Let Me Help

Chapter Four

Alex was sitting at the kitchen table, listlessly flipping through a magazine. He hadn�t slept for two nights. The first night he had spent sitting up with Katia before her school counselor came. This past night he had been waiting for Katia to wake up after her school counselor had been with her.

Alex shook his head wondering how people like Barry actually got into schools. Apparently schools didn�t check out their counselors well enough.

Around noon he heard light footsteps on the stairs and looked up a moment later to see Katia appearing in the kitchen. Her cheek was bruised and the rest of her face was red. Slowly she sat down across from him, not looking at him.

�Katia, you don�t have to be embarrassed about what happened. It wasn�t your fault, and you don�t deserve what he did to you. You have nothing to be embarrassed about, he does.�

Katia looked up at him, shock registering on her face. �How did you know I was embarrassed?� she asked softly.

Alex shrugged, �Unfortunately, there are many cases like yours. And the victims always are embarrassed by what happens.�

�Oh.� She said softly.

They sat in silence for a couple minutes before Katia looked up. �That guy, Bob, what is he? Why was he able to arrest Barry?�

�Bob is a police officer. He specializes in abuse, and hooked up with this program that helps youth who have been abused.� Alex explained.

Katia nodded. �Okay.�

�Would you like some breakfast?� Alex asked her. Katia shook her head. �Katia, I have to take you to the doctor.�

Katia looked up at him, �Why?�

�Because you have been sexually abused, and we have to make sure Barry hasn�t passed anything onto you.� Alex explained.

�Okay.� Katia said. �But I don�t think its Barry you have to worry about. If anyone passed anything onto me, it would probably be one of the other guys.�

�The other guys?� Alex asked her.

�Yeah. The guys my dad meets and brings home from the bar when he�s drunk. He lets his guard down when he�s drunk, and brings strangers into the house.� She told Alex. The tone in her voice told Alex that this had been happening for years, that it was a way of life for her. The thought made him sad.

�Has your dad ever done anything to you?� Alex asked.

�No! That�s gross!� she shouted hopping out of her seat. She quickly walked to the stairs before she turned around. �It�s gross enough when it�s a stranger.�

~*~*~*~*~

The doctor�s appointment had gone well. They said they�d contact them at a later time with the lab results.

Alex was disappointed though. Katia had closed up again. He shouldn�t have asked about her father the way he did. That�s when she had rebuilt her walls. When they had gotten back to the house Alex said, �Katia. I�m sorry I asked about your father. It just sounded like he might have been doing something wrong.�

Katia looked at him with a strange look. �Well, he�s not the nicest man in the world,� she said and then she walked up to her room, shutting the door behind her.

Alex watched the door and when he was certain she wasn�t going to talk anymore, he went back to his room. Pulling the necklace out from under his shirt he took it off his neck and put the key in the lock on the drawer of his nightstand.

Taking the file from the drawer he opened it up and flipped through a couple pages. Pulling a pen out of the drawer he opened it up and began writing.

November 15, 2001

No reports the past two days due to a highly stressful time. Here is a report:

11/13/01: Katia and I made cookies and pizzas. She told me her grandfather had abused her mother and after her mothers suicide he began to abuse her. Her grandfather died 2 years ago. Bob called and said that he was going to bring her school counselor, Barry the next day. Katia�s attitude changed immediately, and she became scared. We stayed in the living room the whole night.
11/14/01: Barry came. He abused her. He slapped her and tried to get her to sleep with him. She fell asleep after Bob arrested him and I stayed up the rest of the night.
Today: I found out other men have slept with her before. Strangers her father has invited over while he has been drunk. Her father hasn�t sexually abused her but she said that he is not the nicest man. I took Katia to the doctor. We should find out lab results within a few days�

Alex stopped writing when he heard some screams coming from Katia�s room. He dropped the folder on the bed and ran upstairs, bursting into her room. Katia was on the bed wrapped up in a single blanket, asleep, tears streaming down her cheeks.

He stepped over to the bed and shook her slightly. She woke, reaching up and slapping him. He stepped away, confused.

When she looked at him, she covered her mouth with her hand. �Oh my gosh Alex! I am so sorry! I forgot where I was, I thought you were my Dad. I am so sorry!�

Alex took a step closer to her, �It�s all right,� he said. �Come downstairs, we can talk.�

She stood up and followed him back to the living room. He sat down on a chair and she sat down on a couch next to him.

�Why did you hit me when you thought I was your father?�

Katia sighed, �I wanted to keep him away from me. Of course, he always gets angry when I hit him.�

�What does he do when he gets angry?�

Katia laughed bitterly. Bending her head down slightly she raised it, looking up at the top of the wall, tears shining in her eyes. �He hits me. Or worse.�

Alex closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them. �What kinds of things does he do when its worse than hitting you?�

�Do you want to know what he did on a specific time?� she asked, trying to figure out how to tell Alex the things her father did to her.

�If that makes it easier for you to tell me, then yes.�

Katia sighed and began her story.

�My father thrives on good grades. If I get an A minus, he gets really mad and blows up. He�d normally just hit me when my report card came home with anything less than an A on it. It dipped below an A minus, he�d become even more violent.

�He also expected me to do all the housework. There could be no dirty dishes, or drying dishes when he came home from work. The dishes had to be sparkling and in the cupboards. He also expected to find dinner almost finished by time he came home. The windows and floors and had to spotless. No dust could be on any of the furniture, no stray toy or sock from my brother could be lying around the house.

�Braedon had to be taking a nap when he came home and all the laundry had to be done. I also had to have my homework finished. This was supposed to happen every day. And I only had two hours to do this in.

�I began focusing on my homework so that I�d get the A�s my father always wanted. But I couldn�t get the housework done in time. I received a beating every time my father came home. Finally, I realized I should do the housework, he never checked my homework.

�So, I began doing the housework when I came home from school. He didn�t touch me for awhile because it looked like I was doing everything right. The house was perfect when he came home and I did what he told me to do after supper. That filled up my nights. He never noticed that my grades were dropping because I wasn't able to do my homework.

�One week, at midquarter time, the stress of knowing my father was waiting for my grades was getting to me. He�d see that I had C�s in my classes, and then I�d get a huge beating.

�One day when I got home from school I fell asleep on the couch. He came home two hours later. Braedon was on the floor in front of me crying, and the house was all messed up. And to top it all off, my Dad had opened up my report card in the driveway.

�He woke me up and told me to put Braedon in his room and shut the door, so I did. I came back into the living room, and he gave me the worst beating ever.