not even as much as you'd expect from a thirteen-year-old. She definitely needed to be watched more carefully. He wasn't sure in his mind, if they threw her out because she was, as the archaic term used to be mentally retarded, or if the people caused her to get this way through their abuse. What was clear, was that she needed to be watched and protected far more than he first thought. "Alright, sweetheart," he patronized her not believing for a second that she actually went to the bathroom. He figured she was just tired of his harping on it, so made a show of going into the bathroom, but chose to ignore her bladder like she probably always did. Now he thought about it, he figured the only reason she wasn't wet at the motel was he was always watching her, and made it clear she was to use the toilet. Even then, he didn't actually check her panties on her, so for all he knew, she had done a little bit in her pants before he noticed and told her to go. When the bus pulled up to the stop less than a block from Walmart, he got up and watched as she got up and saw the wet seat she had been sitting in. He shook his head as he looked down at the wet spot she had been sitting in. "Come on, sweetheart," he sighed as he took her by the hand and led her off the bus. Someone did this to her. He was sure of it, and if he had any pull at all, he would like to see heads roll, but he wasn't that important, and so basically had no way to find out who those people were. She was obviously too upset to talk about her abusers, so all he could do, was try to protect her from the damages they've done to her. He walked her into Walmart, and then started to steer her into the handicap bathroom. There was no way he was going to let her walk around in soaking wet clothes, from his point of view. Honestly, the seat on the bus was probably not as wet as Larry thought, but with walking to Walmart, with her leaking all that way, she was pretty wet, in Larry's eye. He closed the family bathroom door, and then he looked her in the eye. "Honey, you've peed your pants again." He looked down at her wet crotch. "I know you're scared, baby. What those people did to you is not right. I'm not scolding you. I just think you better wait her for me to get you something else to wear. Your butt is all wet and it's kind of obvious now, that you'd been wetting your pants probably since I picked you up at the library." He put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm not mad. It's not your fault, sweetheart. You're a child, and you've been through a lot. But you need to stop lying when I send you to the toilet and tell you to go. If you are scared to go alone, and prefer to just wet your pants because of whatever you've been through, that's okay, as long as you stop lying to me about sitting on the toilet and peeing, baby." He tried to hug her.

When the man got off at a different stop than the young lady, he sighed and nodded with what Sarah had been saying. "I understand, but I honestly don't think they even teach kids to be alert anymore. How often did you grow up and have someone talk at your school, especially in junior high, about dark alleys, danger stranger awareness, and other things? In my day, they had the talks every year after you were in fifth grade, usually presented by a police officer, and I think the last talk was in ninth grade, but it feels like they do less of that these days." Larry sighed. "It's not you that triggered me," he said softly. "It was the situation. And you are right. He could have just been keeping an eye on her for her safety for all I know. I just know no one watched out for my sister on that day. If they had, she might not have come home like she had...." He couldn't tell her exactly though because he didn't know what really happened. He just knew she was terrified of leaving the house by herself for awhile, and she got a lot more amiable towards rules that kept them safe. "I'm sorry. I'll try to be a little more careful, but I did just talk to her. I didn't like follow her or do anything other than warn her that she was being watched. Even if she thought I was the one watching, it still put her on alert, so she wouldn't be surprised. That's all I meant to do." He sighed. "Okay, I understand. You're feeling a little scared of what will happen if I have to clear things up and that leaves you alone. You're right. You have to be my priority right now. I'll work on toning it down. But you did notice that the man had a knife on his belt, didn't you? I know some people just carry knives just because it makes them feel bad or something, but I never really trusted anyone that carries a knife in public. I know that's a me thing though." If Sarah had seen clearly though, it wasn't a knife that Larry saw, but just a painter's spatula that had the same silvery sheen to it. Looking at the way the guy was dressed, someone else might have guessed he was an artist, and he was just looking at the girl as a muse or something, maybe something to mimic at home on a drawing or painting. Larry refocused his attention on Sarah. Wait, did she just say the man looked like he was in his fifties or something? That's not how a thirteen-year-old usually says things. Anyone over thirty is just old to a teenager, and anyone between twenty and thirty were usually cool adults, but there is no way they try to guess what decade someone is in unless they are prompted. Was she an unusually gifted teenager? He looked at her sideways for a moment. "Are you sure he looked like he was in his... what?" he tried to prompt her this time to see if she said the same magic number she said before. If she did, that could blow her whole gig right there.

