FATE

40. Hailee's Secret

JONAH

"I want to tell you a secret", she said.

"What?", i asked.

We had built a blanket fort. The room was dark, it was just past midnight. We would have gotten into trouble if we were caught awake by that time but we made sure we stayed as quiet as possible.

She turned on a small flashlight so i could at least see her face. Her hair fell in curly waves around her face and she sat with her legs crossed in her pink PJ's.

"You're my best friend and I'm trusting you with this so you have to pinkie promise that you won't tell anyone ever". She raised and pointed her pinkie finger at me.

I stuck mine out and wrapped it around hers, "i promise", i said and she smiled. I always loved making her smile.

"Okay"

When your 11 year old best friend tells you that they have a secret, you usually think it's about a new crush or something bad they did to a classmate that they low key regret, you never ever think that they're about to tell you one of the darkest stories you'll ever hear at that age.

When Adella García and her mother, Soledad moved to the US as illegal immigrants, it was because they believed they could live better lives. Her father had died two years before, life in Mexico wasn't what it was for them anymore and they craved better.

Adella was six when they moved to the US and she just turned seven when her mother met Chris, a blonde, dark blue eyed man who sold cars for a living, drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes. Chris and Soledad fell in love, everything was perfect, he said they were going to get married, they were going to live together and Adella would have a new father and be happy. More importantly for her, bringing Chris into their family meant they would be legal citizens.

Months passed, Adella lived in a better house, ate better food and went to school but Chris and her mother never got married. It seemed to make her mother sad most of the time that he wasn't ready. Up until the night when Adella left the house, Chris still hadn't marry Soledad.

One night when Adella was asleep, Chris snuck into her room. His eyes lit up when he saw her and she could sense the smell of cigarettes on his clothes. He told her the police arrested people like her and her mother because they were in the country illegally. She would be separated from Soledad forever. He said he would call the police if she screamed and if she told anyone what he was about to do. Then as he snuck his hands under her nightgown, her heart accelerated, she held back her cries and tears dropped from her eyes.

It happened at least five times a week after that day. When it didn't, it meant Chris was working a night shift. When it did, she would hold back from vomiting over the stench of sweat that came from him. She would close her eyes and he would yell at her to open them and to look at him. He would thrust into her repeatedly and his coarse hands would squeeze her tiny body.

What hurt Adella the most was having to understand that the fates of both she and her mother were in her hands because every night when Chris was done with her, he would leave the room and Soledad would enter, carry her daughter's weak, little body to the bathroom and clean her up. She would cry with her and tell her she was sorry, that she would find a way out soon but for close to two years, it never happened.

Adella lacked concentration and wasn't doing well in school anymore. Chris would complain about how he was wasting his money on her. Soledad had stopped working. They depended on him at that point.

One night, the door to her room opened again but it wasn't Chris. It was Soledad, she made Adella stand and wear a worn out dress and a pair of sandals. She cut her hair short and covered it with a scarf and then she snuck her out of the house, to an orphanage on the other side of Boston, the home for little wanderers, far away from Chris.

***

"She left her there", i say, "she told her to never tell anyone who she was or where she was from and to act lost and confused"

Mrs Hartford sobs profusely, her face buried in her hands. Mr Hartford watches me intensely.

"That's Hailee's secret. She's not some sick junkie, i swear. She just went through a lot, you have to understand", i say.

"Why-", his voice breaks and he closes his eyes for a bit, "why didn't she say anything?"

"Because she wanted to live a normal life", i say, "she wanted you guys to be her parents and she wanted to forget"

"So it was better for her to use drugs?", Mrs Hartford asks harshly and i flinch. I can't even bear to look her in the eye. I stare at my hands and they're shaking, the same way they shook that night after Hailee told me that story and i watched her cry herself to sleep.

The doctors had found too much drugs in Hailee's system. They let Mr and Mrs Hartford know. I'm pretty sure they would have preferred to hear that it was just as a result of youthful exuberance.

"So she knows her mother, this Soledad García woman, Hailee recognizes her?", Mr Hartford asks.

"Yes, she has a picture of her too. It's in her desk at home. The woman gave it to her when she dropped her off, it's what made us recognize her when she came to our school"

"She came to your school?", Mrs Hartford asks. This time, i actually look at her. Her eyes are puffy and red, her lips are dry and her hair is a mess. She wipes her nose with a white handkerchief.

"Yes, she showed up this week. Hailee panicked, we had to convince you that she was sick so you wouldn't let her go to school and i would have enough time to make her leave"

"Make her leave how?"

"Scare her off, tell her I'll call the cops on her and tell them she's crazy if she keeps bothering us"

"Jesus Christ", Mr Hartford says to himself as he paces around the room.

"I'm sorry", i can hear my own voice breaking, "I'm sorry I watched her do this to herself all these years. Believe me when i say that if I thought there was an alternative to helping her, i would have gotten it"

"There was an alternative Jonah", Mr Hartford says, "you could have told us. We're her parents. We know what's best for her"

"We have to find the woman", Mrs Hartford says to him, "at least let's talk to her. We have to find that man and make sure he pays dearly. She's a mother, she must have been dying all these years"

"No", Mr Hartford and i say together. We glance at each other and he raises an eyebrow.

"We're her parents", he turns and says to his wife, "we'll take care of her. When she wakes up, we'll make sure she gets through this. Bringing the woman into our lives is just going to complicate things"

"You can't let Hailee see that woman", i say, "she hurt her. She watched her be abused by that bastard for close to two years and then she abandoned her in an orphanage"

"I agree with the kid", Mr Hartford says.

"Well, I'm her mother and if this woman is the reason my daughter has been self harming and putting dangerous substances in her body for years then i want to meet her and give her a piece of my mind", Mrs Hartford sighs and then she turns to me, "do you know where i can find her? Did she say anything when she came to your school?"

I nod. "She gave me an address", i reach into my pocket to take out the piece of paper i got this morning and then i hand it over to Mrs Hartford.

"Adella, i need to see you", Mrs Hartford reads out when she opens up the paper. She folds her and nods as she looks up at both Mr Hartford and i, "I'm going to visit that woman and I'm going to tell her my daughter's name is Hailee"