Page 169 - The Houseguest

door. She was huddled in the corner again, shaking. He realized then that he could protect her from the physical violence, but not the damage this life would inflict upon her only childhood.
For the next few days on ICE, memories of more fights, vomit, blood and the scared, shaking little girl flooded his thoughts. Isolation was meant for this kind of cruelty, he imagined. It made no difference to him where he was. Nothing changed. In fact, he preferred this solitary confinement to having to pretend he was listening to his cellmate, Bill. Bill seemed like an alright guy, and under different circumstances, they may have even become friends. But he had no intention of making friends in here, or anywhere else. Having friends, or family, only provided more opportunities for heartache.
Looking back to their childhood, he knew he’d taken on a father’s role for Laura, though their age difference was not that much. He had to grow up too scared and too fast and sadly, he could see this happening to her. Perhaps it was the Isolation forcing him to recall things he hadn’t thought of during the years since life with his dad and Laura. There was that time when he tried to find Laura’s mother. After all, he knew enough about her to ask around the streets downtown, and certainly a mother would want to know what was happening to her daughter. What kind of mother wouldn’t? Looking back, he couldn’t believe the audacity of the young man he was, walking right up to known crack houses, asking about Emma Travis’ whereabouts. She never married their father, but he’d seen her last name on the probation office envelopes that came to the house. It took a week of knocking on doors and speaking to addicts under bridges for him to locate her. He’d
169
The Houseguest by Linda Ellis www.LindaEllis.life