I change between Megan's view point when we are in the present in the car, but to October's view point when she is telling the story of how she got stuck with the Gavins. This is just the first part of her story. So, to help you guess when we are shifting view points, I tried to double space so the spaces should be bigger when shifting scenes, and also, I usually had Megan interrupting October's story with her curious moments, comments, and questions, she normally starts out speaking after a longer spacing. I think it's easier to see it going back to October telling the story because the little interruption comes to a close, I think, and then October starts telling her story again. Chapter Three October’s Story Part I “So, I guess you didn’t really like where you were placed at,” I looked over at Octy after a little while in the car with her. Every time the conversation turned towards her place before Vanessa got her, during the last hour or so, she kept looking away and got a little quiet. “No,” she sighed and looked at me with those cute little blue-green eyes of hers. “It was not a fun place to be at all, but then, when you are bad like me, I guess I deser…,” she paused mid-word because I frowned at her narrowing my eyes at her. “Stop that,” I nearly threw a fit. “You’re not bad, and anyone that made you think like that, are bad. You know if you do something bad or not, and it doesn’t sound like you did anything on purpose, that you knew would cause trouble.” Daddy heard me yell at Octy, whom now was looking down. “Megan, sweetheart, yelling at her to stop it will only make her shut you out. It takes more than just words to get through someone that’s been abused.” “Abuse?” I asked. “You know… hit all the time and told things to make you feel like you can’t do anything right. Vanessa has been telling me a little bit about what the little one has gone through, and she’s not just trying to irritate you, okay?” I frowned. I turned back to Octy and put a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry, Octy. I should have known better, but it’s just… how…? How can you think you are bad?” October gulped. Her blue-green eyes shined at me. I knew she was thinking and she started to wiggle her legs. I grabbed her hand. “Octy. I’m really sorry. You don’t have to tell me,” I whispered. She nodded, but after a minute or two, a soft whispery kind of air came from her throat. “It was at night, when the police came along with some people that I knew hated uncle,” she had started. Tears leaked from her eyes. Her mouth twitched a moment, and then she continued. “I woke up to people breaking into the front and back door. I was in the bedroom, and when I woke up with a start, I did my first bad thing….” She looked me in the eye, and seemed to wait for something, but what, I didn’t know until she looked down at her lap. She mouthed it more than she said it. “I wet the bed for the first time, ever.” I nodded. “That’s kind of natural,” I whispered to her. “I go almost every morning when I wake up, and so surely it’s because I had to go in the night, but my body can wait, only you got scared….” She hung her head. “You wouldn’t have wet.” I blushed. I didn’t know if I would have or not, but I knew how scary it was to wet. I was scared to tell daddy earlier. “But you’re not me, and I’m not you, are we?” She shook her head no. She was quiet for a while. Maybe I had discouraged her. I shuffled in my seat not sure what to say to ease the uneasiness in the quiet back. Dad and Vanessa were talking really low in the front, so it was really quiet. I reached in back and pull out a bottle of soda for myself, and then looking at Octy, I asked her. “Hey, do you want some?” Octy just shrugged, so I gave her a grape one, and I put an orange and a grape one up in Vanessa’s lap for the adults. “Oh, thank you, honey,” Vanessa said to me. I smiled. I felt kind of shy about her thanking me for such a simple thing; especially, since I only thought of her after I thought of Octy because when I got me one, then I saw Octy, and knew she must not have anything, and if I was thirsty, she probably was, too. Suddenly, Octy began again after taking a small sip, a purple mustache started to lightly color her upper lip. “So, uncle came into the room, and he pushed me towards the closet. We had practiced that so many times before. I don’t think Uncle knew it was mixed with the police at the door. But even the police were there to take him, so it still wasn’t good for him.” I listened trying to keep my questions and my mouth shut so as not to discourage her again. They found me the next day, when I had to come out of hiding to get something to eat. I hadn’t eaten for breakfast or lunch, but stayed holed up in my safety spot, and no one found me all the time I was there. I had to pee my pants again, like twice, because I was too scared to come out. But finally, I had to eat. My room was quiet, and the lights in the hall were off. Out the bedroom window, I saw the sun going down. When I came out of my closet, I had seen that they had stripped my bed clean of everything, and my closet was so bare, it was like coming out into an unfamiliar bedroom. There was no evidence that I was even there. I poked my head into the hall, and the empty quietness was scary. I was afraid to turn on the light in case someone was still in the house, but there were no signs of them being there at the moment. “Octy,” I interrupted her, the idea that all her stuff was missing from her closet, and they still didn’t see her was bothering me. How could they miss her? “I’m sorry, but how did they not see you?” “Oh, that, well, my uncle cut a hole in the wall, a very small square hole, and he measured it so it could be a really tight squeeze even for me, and then he made like a secret little hiding room for me in there. It was not very bit to tell the truth, but it was perfect for hiding in, and it had pillows, a blanket, and I brought a stuffed animal with me when I hid in there.” “But how did they not see the hole?” “Oh, my uncle made sure I had a board on myside and some kind of like slot thing to put it in, so when they tried to push on it, it felt like wall, and I had to lift it out and into the slot to make it work, so they thought it was just all closet.” “Wow!” She smiled shyly at me. After a few moments where she drank a little of her soda and I looked out at the clouds lazily floating across the sky, I started to hear her continue the tale. The kitchen and living room were all dark, so it seemed fine. I thought I was out of the woods, so I turned on the light so I could see what there was to eat, and when I did, there was sudden knocking at the door, and they broke in again. I wasn’t fast enough, and they grabbed me. I fought them tooth and nail, scratching, pulling hair, and biting arms and legs, but eventually, they held me so I couldn’t fight and just kept on me until I had no more energy left. And I knew I had lost. That night, I took a ride to a scary looking office, still