Page 20 of Breathless
“Welcome everyone to today’s session. I’d like to introduce Chaney. She’s new to The Village. You’ll be seeing her around, say hi if you get the chance,” Lydia said. “Let’s take a few moments to go around the circle and introduce yourselves. We’ll start here on my right with Tiffany.”
The red-haired girls smiled. “I’m Tiffany.”
The blonde girl next to her said, “I’m Amber.”
On the other side of her was a Vietnamese girl. “I’m Lin.”
“Josie.”
The boy beside her grunted. “He’s Roger,” Josie said.
“I’m Mike.”
“Jonah,” the last boy said.”
“Thank you,” Lydia said. I’m glad you could make it today. As always, feel free to get up during the meeting for water or a snack. We want you to feel comfortable. And please, respect each other when someone is talking.”
There was a brief pause. “Does anyone want to start?” Lydia asked. “Tell us how you’ve been? Has anything good happened? Hopefully, nothing bad since we last met.”
“What about Chaney?” the possessive guy asked. He’d been staring daggers at her since he caught her watching him as he entered. “What brings her here?”
Chaney smiled. “Thank you for asking why I’m here. I was recommended to volunteer at The Village because I’m interested in studying social work before I change my major in college. My counselor thought this would be a good place to start. To see if working with others is really a good fit for me.” She paused and took a breath, not daring to falter and looking from one side to the next in the circle as she spoke. “I want to make the change because I was abducted, and human trafficked back at the beginning of the summer. Luckily, I was found before I was sold off or molested. But I know so many young people aren’t who find themselves in similar situations. I really hope I can be a help to someone else now or in the future because of my experience. I will leave if any feels I am intruding on your space.”
“No, stay,” several of the girls said at once.
“Thank you for sharing your story,” Lydia said. “Hannah had shared your past with me.”
“Are you sure you’re not here just trying to make yourself feel better?” the guy said, slouching in his chair, with his legs sprawled out wide.
“Roger, sit up and show the others respect,” Lydia said. “You know the session rules. And as far as Chaney being in the session, Hannah assigned her to shadow me today. That is why she is here. If you don’t like it, you can walk yourself right on out the door.”
He sat up, cocked his head to the side, before he sauntered toward the door, where he stopped, looking back at the young girl he’d been sitting beside. He snapped his fingers at her, but she didn’t budge.
“Josie.”
She didn’t look at him, only shook her head.
“Leave, Roger,” Lydia commanded, pointing toward the door for emphasis.
He stalked out, slamming the door.
When he was gone, Josie, finally glanced over her shoulder and heaved a sigh. Lydia crossed the circle and sat down beside her, wrapping her arm around her shoulders. “It’s okay. You’re strong. You can stand on your own and you don’t have to do what he wants.”
Josie nodded.
“That’s right,” Amber and Tiffany piped up.
“We’re here for you,” Amber said.
“I worry about when he finds me alone,” Josie said. “He can be so manipulative.”
“Realizing that is the biggest hurdle,” Lydia said.
Chaney looked over at the Mike and Jonah who remained quiet, not offering Josie any support and she wondered why? Were they afraid of Roger? She could see why if they were. Roger had an air of cockiness about him that would make anyone with low self-esteem feel weak. While Chaney wasn’t judgingthe boys, she didn’t know anything about them, either. Other than they had a scared look in their eyes. Had Roger threatened them?
Wasn’t The Village supposed to be a safe space for these teens? And yet, it looked like there was a bully within the shelter. And she empathized with Josie. The girl was clearly in this support group seeking help and Roger may have followed her here because he couldn’t allow her to be out of his control.
This was exactly the type of situation she longed to work with. It was like her own, but still different. While she felt controlled by her parents, she at least was able to get away from them, unlike Josie who couldn’t shake Roger. This seemed to be more of a domestic violence situation in her opinion and she wasn’t even trained to deal with such cases. All she could do was offer support and talk to Josie if she wanted outside of the session and if she had permission to do so.
