“Emersen?” She looked up and saw a woman in a dress suit enter the room. Her hair was pulled back into a long smooth ponytail.

She looked nervously at her as he bit her lower lip.

“My name is Ms. Cheryl. I’m your caseworker.” She moved over and sat in a chair near the hospital bed Emersen sat in.

“Hello.” She lightly spoke. “Where’s detective Kathy?” She remember her saying she’d be back.

“I spoke to the doctor and they feel you are good enough to be discharged.” She gave her a warm smile. “Kathy is working on your case.” She added.

The smile didn’t make her feel any better. She had no idea what was going on and what was going to happen to her. She decided to be brave and enquire, “What happens to me now?”

The woman nodded, “That’s why I’m here. For now you are going to be placed with a foster family. Right now the prosecutor is working on stripping your mother’s parental rights. Everything is pending on that.”

Emersen clutched at her bed sheets and swallowed hard. That didn’t sound promising. “So if they can’t take me away from her forever…” She couldn’t finish.

“They will, after everything those two did to you… you shouldn’t worry. Okay?”

She nodded.

“Once we are done here a police officer is going to go with us to your home and we are going to collect your person belongings. Your mother and her boyfriend are still being held in jail without bond so you don’t need to be concerned about seeing them.” Cheryl stood and walked closer to her bed.

“So I go stay with a foster family and then what?” She wouldn’t make eye contact. She was scared.

“Actually, sweetie, we’re trying to contact your father. Once we get in touch with him he’s going to be questioned. They prosecutor and detective have a few thing they are worried about but I’m hopeful that everything will check out and you can go be with him.”

Emersen’s eyes lit up slightly. “My father? You mean my real dad?”

Ms. Cheryl rested her hands on the rail of the bed, “Yes.”

“I… how do you know who he is so you can look for him? My mom has never even told me anything about him let alone let me meet him or… anything.” She sat up a little straighter. Her interest had been caught.

“His name is on your birth certificate.”

Suddenly a knock came to her door and a nurse entered. “I’m here with your discharge papers.”

“The state has temporary custody so I’ll be taking care of signing them.” Ms. Cheryl explained.

A while pasted but finally Emersen found herself walking out of the hospital with Ms. Cheryl. Her physically bruises had begun to heal but she still felt broken.

An officer stood outside the doors and greeted them. He agreed to follow them to the home Emersen had grown to fear.

They got into her car and took off. She knew she wasn’t supposed to be afraid but she was.  The fear grew as she neared the home. Pulling into the driveway tears filled her eyes.

“Are you sure they aren’t in there?”

“I positive but if it make you more comfortable I’ll have the officer go in first and check.”

Emersen nodded as she took of her seat belt and sniffled, “Can he make sure my mom’s bedroom door is closed too? A lot of bad stuff happened in there.”

She briefly placed a hand on her shoulder, “Of course.”

Ms. Cheryl then got out of the car and spoke to the officer. Soon after, he entered the home. A short while later he came out and spoke to Ms. Cheryl again. She then came over and open Emersen’s car door.

“No one is inside and he closed the door you asked about. Are you ready to go in?”

She nodded and slowly stood. She followed Ms. Cheryl inside and the officer followed her. She looked around her home as she walked in. She noticed a wooden chair in the dining room away from the table.

“Mom and Tyler made me sit there a lot and watch them eat.” She paused, “Sometimes when I got my dinner taken away they would just let me go in my room.”

“Never again, ok?” Ms. Cheryl said as the officer shook his head hearing her story. “Let’s just get your stuff.”

Emersen nodded and showed them to her room. On the way down the hall she couldn’t help but point out a hole in the wall. She explained it happened the first time Tyler raped her. She had been kicking him and her foot went through the old drywall as he lost his footing and stumbled.

Continuing on she reached her room. It was tiny and not very nice. It didn’t hold very many good memoires either but she kept most of those to herself.

Near silently she packed all of her things into two large suit cases, a box and her back pack. It was almost depressing how her stuff fit into such a small space.

“Is that anything?” Ms. Cheryl asked.

Emersen nodded looking around her room again. Her eyes landed on an empty space of wall and suddenly thought and images rushed into her brain. Many times she stood pressed against that spot as her mother beat her.

A lump grew in her throat as her eyes  looked to her bed. It was the place she had cried. She had laid there and prayed, ‘If there is a God please rescue me.’ And hopes she was being heard.

Tears again filled her eyes and she turned to Ms. Cheryl, “Please I just want to go now. I’m done. I wanna move on. I never wanna come back.”

“Yes, let’s go sweetie.” The two of them walked out of the house and the officer followed. “You never have to come back here Emersen. There are a lot of people working to make sure of it.”

Emersen nodded.

“I promise, right now, this moment,” She paused and made direct eye contact with her, “Is the start of something good.”