hungry because I hadn’t eaten anything yet, and I was very thirsty, too. I was too scared to tell them though, so I couldn’t help from coughing a lot. They took me into an office, where a lady was on the phone with someone, and I felt my stomach growl. I put my hands on my tummy, because it hurt from being hungry, and looking around the office, you could tell there was no food in there, so there was really no point in asking at that time. I’m really sorry, but I was so nervous, I was bad again. I had an accident. “Young lady!” the lady that had been on the phone looked up to see me wetting my pants again. “What do you think you are doing?” I shivered and cowered and tears came uncontrollably down my face, just like the water between my legs. “How old are you?” I shivered and cowered at her, not being able to get my chin to stop shivering from fright or get my tongue to speak from thirst. I just looked at her, like a mouse in front of a cat knowing the mouse hole was too far away now. “Stand up,” the lady had suddenly softened and sighed. “You can’t go to your new home like that.” “New home?” “Yes, sweetheart. Your uncle was taken to jail to await the process to answer for his crimes, and you have no one to take you in, so you are going to stay with a foster family tonight.” I frowned. “I don’t want to go.” The woman smiled softly and she bent down so she was eyelevel with me. “No one likes to go to foster care, sweetheart. But foster care is the best thing right now because your uncle is not able to be home to take care of you, and as far as we can tell, there is no one else that you are talking to.” “I have friends at school,” I said indignantly not liking that she assumed I was not loveable. “I didn’t mean friends, sweetheart. I meant a grandma or another aunt or uncle to take you in. Those are the only people that we can put you with temporarily who have not yet been put into the system.” “Oh.” “So, you can’t go in those wet clothes, little one. By the looks of it, you’ve been wearing wet clothes for a while.” “What did you aspect,” I said looking up at her. “The police took everything from my closet when I came out, so I had nothing to change into. I had to hide all day.” The woman nodded at me. “That’s understandable, but your bed was wet.” I frowned. I had peed in it when I was startled awake, but I kind of didn’t trust this woman. She was working for the bad guys that paid the police to raid my uncle, I think. So, I didn’t say why I peed the bed. She took my hand, and though every part of me wanted to kick her, bite her, and try to get away, I somehow stilled myself knowing that it was against the law to attack a policeman, and I thought she was probably like a policeman. I didn’t walk very fast though, and anyway, it was hard to walk fast. I was itching and uncomfortable from being wet, I was hungry and thirsty, and I was too nervous of her to know what she was really going to do to me. She pulled at my arm some, and that hurt, too, but eventually, she got me to the bathroom, where she made me wait. Then she stepped out for a long while, and so I started trying to drink water from the sink using my hands like a bowl, you know, like when you have nothing to hold the water in. I got a few handfuls of water wetting my shirt as I did while she was out, but she came in and shook her head at me. “You couldn’t just tell me you were thirsty?” she asked me. I hung my head. What was I supposed to think? That a bad person cares if you are thirsty? Uncle had prepared me for someone that might try to capture me and do something with me. I was prepared not to be fed or have water, so I got some when it was chanced to me. The woman sighed and she squatted down and started to peel off my pants. The stains on them told the story, of what positions and how many times they were peed into, and all I could do, was hold my head in shame. If I had had any clothes in my bedroom, I would have changed the minute I had a chance. “She almost yelled at you for wetting your pants in the office, but she already knew you’d peed yourself a bunch of times?” I asked Octy. “I think?” Octy looked down blushing and a little uncertain. “I’m sorry, Octy. I just got a little confused why one more accident would matter so much to someone.” “You and me, too,” October said blushing. “I mean. I sat in her office chair already wearing wet clothes. And they didn’t even offer anything to eat at all, and I was starving, but it’s like she didn’t see nothing.” I shook my head. “Well, it seems to me, that that woman was bad.” October looked up at me. “Look, I’ll deny everything if you ever tell anyone. But…. Yeah, I wet my pants once or twice when I was eight. My daddy didn’t let me wear the wet things long at all. As soon as he saw, he made me change, and even helped me the first time it happened. That’s just what you’re supposed to do with little kids when they wet, and you were like eight at time?” “Yeah,” Octy blushed. “So, you did it before, when you were eight years old?” I blushed. “Yeah. Once when I was too scared to ask a substitute teacher to use the toilet, once when we were in the car too long, and once when I was so sad I wasn’t paying attention because it was right after mommy died, and I peed my pants.” Octy reached back to me, and hugged me. “That last one doesn’t even count at all,” she said. “And I’ll never tell anyone what you told me. It’s hurtful to tell people stuff about other people that you know would make them hurt.” I nodded. “So, the lady said you were going to a foster family?” So, the lady put me in a diaper in the bathroom and then a skirt, and then she put me in a different shirt. She finally asked me about my wants after I was dressed in cleaner clothes. “So, you just pottied,” she told me. “Are you hungry or anything?” I nodded. I felt my face so burning in shame, it was still hard to talk. “We can stop and get you a snack on the way to meet your new foster parents, but they might have some dinner for you, so we’ll just get something small, okay?” I nodded. My stomach grumbled again, and before I knew it, we were off in the car again. I was about to meet some people connected to this woman. I wasn’t sure now, if she was paid by the people that were after my uncle, if she was a real policeman-like person, or if she was something entirely different. I just knew it wasn’t safe to trust anyone right now, but I was hungry. After we had stopped for something at Seven Eleven, I think it was, we drove out to the people’s house. Their house was a lot nicer than my uncle’s place. They had an upstairs you could tell from outside the house, and their walk was lined with red and yellow flowers. The brown door on the front of their house had orange glass in four panels in it, but the glass was foggy and dense, so you couldn’t really see through it. The door seemed like it was a sentry keeping me out of the clean environment. Even that night, scared, tired, and still hungry and smelling bad, I knew somehow, that I was an unwanted pest about