She Stole My Heart

I took this girl home with me, we met at a dance hall outside of town. She got in bed quickly, cuddled up to sleep. In the daylight she looked 17, thin, underfed thin. It took a few questions to establish that she was a runaway. I knew that I had brought home a minor, I had fucked her.

She was withdrawn, answered in one or two words. She ate and ate and ate. I drove her to Target, got her clothes, underwear, shoes, toiletries, including menstrual pads. I put her in my spare bedroom but she came to my room to sleep. She wanted to have sex again but I turned her around and held her until she fell asleep.

A week went by before she volunteered her home and her parent's name and she gave me permission to call them. Her condition was that she not go home. Her parent's wanted to get the police involved until I convinced them she would run away again. They came to me, it was the worst reunion I ever witnessed. I offered to be her guardian, support her, send her to school. They agreed, and signed papers I had a lawyer friend of mine draw up.

She is a fine young woman, healthy body, intelligent, studied art in college, she has a long way to go with self esteem, love, those things. I admit she sleeps in my bed, she sleeps and dreams about I don't know what. I have a therapist, a mental health specialist, but I'm not sure it helps.

Her painting is her therapy. She is 25 now, not that it matters. She is safe, that's what matters.