Splendor(83)
“So what happened to you after that?” he prodded gently. “You were what – sixteen? Were you forced into one of those foster homes you had heard awful things about?”
Tessa shook her head. “No. There was a Red Cross volunteer on site the night of the fire, and she arranged for most of the residents to stay in a motel for a few days. It was pretty confusing that night so no one really bothered to ask how old I was or anything. I stayed in the motel for a week, and the Red Cross arranged for vouchers for stuff like food and clothes. But I knew it would only be a matter of days before someone figured out I was underage and had nowhere to go. One of the girls I worked with on the weekends – Michelle – heard about what happened and convinced her mother to let me stay with them. Michelle was one of the few friends I had, though I didn’t know her all that well since we went to different high schools. But she’d always been nice to me, and I was desperate at that point, so I agreed.”
“Go on,” encouraged Ian. “What happened then?”
“I moved in with Michelle, her mother and younger sister. Her mother didn’t seem all that happy to have me there at first, but when she learned she’d get a monthly foster care check that made things a little better. But it was – well, kind of a nightmare living there. The three of them fought constantly – screaming matches, name calling, horrible, awful fights – and they seemed to happen almost every day.” Tessa gave a little shudder. “As sick as my own mother was, she never once yelled at me or called me the sort of terrible names Michelle’s mom used. But I wasn’t even at the house all that much between school and two jobs, and it was better than being homeless.”
“So you stayed there until you turned eighteen?”
“No.” She gave another shake of her head. “I stayed there for just a few months, until Michelle’s older sister moved back home. Along with her boyfriend and their two small children. Both of them had lost their jobs, been evicted from their apartment, and had no money. So all of a sudden the house – which only had three bedrooms – went from having four people living there to eight. And what had been a nightmare for me became a living hell. Now there were five adults all fighting with each other, plus two screaming kids. Michelle and I had to move out of her bedroom so her sister and her family could use it. I wound up sleeping on the floor of the room Michelle had to share with her younger sister. Even then I kept telling myself it was better than living in my car.”
The expression on Ian’s face had become deadly serious, his mouth a grimace. “I’m going to assume that wasn’t precisely the case, though.”
“It wasn’t. The sister’s boyfriend – he was – a real creep, no other way to put it. My skin would crawl from just being in the same room with him, so I made sure I avoided him like the plague. Unfortunately, he was – attracted to me, made some very unwanted advances, said some really disgusting things to me. I was on the verge of leaving the house for good just so I wouldn’t have to see him again.”
Ian made a low, snarling sound. “If you’re about to tell me that piece of filth touched you - or worse- I swear that I will hunt him down like the animal he is and beat him to death.”
She laid a hand on his arm, soothing his barely controlled rage. “No. It never got that far. But Michelle’s sister overheard some of the stuff the creep said to me, and she went a little crazy, accusing me of trying to steal him away. Her mother got involved and took her daughter’s side, then basically told me to get out because I was disrupting the household and I couldn’t stay any longer. Michelle tried sticking up for me, but her mother threatened to toss her out, too, so I just left. Believe me, sleeping in my car was an improvement over having to live in those conditions one more day.”
Ian shut his eyes, and didn’t speak for several seconds, almost as though he were silently counting to ten to keep his rage in check. “Christ. You actually slept in your car, Tessa? There was nowhere else for you to go? Wouldn’t a foster home – no matter how awful – have been a better solution?”
“I truly didn’t think so at the time, no,” she replied honestly. “I’d read some real horror stories and talked to kids at my school about the kind of homes teenagers were usually placed in – mostly group homes where you lived with recovering addicts or kids just out of juvenile detention. There were other stories, too, about girls who’d been raped or abused. I decided to take my chances on my own.”