to intrude upon a sterile environment. I hid behind the lady and let her talk first. She rang the doorbell, and was soon greeted by Mr. Gavins, a tall redheaded man with steely blue eyes. “Mr. Gavins?” the lady addressed the man. I never did get the woman’s name, somehow. I think she must have told me several times what her name was, and she probably dropped her name like twice in her conversation as she was dropping me off there, but I could never remember her name. “Yes, that’s me,” the man nodded at us. “…. So, is that the girl?” he had said a lot of stuff, some of which I just didn’t bother to listen for, but my ears caught when he started to talk properly about me. “She doesn’t look thirteen to me.” “As I told Mrs. Gavins on the phone, she’s just turned eight recently. We are still looking for a thirteen-year-old for you, but right now, this one has nowhere to go.” The man nodded and opened the door as he called out for the Mrs. “Honey! You got it right! They are trying to stick us with an eight-year-old child!” “Please, be nice,” I heard Mrs. Gavins come into the little entrance area from off to the right. “We can look after her for some time.” He sighed. “Well, we really don’t need an eight-year-old,” Mr. Gavins told her. “I know, babe, but she’s in need of a home, so let’s just play nice.” They were saying this in front of the policeman-like lady? Why didn’t the woman take me away right then? I still sometimes wonder how she could have left me with those people who really didn’t look like they wanted me in the first place. “Wait! They were being mean from the very start, and that lady just left you with people like that?” I felt my temper rise inside me. And they got Octy to believe she was bad. Those people didn’t know anything about Octy yet! And that woman didn’t seem to care enough to have done much looking into her either. This was a load of a word that my daddy doesn’t like me saying. “Yeah,” Octy looked down. “They wanted a teenager for a reason. They already had three kids. One was ten at the time, but she was still too little, really to do what they wanted the teenager for, and then there was a boy who was five and girl that was three.” “Okay, so what? Did they want a babysitter or something?” I asked what should have been obvious to me, but I wanted to make sure I had it clearly understood. Octy nodded. “I’m so sorry,” the man suddenly became polite after his wife told him to be nice. “It’s just we’ve been really wanting to help an older kid out of the system. We heard that they are often not chosen because they are too old for most people, but we really wouldn’t mind having a teen. As you can see, we already have younger kids.” The woman smiled at him, but I could only narrow my eyes at him. Something was off about the way he threw a fit that I wasn’t thirteen or something. I didn’t know what he had planned at the time for me, but I knew that he wanted a teen for whatever it was. Mrs. Gavins bent down and she took my hands. “So, I’m told your name is October,” she raised her voice at the end like a question. I nodded. “I’m called Octy.” I had tried to be polite and answer her, but I was still nervous, scared, and suspicious of everything. My voice didn’t want to go any higher though somehow, I felt it was a mistake not to speak up. “Well, Octy, it’s too bad your uncle was found to be a criminal, but at least you are safe now, right?” I looked up at her with a confusing and pouty indignant stare. I didn’t like the way she called my uncle a criminal. Even if he was arrested, I knew he didn’t do bad things, and as for being safe, I felt a lot safer around him than I did any of the people standing around me at the moment. “Well, never mind that,” the lady said appearing to read my violent vibes I was sending out that my uncle was a lot safer than anyone around here was. “Let’s just get you settled in, shall we?” “Oh, you may need to feed her. She was a little bit hungry on our way, so I got her a sandwich, but there’s no telling when she really ate last, and she had that sandwich down in two bites,” the woman told them. “She also needs a bath. She’s in a diaper right now, and it was just put on her less than an hour ago, so she shouldn’t be wet yet.” Mrs. Gavins nodded and took me off to the right, and into the kitchen area and lifted me up to the table to eat. Then she went to the fridge and pulled out some stuff to start cooking. I guess Mr. Gavins finished with the lady because that was the last time I saw her. “I don’t like that lady,” I told Octy. “She just made it sound like you just peed in diapers all day all the time.” “I know,” Octy nodded agreeing with me. “I didn’t like her from the minute I saw her, but what was I going to say? She got me when my pants were totally soaked from wetting a bunch of times, and then I peed in front of her. I didn’t think saying I don’t do that would have went very well then.” I nodded. “Maybe not. But she still shouldn’t have said it like that.” “Well, like I said, I don’t know if she was even a real policeman-like thing or whatever. I think she was actually trying to get rid of me so my uncle can’t find me.” I frowned. “But real police took you from the house?” “Yeah, I think….” I shook my head. “The lady seemed to be putting you with people though, and they fought about your age. I don’t know how foster stuff works, but we should look that up when we get to Wyoming.” Octy nodded. “I have to see if there is a way to find out what really happened to my uncle, and let him know I’m safe, and I’m not in the bad people’s hands anymore, unless you are somehow bad, and Vanessa tricked me.” “I promise, I’m not with bad people and my daddy’s job isn’t a secret at all.” Octy nodded. “Octy,” I saw her hands pushing on her pants. “Do you gotta go potty?” It had been about three hours now, and I vaguely remembered going through a few small towns and stuff, but Octy’s telling of her story was sort of interesting the way she said it. It was almost like a fairy-tale, and I really wished I didn’t know the end, and wanted the end to be happy, because this was definitely one of those stories right out of the classics, where you find the character suffering and in impossible situations, but in the finds happiness. “Kind of…,” she said butterfly opening and closing her legs. I leaned to the front. “Daddy? Can we stop soon? It’s not just me.” Daddy smiled and looked back at me for a moment. “You know I’d stop for you as soon as I can. You don’t have to say it that way.” “I know, but it’s really Octy! She’s about to pee her pants again, I think.” “You tell her that I’ll stop as soon as I can, but don’t be scared if she wets. We’ll get her comfortable if she can’t wait, but if she can, then I’m stopping as soon as I can, okay?” I nodded. ---------------------- This is just the first part of her story. I am still thinking about what she will say about the Gavins, so the next chapter, might be a little lighthearted stopping and maybe showing them spending the first night in a motel.

After you have eaten as much as I can get you to accept, I put the spoon down, and I adjusted you to pick you up and take you to the bedroom again. I sigh, knowing you need a bath, but knowing you were too tired to go through that at this time, and I was not about to undress you and give you a bath against your will. That would be creepy and likely scary for you. No, that could wait until morning. I did put a few towels under where you were sleeping in case of a nighttime accident, and I covered you up with blankets, and then turned out the light to the bedroom, but left the door open with the hall light on. While you slept, I cleaned up the kitchen, did a few things around the trailer, and then went to sleep in the living room on the sofa. -------------------- The next morning, I woke up stretching and looked around to see if there was any evidence you had been up yet.

He sighed when she told him that it makes him look suspicious. Of course, a teenager doesn't get it! She probably did think he acted as creepy, but what other people thought had a lot less impact on the fact his sister stepped out one day on their side of town, nearly twelve years ago, disappeared for three hours, and finally got home tears in her eyes, and scared to death to leave the house for the next three weeks alone. Of course, time plays tricks with your memory, and he was about fifteen at the time and never considered anything was as dangerous as a lot of people told him it was, and his younger sister, who was thirteen at the time was just going to the market not even six blocks away. He might not have even known the whole story or exactly what had happened as his sister didn't want to talk about whatever had happened to her after that, and their mom talked to her alone when she came in. But something terrible fixed in his mind, at that time, and now, even if a girl is in her twenties, if she so much as seems a year younger than him, he'd watch out for her. That's just what the experience had done to him. He doesn't even know if what happened to his sister is what really happened. "I don't care if I look suspicious as long as someone is safe because of my actions. She's aware of him, and she probably has a phone that works, so I don't think I need to follow her. She'll call if she feels the situation is unsafe. I wish my sister had taken her phone on that night," he had mist in his eyes and only revealed half of his memory to her as if she should know what he was talking about. "Look, I get it, okay. You are a teenager, and you think everyone should just mind their own business. Like so many others, you would have been one of the many that passed you by when you were shivering and scared in the cold the other night, but that's not me, and that's why I'm protecting you, sweetie." He put a hand on hers. "Actually, Japan is one of the safest countries in the world, and things don't happen as often there, so when it does, it is big news, and there has been 'big news' climbing in Japan about crime. The fact that it is so common place in America, is why we don't hear all the instances of it in America. If the News only focused on that, Americans wouldn't know what else was going on in the world because that kind of crime is just too common." He had tears in his eyes that wouldn't go away. "Look, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to. But don't expect me to stay quiet if I see anyone acting suspicious, even a woman, and you saw the guy. He was white, just like me. I am not targeting anyone when I feel my danger sense go off. I'm just watching out for those that look a little too innocent at times." He didn't know why, but he felt compelled to explain himself to her, even though he saw her as a child.

I put some food around you, some mac and cheese, some potatoes, and steamed carrots all on separate plates in case you didn't like something, then you could slide it away. "Valeria? Wake up, baby," I say in a soft voice. "I have some dinner for you. It's not much, but it should give you some strength." I take a spoon of the steamed carrots, and after making sure it was kind of cool, I started to bring it to your mouth. "Sweetie? Open up. You need to eat, honey."

"I was out of the country for a short time, and just got back about a month ago," he said smiling at her. "But I grew up on the other side of town. This is just the best side of town to get a motel not too far from things I want to get." He looked over at a man that was eyeing a different young girl who was alone. "Excuse me," he told Sara. He got up and walked over and said a couple of things to the young woman who nodded at him, and then started to watch the man that was looking particularly in her direction a lot. When he got back, he sat down next to her, after eyeing someone down and softly saying, "You saw me get up for a minute. You know this young child is with me, don't you?" "Sorry, no I didn't realize. I thought you got up because your stop was coming up." "Well, it's not. But that that guy over there is eyeing that girl a little too much for my comfort, so I just went to tell her about it so she's aware." "Oh, okay." And that was the end of the conversation. Larry looked back at her Sarah. "The districts around here like it when you have multicultural experiences in your resume, so I've been teaching English in Japan for two years." He looked around them to make sure the girl didn't try to give Sarah anything strange, but didn't want to just accuse her even in asking without proof.

Larry didn't doubt she knew the bus schedule. She knew where the restaurant was, and she was pretty capable for a child, but then who knew how long she had been on the streets. Larry, however, never liked to leave anything to chance, nor did he like stares when he was the one holding people up. It as just a part of his character, something she'd probably need to get used to eventually. He was nearly never late, and to him, late was five minutes before any event. Many times, he would arrive twenty to forty minutes early. See seemed sort of protective of the bag. Larry just shook his head and looked down the road seeing the bus when Sarah did. She seemed to look at him as if she wanted to say something like: I told you so, but somehow, she seemed to restrain herself. He didn't care if the bus took five minutes to get to their stop from the light or not. That's not how he operated. When they got on the bus, he let her shoulder go, and sighed a little. They were probably safe until they got to Walmart now, though his eyes still watched the people that got on and got off the bus.

When I heard the crash, I called out. "Valeria!" I didn't know you were still crying though I did hear the first initial scream. Not knowing what happened, I quickly turned off the stove and ran to the bedroom. It was only a few footsteps from the kitchen, but still had walls so I couldn't see what exactly happened, and the door was around a corner. Opening the door, I walked softly in and squatted down where you were holding your head. "Oh, sweetheart!" I check you over before I help you off the floor not wanting to hurt you more if you were seriously hurt. "Hey," I lift you up to hold you in my arms. "I know you feel like you are having a bad day," I softly whisper. "But I'm here for you, baby." I carry you to the table and gently put you on your feet so you can take a seat. "I was just making dinner. Maybe you can tell me about what happened or your nightmare while I finish getting it ready for you." I really meant lunch as it wasn't that late yet, maybe around 4:30, and if you hadn't eaten all day as I suspected, then you'd need at least a snack later in the evening.

Hearing you say mommy and daddy in your dream, I start wondering how long you'd truly been alone in that place, and how they could have gotten away with this for so long. I thought you were like 13 or so, but normally, I only ever hear kids who are developmentally slow use the terms with '-my' at the end beyond the age or around 11 or 12. So, you must have actually be out on your own much longer than I thought. So, I wondered when it got so bad for you that you stopped showering because you definitely were getting showers before. There was a huge difference. You were also doing your homework before, so something else had changed, though not having parents to help you through these rough times was definitely not helping you. Parking the car in front of my humble home, a small mobile home in a mobile home park, I sighed as I looked back at you fitting in your sleep. "Poor baby," I thought to myself. I got out after turning off the engine, and when around to open your door. Carefully, I checked around you. Then I decided to leave you a moment while I went to unlock and prop open the trailer door, so I could get you in easier. I came back, and I picked you up. "It's no wonder you were afraid to come home with me," I whisper as I lift you. "No one would trust anyone if they were suddenly abandoned by their parents even before they stopped using baby terms for things." I pick you up, and making sure your legs were comfortably around my sides, I carried you into the little home I had. I carefully took you to the only bedroom, a bedroom in the back, and I laid you on the bed to relax. "You're safe now," I whispered to you. "You're safe." I decide to let you sleep a little more while I go and get you something to eat. I decided that if you were not even paying for hot water or electricity at your other house, then you likely didn't have food at home, nor have money or the means to get welfare to pay for your school lunches, which meant, you were probably starving. I went to the kitchen, not knowing what you liked and didn't like, I figured I couldn't go too wrong with mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and steamed cut up carrots. These were pretty common foods, and unless you were a strict vegetarian, they should all be palatable. I would ask about meat later and about allergies. The only concern would be the dairy, but I didn't have any other ideas, and anyway, the cook carrots didn't have dairy in them.

I can see how worn out you are, and I shake my head at your situation. You didn't seem to have any energy at all. I take the information from the nurse, but for now, the priority was to get you to my house, get you cleaned up better, maybe get you to eat something, and then let you get some rest. Before I know it, I'm carrying you out of the school, letting you sleep as I juggle getting you to the car, getting my keys to auto unlock the doors, and then wrestle with the door while still holding you to finally get you into the back seat, laid down, so you can rest. I put the seatbelt over your lap, and then start for home. On our way home, I think about what I was going to do to help you.

Larry wasn't fully sure whether he trusted her demeanor that she was trying to give off. She seemed to try too hard to be confident as she told him about how they could wait for the bus to come to the light before rushing out to get the bus, but that was not how Larry did things. He never waited until the last minute for anything, if he could help it. "Just the same, we'll go out and wait like respectful people rather than those that rush hoping someone will hold the bus for us. That's the polite thing to do." He stretched and stood up, his arms going up over his head. "Alright, go ahead and gather your things," Larry looked towards her bag, not knowing if it was open or closed, though if it were open for any reason, he might notice that her phone cord might be sticking out. If not, he just wondered why her bag seemed full all the time, but then drifted his eyes back to the window to make sure the bus wasn't going to beat them into view. As they started out of the restaurant, he put a hand on her shoulder, as if to tell everyone, hands off. The child is with me. She's under my protection.

I frowned, but it was the best I could expect. After all, the government has its rules, and it always involves some red tape somewhere. "Thank you very much. I'll see if I can take tomorrow off to take care of that, and since this little one has missed so much she'll probably be held back anyway," I look at the principal, "Surely, it's not going to matter if she comes with me to make this arrangement official tomorrow?" The principal waved his hand impatiently knowing how the red tape works very well. I pick you up, and take you to the nurse's office, so we have more privacy, and behind the curtain with only the nurse there, for my own protection, I went ahead and started to change your wet pants and to clean some of the pee from your leg, opting to skip your privates and butt for now because you need a bath when we got to my place anyway. "It's alright, honey. We'll do everything we can to let you stay in your neighborhood, and tomorrow, when we are done with the judge, we'll try to swing by and get your stuff they will let us pick up, and maybe go shopping because you can't keep wearing the same clothes all the time to school."

Although she had ordered some kind of expensive tacos, the steak and fancy chicken ones, still, Larry felt a little guilty that she only had three tacos, so he looked over at her with a sheepish smile. "I guess I didn't expect it to cost this much," he told her. "I think you should go ahead and get a couple of sides and a drink with your food. A kid can't be living on this little." He reached across to rub her arm. "When we get ready to go catch the bus, you should visit the bathroom one more time. You know it can take a while for the bus, and it being Sunday, it is on a delayed schedule, and I still need to take you to Walmart to get you some things you'll need."

Larry chuckled and nodded when she said she needed food. "But I have the food problem already taken care of, sweetie. What you need are other things, like clothes and maybe a cheap phone since you don't seem to have one so you can contact people when you feel unsafe." He ordered the small enchilladas plate with mexi-rice and corn. "So, you are going to stay with me for another day, right?" he asked her. "I just want to make sure you get somewhere safe if you are going to end up leaving off somewhere else."

I frown and look at the DHS agent. "Honestly? Do you think it is better to put her in a group home or something before putting her with someone that is going to care about what is going on with her? I honestly understand having to put her in the system, but I don't understand why you can't put her in temporary care with a teacher, yes me, and just check on us until I'm approved to foster." I walked over to see what the nurse is looking at, so I will know any other problems you might have. "I'm also not sure what is going on with her hygiene, but I honestly smelled something like pee before today from her, and I never addressed her about it before before because I hadn't gotten the chance with all the missed classes and her likeliness to run all the time. But I don't know how others' teasing her about her problems will affect her. Obviously, I think she should see a doctor before too long to figure out if it's physical, psychological, or something else." I squat down by you, and I rub your arm. "Valerie, they won't let you go back to that house one way or another. I don't want you to get in trouble, and I know that the only place that you know right now, that you might end up knowing when you are placed, is school. I know you're wetting maybe in your sleep or maybe just because you are always walking so far, to get to school, that you smell before you get here. Either way, I don't think it would be good for you to be around strangers with this problem, and if CPS and you agree, you kind of know me, and I'd be the only one aside those in this room, that needs to know what is going on with that, okay? The state will pay for you to see a doctor eventually regardless if you come to stay with me or you decide to go live with other strangers."

The police and CPS were sort of prepared for this, as they've seen cases like this one before. Teens that had taken care of themselves for a short time like she had, often acted in similar ways, however, I thought you'd run because you were upset that they were not listening to what you needed and just doing things by the book, which I also thought was bull. Sure, there is the book, but I was almost sure I'd heard of CPS allowing a kid to stay with someone she knows temporarily while they worked out her permanent situation, at the very least. I just looked down though because unless the social worker had a reason to change their minds, I knew I couldn't fight the state, though I didn't think they were right to take you away from people that you at least knew.

Larry saw the little lady biting at the tip of her thumb nail, and having done that himself when he was in junior high school when he was nervous around other people, he just took it as another sign that she was nervous and worried, and that she was a child. He didn't call attention to it though because she was already so scared that she was wetting her pants all the time. The last thing she needed, was to focus on something else childish. She was a child, but she wasn't four, and treating her like she was sucking on her thumb seemed to be the wrong call here. When the waitress came over to take them to their seats, he was glad to get her away from so many accusing eyes. He figured it was probably one of the reasons she was biting at her nail, because there were teenagers around, and she was probably scared of they thought of her. He looked at her waist to make sure, but for the moment, her pants seemed dry. They sat down, and he relaxed. "Well, since you seemed to know where this place was earlier," Larry told her. "I bet you already have stuff you like here?" He made sure she got her own menu, but then he would have done so for any kid that was old enough to be mature with it, like a ten, eleven, twelve-year-old or older. "Please stay within about ten dollars for your order," he told her. "As much as I hate to limit you, I am limited on money at the moment. And the money I got from the church is for us to get you things you need, okay?"

"So the poor kid is going to lose her house, lose her school, and lose all connections to everything she knows?" I asked unhappy with where this could be going. "There's not guarantee that she will get to continue at the same school, is there?" I looked at the CPS agent and spoke up. "I know my place is a bit small, but don't you think you could at least let her stay there until you found a better place than group home for her? I know that the chances for teens to get adopted or fostered from those places are very low, and with all she's been through, she should at least have someone at the house that can help her deal emotionally with what is going on, right?" I looked at the CPS agent with concern. "I'll do whatever you need from me. If there are classes or some way to get certified to foster kids, whatever. I just don't want the poor kid to deal with all this on her own."